Directed by Neill Blomkamp (District 9 (2009); Elysium (2013)) and starring David Harbour (Black Widow (2021); Revolutionary Road (2008); Suicide Squad (2016); Stranger Things (tv series, 2016-2022), Orlando Bloom (Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales (2017); The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies (2014); Romeo and Juliet (2014)), Archie Madekwe (Midsommar (2019); See (tv series, 2019-2022)), Takehiro Hira (Snake Eyes (2021); Giri/Haji (tv series, 2019)) and Geri Horner (Spice World (1997); Rainbow Woman (tv series, 2020-2021)).
Action; 135 mins; 12+
Based on a true story. Nissan, with Kazunori Yamauchi (Takehiro Hira) as one of the corporate bosses, and Danny Moore (Orlando Bloom) in marketing - described as an idealistic motorsport executive - decide to sponsor a competition to find the top eSports gamer and put them in a real race car...
They persuade once great race car driver Jack Salter (David Harbour) to oversee the competition. Unconvinced, the rough-and-ready brash American is the antithesis of the slick corporate bosses from Nissan in Tokyo. However, he does agree...
Teenager Jann Mardenborough (Archie Madekwe) lives in Wales with his mother Lesley Mardenborough (Geri Horner). father and brother. His father tries to encourage him out of the house (out of his room) to come and play football with him and Jann's brother. But Jann has a job which he uses to fund his race simulator in his bedroom, which he uses when not at the arcade with his friends.
One day they notice the competition and Jann enters... He gets through his heat and is invited along with eleven others to training camp at Silverstone race course where they are whittled down to just five who then race for the seat in the Nissan team... This is just the start of Jann's journey.
This is not an eSports / gaming film, however, it does make very clever use of graphics to show the audience what is going on inside Jann's head. At this stage, instead of imagining the simulator to be a real racing car, Jann uses his knowledge and experience of the simulator to translate that to the real race track. Clever use of CGI and many shots of on-track racing throughout the film.
An inspiring underdog story, not overly emotional though, which charts Jann's rise, along with the bumps along the way, his relationship with Jack Salter (who is brilliantly played by David Harbour) and with his family.
Currently screening at CiNextDoor and Kineplois in Luxembourg.
