Director Neill Blomkamp burst on the scene in 2009 with the incredible ‘District 9’, but since then, it’s been a downhill slide (‘Elysium’, ‘Chappie’). His latest offering is a whiz-bang race car movie that combines the popular PlayStation franchise with the true(ish) story of how a gamer wound up behind the wheel as a professional driver. Though it’s fairly paint-by-numbers, there’s actually some decent filmmaking at work here, thanks largely to cinematographer Jacques Jouffret. David Harbour also elevates the proceedings as the rough-and-tumble former mechanic brought in to make drivers out of joystick jockeys. Without him, ‘Gran Turismo’ may have stalled on the starting line.
3.5/5 stars