Brief Story Line
Danny Moore (Orlando Bloom - Carnival Row TV series, The Lord of the Rings trilogy etc), the marketing executive of Nissan managed to convince his bosses to form an academy for players of the "Gran Turismo" racing simulator and turn them into actual racer. He later decided to employ Jack Salter (David Harbour - Violent Night, Stranger Things TV series etc), a former race driver as the trainer for the GT Academy. In order to find the best players in the world for this purpose, they put up a competition.
There were several gamers who managed to enter academy including Jann Mardenborough (Archie Madekwe - Heart of Stone, See TV series etc), a young man from Wales who had always dreamt of becoming an actual race driver and the very confident Matty Davis (Darren Barnet - Love Hard etc). Although it was disapproved by his father Steve (Djimon Hounsou - The King's Man, The Legend of Tarzan etc), Jann still went through with the training to follow his dream.
So what would happen to Jann? And how would the story conclude? You can find them all in this movie.
End of Brief Story Line
As a fan of race movies, obviously I would not want to miss seeing this one on the big screen with great sound effect. That was the reason I insisted on going to the cinema with Dolby Atmos system. But despite the large screen in the studio which delivered greater experience, the sound effect somehow was not trully satisfying. It was not exactly the most amazing one like we felt in other cinemas with such system. Luckily the film itself was very entertaining and made up for such lacking.
The movie did not take too long to get to the exciting part where we were shown how Jann managed to be recruited to the Academy. Even the scene where he raced in the simulator already gotten us psyched, so imagine how awesome it was in the real life racing. And that was basically what the movie was mostly about, i.e the struggle Jann had to endure to reach his dream of becoming the real race car driver. And it definitely made me and wife appreciated more as it was mentioned that the movie was based on true story.
There was a lot of rush feeling when we saw the racing scenes in this movie which was one of the element that made my wife and I enjoyed it a lot. And like in any other films based on true story, it would not be fun if there was no dramatization at all (otherwise this would be a documentary film). And indeed there were few of them which I thought were put up to good effect (though one of them was not really appreciated by some critics). There were plenty of emotional joyride like the intensity of the race and the joy of finishing it, and the moments before the start of the final race, plus of course the ending itself.
Aside from the cast mentioned above, the film also had other support characters such as Jann's mother Lesley (former Spice Girls, Geri Halliwell Horner - Crank: High Voltage etc), Audrey (Maeve Courtier-Lilley - The Outpost TV series etc) the girl whom Jann liked, Jann's rival Nicolas Capa (Josha Stradowski - The Wheel of Time TV series etc) and the creator of Gran Turismo Kazunori Yamauchi (played by Takehiro Hira - Snake Eyes: G.I. Joe Origins etc). The movie was directed by Neill Blomkamp (Elysium, Chappie etc) and written by Jason Hall (American Sniper etc) & Zach Baylin (Creed III etc). With such credentials, I would have thought that the critics would love this one, but it seemed they were unhappy with some things that made this gotten mixed review.
For a movie that had duration of 134 minutes, this one did not feel that long cause there was not a boring moment. After seeing it, I actuall felt curious to give this game a try (Play Station console was placed outside the studio for audience to give a try freely), but few of them apparently had same idea and already did it before me. I also felt a higher appreciation to the simulator developer Yamauchi and the real life Jann Mardenborough whose photos of him and family were shown during closing credits (that did not have any mid or post end credit scenes). He even played as stunt double in the movie.
Overall this was a very entertaining race movie based on true story that proved how dreams could become a reality. The drama, intensity and special effects were great with some references to the Gran Turismo itself like the camera shot as if we were playing the game and the racers' position number on top of the car. The story telling was good and made us enjoyed the film (my wife even clapped her hands whenever Jann achieved what seemed to be impossible, along with several other audiences). So if you like movies based on true events with exciting adrenaline pumping racing scenes and dramatic story, then I am sure you would be entertained like my wife and I were. And I think best to see it on big screen with good sound effect to be more satisfying.
Mike's movie moments rating: 4 out of 5 stars
No comments:
Post a Comment