There was a certain time in the mid to late 2000s where Neil Blomkamp was the one of the hottest names in the entertainment industry. He was know for doing short films and a variety of TV commercials but he had yet to make his splash in the director’s chair until he made the critically loved and commercially successful District 9. A lot of credit for the success of that movie has to be credited to producer Peter Jackson, who originally was set to make a movie based on Halo video game series and handpicking Neil Blomkamp to direct it. Due to a huge lack of finances, the Halo project was put on hiatus which ultimately led to them making District 9 serving as Blomkamp‘s directorial debut. Critics loved it and it even was recognized by the Academy with a Best Picture nomination and Best Adapted Screenplay nomination. Most people would generally agree its his best movie to date, but his follow up film in Elysium has split amongst most people. What’s worst is that the quality started to dip even further when he made Chappie. For someone that used to be the hottest name on the block, the reputation surrounding Neil Blomkamp wasn’t what it used to be. He was even heavily rumored to make an Alien sequel with Sigourney Weaver returning, but after the lackluster response to Alien: Covenant it practically demolished any enthusiasm for another Alien movie.
Neil Blomkamp has many strengths as a filmmaker but over the years he got way too bogged down with his own political landscapes which detracted the overall quality of the film. It was well balanced in District 9 but it was becoming a bit more problematic with his follow up films. With Gran Turismo, Blomkamp offers a compete shift in his genre sandbox and it might have been for the best. Gran Turismo is easily Neil Blomkamp‘s best movie since District 9 and it’s refreshing to see him not get heavy handed with certain diplomacies. It’s a great biopic, it’s a terrific sports movie, it’s probably the best use of product placement and it’s an overall crowd pleasing experience. The racing sequences are so clean, visceral and visually spectacular, the performances are really strong and it was really impressive to see Neil Blomkamp go against the grain, like most directors should do more often.
This is easily the biggest and most massive step up for PlayStation Studios theatrical production, especially compared to the recent Uncharted movie starring Tom Holland. By stripping away the notion of Gran Tursimo being solely based on the video game property, the movie combines video game tactics from a visual and editing perspective but tells a compelling and faithful story about a video gamer who got to experience his ultimate goal: racing cars. One could call Gran Turismo a great video game movie, and there’s probably an argument to be made there, but Neil Blomkamp that general audiences don’t care abbot the video game. All they really care is if the movie is good or not. Thankfully, it is and aside from the movie being based on two different things, Gran Turismo is an exciting and solid sports drama, which is very refreshing because Neil Blomkamp has a certain sandbox that he likes to play in. He seemed to be more fond of science fiction narratives so for him to completely diverge himself from to genre and try something different was a risk but it’s a risk that he should have taken.
Even if Gran Turismo was a shift from his more common work, it’s a beautiful and dazzling motion picture. Even Neil Blomkamp’s worst movie Chappie is still gorgeous from a visual standpoint, and that’s one thing he can always excel at no matter what. The same thing is to be said about Gran Turismo. Teaming up with cinematographer Jacques Jouffret, their collaboration on this film is very impressive. The shot selections of the races and letting us feel the scale and sound of each car was handled extremely well. In particular, car races haven’t looked this clean and felt this visceral in awhile. Think of Top Gun: Maverick but on the ground.
Neil Blomkamp often works with South African actor Sharlto Copley, and while that isn’t the case in Gran Turismo, he’s led by an effective trio of performers. David Harbour has been riding fame ever since his debut in Netflix’s Stranger Things and he crushed it as this mentor for our main character. It’s also really nice to see Orlando Bloom in the spotlight and while he’s famously recognized as the charming Will Turner or the competitive Legolas, Bloom is usually a solid actor and he’s pretty great in this. But the real focus is the performance from Archie Madekwe, a relatively newcomer who had a role in Ari Aster’s Midsommar. For his first time as the lead, Archie Madekwe shines well in this by creating his own character but shining a spotlight on an important figure in the sports industry. Madekwe brings a lot of dignity, depth and winsomeness to a character that we manage to root for for the entire duration of the film.
By the time we get to August, we typically get a small amount of movies that studios don’t have much confidence in considering the summer is now winding down. Gran Turismo is one of those few August releases that goes against the expectations we have for this time of year. It’s great to see Neil Blomkamp back in the director’s chair and it’s great to see another crowd pleasing sports drama that does play it safe but that’s exactly what Blomkamp needed.
Zane's take at the Cinema's 