Review: A gamer gets behind the wheel in the slick ‘Gran Turismo,’ an ad for big dreams (and cars)

The visual exterior of Neill Blomkamp’s video-game adaptation “Gran Turismo” mimics that of a race car itself: shiny, colorful, chrome. There’s a real surface appeal to this movie, which is based on the remarkable true story of Jann Mardenborough, an English gamer and fan of the “Gran Turismo” driving simulator (billed here as the most accurate), who won a Nissan-sponsored driving academy and has since gone on to become a successful race-car driver himself — on real tracks, not virtual ones. But pop the hood on this bad boy and there’s an undeniable cynicism undergirding this vehicle. A movie about a publicity stunt is still just a publicity stunt.

If you start pulling apart this rousing, if formulaic, sports flick, it’ll all come undone. (One may even question the worthiness of gas-guzzling motorsports, and why we’d celebrate them on screen at all in this day and age.) “Gran Turismo” does attempt to get ahead of the craven capitalism on display with Orlando Bloom’s knowing portrayal of Nissan marketing exec Danny Moore (a version of GT Academy founder Darren Cox). Bloom — and the script by Jason Hall, Zach Baylin and Alex Tse — positions Danny as savvy but smarmy: an outside-the-box innovator with visions of “untapped demographics” dancing in his head.

Danny flashes a sharky grin at Nissan execs while describing the gamers in whom “Gran Turismo” has “ignited a passion for driving.” He cooks up the scheme for the gamer-to-racer driving academy, and though winning is winning, he still wants the most camera-ready driver behind the wheel of the first Nissan Motorsports vehicle, even if he isn’t quite ready for the track. Danny is a bit of an antagonist, allowing the audience to scoff at his business-oriented motivation while also knowing that the entire endeavor of this film is meant to be an advertisement for the “Gran Turismo” game and Nissan cars.

The fastest driver in the academy is a tall, quiet kid from Cardiff, Wales, the son of a former footballer, searching for his purpose in life. Archie Madekwe plays determined driving-enthusiast Jann with a shy charm, and if “Gran Turismo” works, it’s due to Madekwe’s performance, as well as the gruff and grounded presence of David Harbour as Jack Salter, a former race-car driver and engineer tapped to train the gamers.

A scene from the movie “Gran Turismo.”

(Gordon Timpen / Columbia Pictures / Sony Entertainment)

As a piece of purely mechanical, revved-up entertainment, “Gran Turismo” really does work. Audience members will raise their hands with full-throated cheers every time Jann inches up higher in the rankings, such is the appeal of Madekwe’s earnest performance. Blomkamp (“District 9”) lays out the stakes with simple but effective visual storytelling. He utilizes the saturated color palette to allow us to easily locate Jann and his foes in the race, while putting game iconography and graphics to work to illustrate how Jann sees the track, thanks to his hours on the simulator.

The script is standard sports-movie fare without much subtext. In the mouth of anyone other than Harbour, some of these motivational lines would be real clangers, but he sells the material with his rugged soulfulness, and there’s true chemistry between him and Madekwe, as the unlikely sports star and his demanding coach. Djimon Hounsou plays Jann’s father, and it’s a great, emotional role for the actor, as the dad who doesn’t understand his son’s dream. And yes, that is Geri Halliwell Horner, a.k.a. Ginger Spice, playing Jann’s mother. Fun fact: The real Mardenborough also serves as his character’s driving double in the film.

“Gran Turismo” bears comparison to that other recent racing film, “Ford v Ferrari,” and not just because both films feature their climaxes at the iconic 24 Hours of Le Mans race. Both films are also stories of personal determination, individual achievement and overcoming obstacles, but are inextricably linked to the desire to sell more cars. These inspiring tales have capitalist ends and origins, but then again, that’s the business of motorsports, already saturated with sponsorships, product placement and advertising.

The writers of “Gran Turismo” don’t attempt to interrogate the business, and why would they? In the end, as entertaining as the movie is, it feels like a custom wrap on a sports car: merely an ad stuck onto Mardenborough’s unique journey to the track.

Katie Walsh is a Tribune News Service film critic.