Gran Turismo

Last night I finally had the chance to see Gran Turismo and, as fan of inspirational underdog sports stories, I absolutely loved it!  I may or may not have cheered out loud during a climactic moment in a race.  Danny Moore (Orlando Bloom), a marketing executive for Nissan, pitches the idea to find the best players of the PlayStation game Gran Turismo and have them compete for a chance to race on Team Nissan for the publicity.  He recruits Jack Salter (David Harbour), a former driver turned mechanic, to train the gamers but Salter doesn't think they have the stamina or intuition to succeed and only accepts Team Nissan's offer because his current driver, Nicholas Capa (Josha Stradowski), is too arrogant for his own good. Jann Mardenborough (Archie Madekwe) spends all of his free time playing the game and, despite the disapproval of his father Steven (Djimon Hounsou), he is selected to train at the GT Academy and ultimately wins the respect of Salter and a contract with Team Nissan.  However, after struggling in a few qualifying races, he succeeds in placing and earning a F1 Super License but faces growing backlash from the racing community and must prove himself at the prestigious 24 Hours of Le Mans race.  This is somewhat predictable (there is the ubiquitous training montage, the obvious competition between Mardenborough and the driver that Salter abandoned to train him, a convenient love interest, a devastating crash as an emotional arc, and a touching reconciliation between Mardenborough and his father before Le Mans) but it is a really inspiring story about an outsider who overcomes the odds and the visuals are spectacular!  The racing sequences are incredibly immersive and it really seems as if Mardenborough is actually driving when he is playing the game and like he is playing the game when he is driving.   I especially loved the Le Mans race because I was on the edge of my seat during the final lap even though I basically knew what was going to happen (see above comment about cheering out loud).  Madekwe is very appealing but Harbour is the standout for me because, in my opinion, his moving performance as a reluctant mentor is what makes you care about Mardenborough.  The soundtrack is also a lot of fun (I loved the Enya and Kenny G needle drops).  This is much better than I was expecting and I highly recommend it!