Voices: The Gran Turismo Movie Isnt Getting Great Reviews. Heres Why You Should See It Anyway
When I sat down for the first demo of Gran Turismo two weeks ago, I had no idea what to expect. I have never played Gran Turismo, the hugely popular racing simulation video game that has attracted fans from all over the world since its release in 1997. I'm not against the idea of fast cars, but I've never followed it closely. sports car racing - race type Gran Turismo. I went karting twice and each time I was the slowest in my group.
But I was raised by a father who loved fast cars (and fast bikes) . Since childhood, he talked about various types of fast cars so enthusiastically that I could not remain indifferent. So when I saw the trailer for Gran Turismo this summer, I knew I was going to do it.
Let's get one thing straight: Gran Turismo would be a lot less interesting if it weren't based on a true story. In this movie, incredible things happen that are almost impossible to believe, unless we are sure that they are actually happening. Specifically, in Gran Turismo , the head of marketing (Orlando Bloom) convinces a former racing driver (David Harbour) to bring the world's best Gran Turismo players out of the dark and put them in real cars on real tracks. In real life - and in the movies - this initiative is called GT Academy. The film is about Jean Mardenborough (Archie Madekwe), who became the program's youngest ever winner in 2011 at the age of 19.
Gran Turismo doesn't get good reviews. On Rotten Tomatoes, the film received a 61% from critics and a 99% from moviegoers - an amazing, but not entirely unusual result on the site. " Gran Turismo's fast-paced action and feel-good drama are undermined by its loose factual storytelling, but overall it's still a solid racing movie," reads the critics' consensus on Rotten Tomatoes. On the other hand, the audience-oriented synopsis is insane: "If you're a fan of car racing or enjoy playing the Gran Turismo games, this fun underdog story is a must-see."
As already explained, I'm not a racing fan, I've never enjoyed playing the Gran Turismo games (never have), and I've always liked the Gran Turismo movie . Yes, it is a great commercial film. PlayStation and Nissan (the project's automaker) are multiple characters in themselves. It is a racing film, an action film, a supernatural film and a biopic. Since the film is based on the story of a talented man with a fascinating destiny, the first half of the film is generally emotionally safe for the audience: there is no reason to say that we know that Mardenborough will achieve anything. . But at this early stage, this belief does not make it interesting to support him - he is a determined weakling who can easily be dismissed.
Then things get more complicated. The film depicts the fatal accident that happened in the real Mardenborough in 2015 when a car overturned and went off the track at Germany's Nürburgring. The audience is dead. Several others were injured. The film shows Mardenborough's earlier life, which has been criticized by some. A Polygon review deemed it "in bad taste" and found that the film portrayed the incident as "a concrete and encouraging setback to Mardenborough's hero's journey". Meanwhile, Mardenborough told Driving.co.uk in a film celebrating the early years of his career that it would be "a disservice to the public" to "stay out of [the crash]". He said the images reflect "the darkest times of my life". Personally, as a viewer, I never felt that the film showed this event as a catalyst for Mardenborough. Yes, it's a turning point, but it's marked by more life-changing grief and loss.
Gran Turismo comes at an interesting point in our collective lives as moviegoers: Barbenheimer's summer is drawing to a close. Barbie and Oppenheimer is still in theaters (I've seen Barbie twice and bought tickets to see Oppenheimer's second showing next week). Gran Turismo is neither Barbie nor Oppenheimer , although it shares its DNA with the former: both Barbie and Gran Turismo are based on franchises that achieved commercial success and brand recognition in their time. The similarities end there: Gran Turismo director Neill Blomkamp wasn't trying to do to a video game franchise what Greta Gerwig did to a doll franchise.
That's right: Gran Turismo knows what it can be and doesn't try to be anything else. He is serious and likes his seriousness. The racing scenes are visually stunning and easy to watch. When I was a kid, my dad used to have some kind of sports program on TV every weekend; Even today, the sound of the engine is the sound of Sunday for me. But no matter how much I wanted to, I couldn't: the traditional format of television competitions excludes any form of storytelling. The risk escaped me. Netflix's Drive to Survive tackled this Formula 1 challenge by placing the sport in the context of the various challenges faced by professional drivers. Gran Turismo does something similar in Mardenborough Life.
At the end of the ceremony, people greeted with applause. Not to mention Nicole Kidman in AMC's We Came Here for the Magic, but this was a great season for talking about movies, movies , and watching movies together in the dark. If you want to breathe in the last breath of Berpenheimer's summer atmosphere, then Gran Turismo is for you.
