REVIEW #310 Gran Turismo (2023)

Based on true events, Jann Mardenborough wins a Gran Turismo racing simulator competition, earning him a place in the GT academy where he faces the best of the best in simulator racing, all for the chance to become a real life race driver.

Gran Turismo was certainly a pleasant surprise, I enjoyed it a lot more than I thought I would! It’s a super heartwarming story that hits even harder given it’s a true one. The journey of Jann Mardenborough is simply unbelievable and that makes for such a gripping storyline. I will say that despite its gripping nature, it was rather predictable, you kind of knew how it would end even without knowing anything about the real life events that inspired the movie. But that certainly doesn’t mean it won’t have your heart pacing in the entertaining racing that’s depicted throughout its two hour run time. Archie Madekwe performs well but the performance of the film for me, comes from David Harbour whose acting subtlety is often overlooked but he always delivers no matter what! I’d also like to give a shout-out to Djimon Hounsou who only had limited screen time but boy did he use it well!

The cinematography was one of the surprising aspects to me, the creative way the film blended the game graphics into the real racing worked well and helped deliver a certain unique element to the action unfolding in the competitions. There is certainly a lot of positives and I felt the emotions all the way through, yes it’s predictable and it’s not really groundbreaking stuff but nonetheless it’s one that made me leave the cinema with a smile on my face! 

Overall (7.5/10)

Thanks for reading.

Callan