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This is a movie that I first heard about at CinemaCon, but I got sick halfway through the show and missed the Sony presentation so the summer went by without me learning anything about it. Through osmosis, I learned two things:
1. It has something to do with auto racing
2. It has something to do with a race simulator video game.
So we watched the movie last night, with me thinking it was going to be another one of those idiotic game-adaptation movies. Well, I was completely wrong. Against all odds, it's actually a really good movie that really has very little to do with "gaming," at least on the surface. It's like "Days of Thunder" and the "Rocky" series (when it was still good) had a baby.
It's basically your standard sports movie, grafted onto the world of an online race simulation program. (It's not a game, we are told early on.) The simulator happens to be so accurate that the company who makes it wants to try an experiment: Since the young Joe-Redifer-types who play these games log thousands of hours driving these super-accurate sim-cars, why not hold a contest and pluck the "best of the best" out of the masses, and see if they can make real drivers out of them? Of course, the "real" drivers are against such an idea, claiming that there's no way these kids can handle the physical challenges of driving a real race car, at least not without lengthy training.
The story centers on one particular kid, Jann Mardenborough, who has lots of ambition, but according to his parents, his goals are misguided: He wants to be a race car driver, and where is the future in that? His dad gives him the old "You better make something of yourself if you don't want to end up like me" talk (although Dad is a railroader, and those guys make damn good money and get a sweet retirement package, but I digress). Eventually Jann defies his folks, telling them "I'm doing it" and enters the above-named contest, which sets him on the path to become a real driver, facing doubting Thomas types all the way.
The movie has all of the sports-movie boxes checked off, with a definite Rocky inspiration: The supportive-but-doubtful parents, the seemingly impossible odds of "making it." There are huge setbacks along the way, some of which are quite horrific. There's a hospital scene. Rocky chugs raw eggs to warm up for a fight; this kid listens to Kenny G and Enya before every race. There is a girlfriend, and there's even a "Yo Adrian! I did it!" scene at the end. The only thing missing is a Paulie equivalent.
So the ending is predictable as hell, but what makes the movie good is the camera and effects work. It has a terrific sound mix, too. There's a real "you are there" feeling throughout the movie. During the race scenes, you are either in the stands, in a drone flying over the track, inside the car, in the pits, and sometimes you are inside the engine.
If I had to make a complaint, I'd say it's regretful that we never really get to know any of the other drivers that Jann is competing with. There's not a lot of character development outside of the core trio of Jann and his mentors. But you get wrapped up in his quest to realize his dream and it becomes a minor thing in the big picture, at least for me it did.
The cast does a great job. Newcomer Archie Madekwe is terrific as Jann Mardenborough, and Orlando Bloom turns in his best performance since the old Pirates movies. There's a great oldies rock soundtrack, and of course lots and lots of really cool cars. The concept that the race simulator "puts you into the car" is played for some really cool scenes both at the beginning of the movie and during the big race scene at the end.
20 years ago a movie like this would have been a knockout hit. This year it got buried by Barbie and Oppenheimer, which came out right ahead of it, and all the attendant publicity. Too bad. It's definitely worth a watch. And it's definitely deserving of being seen in a theater with a big sound system. It's yet another movie that won't have near the impact on TV.
3 out of 4 stars from me. In fact, let's make it 3.5, with an extra half star added for the sound mix. This is one of the best movies I've seen this year, although I realize that's not saying much this year.
1. It has something to do with auto racing
2. It has something to do with a race simulator video game.
So we watched the movie last night, with me thinking it was going to be another one of those idiotic game-adaptation movies. Well, I was completely wrong. Against all odds, it's actually a really good movie that really has very little to do with "gaming," at least on the surface. It's like "Days of Thunder" and the "Rocky" series (when it was still good) had a baby.
It's basically your standard sports movie, grafted onto the world of an online race simulation program. (It's not a game, we are told early on.) The simulator happens to be so accurate that the company who makes it wants to try an experiment: Since the young Joe-Redifer-types who play these games log thousands of hours driving these super-accurate sim-cars, why not hold a contest and pluck the "best of the best" out of the masses, and see if they can make real drivers out of them? Of course, the "real" drivers are against such an idea, claiming that there's no way these kids can handle the physical challenges of driving a real race car, at least not without lengthy training.
The story centers on one particular kid, Jann Mardenborough, who has lots of ambition, but according to his parents, his goals are misguided: He wants to be a race car driver, and where is the future in that? His dad gives him the old "You better make something of yourself if you don't want to end up like me" talk (although Dad is a railroader, and those guys make damn good money and get a sweet retirement package, but I digress). Eventually Jann defies his folks, telling them "I'm doing it" and enters the above-named contest, which sets him on the path to become a real driver, facing doubting Thomas types all the way.
The movie has all of the sports-movie boxes checked off, with a definite Rocky inspiration: The supportive-but-doubtful parents, the seemingly impossible odds of "making it." There are huge setbacks along the way, some of which are quite horrific. There's a hospital scene. Rocky chugs raw eggs to warm up for a fight; this kid listens to Kenny G and Enya before every race. There is a girlfriend, and there's even a "Yo Adrian! I did it!" scene at the end. The only thing missing is a Paulie equivalent.
So the ending is predictable as hell, but what makes the movie good is the camera and effects work. It has a terrific sound mix, too. There's a real "you are there" feeling throughout the movie. During the race scenes, you are either in the stands, in a drone flying over the track, inside the car, in the pits, and sometimes you are inside the engine.
If I had to make a complaint, I'd say it's regretful that we never really get to know any of the other drivers that Jann is competing with. There's not a lot of character development outside of the core trio of Jann and his mentors. But you get wrapped up in his quest to realize his dream and it becomes a minor thing in the big picture, at least for me it did.
The cast does a great job. Newcomer Archie Madekwe is terrific as Jann Mardenborough, and Orlando Bloom turns in his best performance since the old Pirates movies. There's a great oldies rock soundtrack, and of course lots and lots of really cool cars. The concept that the race simulator "puts you into the car" is played for some really cool scenes both at the beginning of the movie and during the big race scene at the end.
20 years ago a movie like this would have been a knockout hit. This year it got buried by Barbie and Oppenheimer, which came out right ahead of it, and all the attendant publicity. Too bad. It's definitely worth a watch. And it's definitely deserving of being seen in a theater with a big sound system. It's yet another movie that won't have near the impact on TV.
3 out of 4 stars from me. In fact, let's make it 3.5, with an extra half star added for the sound mix. This is one of the best movies I've seen this year, although I realize that's not saying much this year.
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