Gran Turismo on France 2: clever can (review)
The adaptation of one of the flagship PlayStation franchises by the director of District 9 does not go beyond its status as a promotional item.
Two years after its cinema release, Gran Turismo is broadcast for the first time unencrypted this Sunday evening on France 2, then available the next day for free streaming on the France.TV website. A blockbuster to see for its spectacular racing scenes, but far from the expectations one might have of a film by Neill Blomkamp, the director of District 9…
Neill Blomkamp: “I never imagined making a film like Gran Turismo!” (interview)
If you recognize an author by his effects, then no worries, Gran Turismo is indeed a film of Neil Blomkamp : the proof with this sequence where three French soldiers, in fatigues and armed to the teeth, exit in slow motion from a helicopter to bring the tricolor flag to the start of the 24 hour race of Le Mans. Is it so unfair to say that filming trellises in slow-mo is the main salient feature of the South African filmmaker’s style?
Rest assured, this is not the only cinematic challenge of Gran Turismo, a production made to promote one of the flagship video games in the PlayStation catalog and which intends to feature a “true story”, that of Jann, a young Welsh expert in Gran Turismo (a hyper-realistic car racing simulation) who will become a real racing car driver by integrating a program created by Nissan to advertise their cars.
Gran Turismo is therefore a matter of promotion at all levels. As in a sort of business seminar where we learn to take advantage of our mistakes to be more productive, the only failures suffered by Jann in the film will in fact be successes allowing him ultimately to triumph over the professional and rich pilots (this statement is a bit hypocritical: the pro-hero enjoys traveling by private jet and revving his car on the concrete of Dubai, while surprising his girlfriend with a surprise trip to Tokyo).
Blomkamp, a director who became in high demand following the success of District 9, and who was damaged in Hollywood (see the failures of his projects Halo and Alien 5) has also become productive: the physicality of the film – crumpled metal sheets for real, dizzying drone movements – evokes that of Michael Bay’s splendid Ambulance, but where Bay made it a necessary cinematic process (playing the real against the false), Blomkamp makes it a simple amusement – a copy advertising, perhaps. In this year 2023 where the biggest global successes are basically just vast advertising companies at their peak (Barbie, Mario), Gran Turismo does not stand out at all.
Trailer:
After Gran Turismo, will Neill Blomkamp finally direct District 10?
