Gran Turismo

Inspired by true events, Gran Turismo follows an aimless slacker (Archie Madekwe’s Jann Mardenborough) as he enters (and wins) a competition designed to place a gamer into a real-life race car. It’s an intriguing premise that’s employed to relentlessly uneven yet mostly entertaining effect by Neill Blomkamp, as the filmmaker, working from a script by Jason Hall and Zach Baylin, delivers a stylish and periodically propulsive endeavor that benefits from its strong performances and raft of compelling interludes, with the picture, in terms of the former, certainly receiving plenty of mileage out of Madekwe’s charming turn as the agreeable central character – although it does remain clear that David Harbour effortlessly steals all his scenes as a grizzled driver-turned-mechanic named Jack Salter. There’s little doubt, however, that Gran Turismo‘s overall impact is diminished considerably by a flabby, padded-out narrative, as the film’s palpably overlong running time (134 minutes!) paves the way for a midsection that drags far more often than one might’ve liked. Such concerns become relatively moot, at least, once the movie progresses into a propulsive final third that’s capped off with a thoroughly satisfying conclusion, which ultimately does cement Gran Turismo‘s place as a better-than-average video-game adaptation that would’ve fared even better had it topped out at around an hour and a half.

**1/2 out of ****