Gran Turismo movie review: Archie Madekwe, David Harbour & Orlando Bloom's film is a heartwarming biopic of an underdog

Cast: Archie Madekwe, David Harbour, Orlando Bloom, Darren Barnet, Emelia Hartford, Geri Halliwell Horner and Djimon Hounsou Director: Neill Blomkamp Filmmaker Neill Blomkamp, who is known for helming District 9, Elysium & Chappie, has shown his versatility as a director. Undoubtedly, not all his movies struck a chord with the audience and that’s why it was an interesting scenario before entering the movie audi and thinking what to expect from this sports biopic. The biographical sports drama named after a video game, narrates the journey of a teenage gamer — Jann Mardenborough (Archie Madekwe), who is obsessed with the PlayStation game Gran Turismo. While he is one of the best players in simulated car racing, his father Steve Mardenborough (Djimon Hounsou) thinks this game is not substantially important and prefers supporting Jann’s younger brother, who is a footballer just like him. Danny Moore ( Orlando Bloom ), the marketing executive at Nissan comes up with an idea and pitches it in Tokyo in front of board members of having the best Gran Turismo player and making him a professional racer, who will represent the car company in all prestigious racing competitions. After contemplating over this idea, the board agrees to give it a shot, provided it is safe. Moore approaches a former professional racer Jack Salter ( David Harbour) to train Gran Turismo players, who were selected from the contest. Initially, he is apprehensive of any of the simulated racers becoming a professional racer but later agrees to put in his efforts. Professional racing is a physically and mentally demanding sport and while many of the GT racers fail to keep up with the demands, Jann works hard to get into big races, which turns into a heartwarming tale of an underdog. Neill Blomkamp has perfectly blended all the emotions in his narrative, which keeps you engaged and immersive. Talking about the technical department, the camera work & sound is superb with crisp editing as it showcases the life of Jann in under 2 hours and 15 minutes. Talking about the performances, Archie Madekwe is delightful as Jann Mardenborough as smoothly gets into the character and plays his portrayal to the T. David Harbour as Jack Salter is simply impeccable and undoubtedly one of the biggest highlights of the film. Unfortunately, Orlando Bloom’s character doesn’t have any meat but still, the talented actor made a mark with great presence. On the whole, Gran Turismo is an inspirational, delightful and intriguing affair, which should be witnessed on the big screen. Rating: 3 (out of 5 stars) Gran Turismo is playing in cinemas near you