Gran Turismo: A Spoiler-Filled Discussion
***As the title would suggest, full spoilers for Gran Turismo follow***
https://open.spotify.com/episode/5K8TysBGZPqSIhbb9WMmL4
Maybe I'm in the minority, but I think that the video game adaptation will fill the role of the comic book movie in the later part of the 2020s into the 2030s. We have reached a point now where more of the adaptations have been good than have not been, and even the not good ones have been at best just kind of fine. While The Last of Us is fantastic and among some of 2023's best television, shows like Twisted Metal and movies like Uncharted have been serviceable but nothing special. Gran Turismo is a step between being something truly great for PlayStation when adapted to other media and being just kind of fine but it is still an entertaining use of two hours and change, especially on a premium screen.
What Works
The strongest aspect of the movie, and arguably that carries the enjoyability factor through the end, is the way the racing sequences are shot and edited. They are among some of the best racing action sequences put to film in recent years. This is compounded with the fact that the film uses video game-styled heads up displays to make them easy to keep track of during the action, even though the car is branded with so many PlayStation logos it would be hard to lose track.
The other really fun aspect of the movie is David Harbour's performance as the Chief Engineer for Team Nissan. Of the characters in the movie, weirdly he is the most well-rounded and well-developed and has the most nuance to his character which is brought to light through his performance. He is not likely to win any awards (this movie probably won't win any at all) but he still brings something to the film that makes it interesting even when there are sequences where there isn't racing going on.
What Doesn't Work
All the relationships outside Team Nissan do not do much to really land the emotional arcs of the movie and could have been cut to make the narrative run a little more smoothly. Specifically, the scenes in Tokyo with Jann and Audrey feel like they go on too long, as do the early scenes with Jann and his family. It does not need to be beaten into the viewer how much the family disapproves of Jann's video game time, it could have cut the runtime down and made the racing feel like it was more of the story than the movie utilizes it as. Going along with that, the climax of the movie being at the 24-hour long race at Le Mains (a relay race for those who do not know anything about racing like myself), it would have been useful to have had some development go into the other two racers who join Jann, even had it been early on in the GT Academy phase of the story.
The other big issue with the movie is that the first twenty minutes or so are a lengthy ad for the video game. It is a mostly successful ad but an ad nonetheless. One could argue the entire movie is an advertisement, and not exactly subtle at that, but the first twenty minutes are fairly explicit in how it lays out what the video game does to set itself apart from other racing simulators. The latest entry is now available on the PS5 with a PSVR2 exclusive mode and I would be lying if I said I wouldn't have bought the game if I could have afforded it.
How You Should Watch This Movie
Blomkamp's racing set pieces are engaging and entertaining enough to make up for some of the more slow-moving aspects of the narrative. The sound mix is fantastic and the visuals are great fun so seeing the movie on the largest possible screen with premium sound formats is a worthwhile investment.
★★★★★
