F1: The Movie

As opposed to F1: The TV Show, or F1: The Book, or F1: The Function Key. Yes, this is a film about Formula 1 racing and it really wants us to love it, the racing even more than the movie itself. Brad Pitt is Sonny Hayes, a grizzled driver who jumps around from race to race, a drifter, a mercenary. After one of these races, Daytona, his old mucker, Ruben (Javier Bardem) shows up and offers him the chance of a lifetime. Come back to Formula 1.

Hitting all the right beats so far. And continues to do so. If you've seen any sports film, you know this film. Just for the record, yes, there's a cocky young pup co-driver, Joshua Pearce (Damson Idris) and a gorgeous (thankfully middle-aged) love interest, Kate (Kerry Condon). It's no surprise that the writer/director combo here, Ehren Kruger and Joseph Kosinski, was also responsible for the underwhelming Top Gun: Maverick. This is a better, more grounded (pun intended) version of that film.

It may be derivative but F1 is pretty successful in what it aims to do (though I don't feel like watching F1 racing anytime soon). It's a comfortable film, you're not particularly stretched by anything and the performances range from under to over, but they're all satisfying, Pitt and Condon especially. The key question is does it excite? For the most part, it does, and there's one particular 'heart in mouth' moment where there was an audible intake of breath in the cinema (you can probably imagine the context).

It vacillated between tension building race scenes, excellent smaller character interaction scenes (Sonny meeting the APX team, confusion over the British use of the word 'swanning', the poker game, etc.) and the inevitable bombastic cheese "Do they have the car?" - "We have the driver!" Some of the dialogue is quite original, some awful, and there are a few stereotype characters, such as annoying British journo, curmudgeonly pit boss, mum with a heart of gold, even a dastardly rotter. And Joshua's arc is so telegraphed it might as well have been written in big yellow subtitles along the bottom of the screen.

A more interesting angle was summed up in Sonny's "more dragons to conquer" line at the end, hinting that his raison d'etre is actually addiction (or chasing the dragon). He says as much to Kate about looking for that silence, that sense of flying. I guess it's 'the zone' that high level sports people get into, only here, it's more linked to potential death.

It's nothing genre-busting but it does its job and is a good reason to go the the cinema - the bigger the screen, the better. Some final points: There are a few real life drivers floating around on podiums and the like, and Lewis Hamilton gets some good press (no surprises, considering he's a producer on the film); Led Zeppelin, supposedly coy about releasing their songs for films, have Whole Lotta Love to kick this one off; and cripes, imagine being poor old Luca Cortez. It's such a thankless role, it almost seems like a pointed insult to someone in reality. Pretty funny though.

F1: The Movie opens June 26th around the country.

See also:

On motor sports, the Asif Kapadia documentary Senna (2010) is brilliant. Ron Howard's Rush (2013) is an interesting look at racing rivalries. And Le Mans (1971), directed by Lee H. Katzin and John Sturges is a record of that race. It's a bit dull BUT it's a Steve McQueen film, so that makes it worth a look.