Josh Reviews F1

Brad Pitt stars in F1 playing Sonny Hayes, a talented race car driver who seems addicted to a nomadic, no-commitments lifestyle.  But that changes when his former F1 teammate Rubén Cervantes (Javier Bardem), now a team owner, convinces Sonny to return to F1 and drive for him.  It seems Rubén needs someone to pull his team out of last place, despite his having a brilliant technical director (Kate McKenna, played by Kerry Condon) and a talented rookie driver (Joshua Pearce, played by Damson Idris).  Sonny and Joshua clash immediately, of course.  Can they find a way to work together and save the team?

Of course they can!

F1 is a big, fun movie.  The action is extraordinary, and I had fun watching this on a big screen and eating popcorn.

Be warned: there is very little character development to be found, and the film is predictable.  If you’d asked me to write down how this story would play out after having watched five minutes of the movie, I think I’d have gotten pretty dang close to what actually happened.  I bet anyone reading this would say the same.

But director Joseph Kosinski (who directed Tron: Legacy, Oblivion, and Top Gun: Maverick) knows how to create a kick-ass big-screen action scene.  The way Mr. Kosinski and his team approached filming the F1 car races is incredible.  They found a way to put the audience right there in the drivers’ seat with the racers.  The car racing scenes in this film are incredible.  They’re the reason to go see this movie on the biggest screen you can.  I don’t care one whit about F1 or any type of car racing, but I had a blast watching this movie.  The technical achievement here is astonishing.

Mr. Kosniski has taken a very similar approach to what made Top Gun: Maverick work so fell.  Frankly, this film is basically a cars-instead-of-planes remake of Top Gun: Maverick.  The basic structure is very, very similar.  (This is clear right from the get-go.  Both movies begin by showing the aging movie star, who is the most talented in their field in the film, demonstrate their skills in an unrelated action sequence before getting roped into the main story of the film.)  Both films found a way to shoot much of their action for real, in real planes and cars, with the movie star actors actually doing much of the piloting/driving seen in the film.  This gives both films a compelling, you are right there in the mix of things feeling.

I’ve always thought Brad Pitt was a great actor, despite his movie star good looks.  This film isn’t exactly a deep acting showcase for Mr. Pitt, but he is undoubtedly magnetic in the lead role as Sonny.  (And good lord, I know he’s getting older, but is Mr. Pitt also getting more handsome somehow??)  Mr. Pitt commands the screen.  He makes us love Sonny and root for him.  There’s not too much depth of character here, but Mr. Pitt brings his magnetic energy to every moment he’s on screen.  The film rests on his shoulders, and he makes it look effortless.

Damson Idris holds his own commendably across from Mr. Pitt as the young hotshot Joshua Pearce.  Joshua is just as arrogant and self-confident in his own way as Sonny is, just from the opposite side of the age gap.  Mr. Pearce is a fun to watch, both when he’s full of young-guy, I can do anything bluster, and also when he has to learn a lesson as the film progresses.  Javier Bardem is, as always, a delight.  He’s all charm in this film, sweet-talking Sonny — and everyone else in his orbit — to see what he sees and the potential for his last-place team to achieve victory.  Mr. Bardem is so fun to watch on screen, and I loved his chemistry with Brad Pitt.  Speaking of which, it was also a pleasure to see the great Kerry Condon (Better Call Saul, Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri, The Banshees of Inisherin), playing the smart and confident technical director Kate McKenna.  I was also happy to see Sarah Niles (Dr. Sharon Fieldstone on Ted Lasso), playing Joshua’s mom Bernadette.  Ms. Niles is a fun spark of energy in the film.  Tobias Menzies (Game of Thrones, The Crown, Outlander) adds another smarmy villain to his roster.  (I like Mr. Menzies, but his character was one off-note in the movie for me.  It was so blindingly, painfully obvious to me that he’d turn out to be a villain.  Why else, I kept asking myself, did the film keep showing him hanging out with Javier Bardem’s character?  I wish they’d found a way to make his turn be less obvious.)  Callie Cooke is strong in a small role as a member of the pit stop team who is learning the ropes.

Again, the reason to go see this movie is for the incredible car-racing action.  I know nothing about Formula One, but I thought the film did a good job of communicating enough about how the races work that I was engaged in the story, even though I’m sure there were things I didn’t catch or didn’t completely understand.  Apparently the filmmakers worked closely with the actual Formula One when making this movie.  That tracks; the film is basically a huge advertisement for F1.  That didn’t bother me; this film is clear about what it is right from the beginning, and I think Mr. Kosinski and his team achieve exactly what they set out to do.  (Someday I’d love to see Mr. Kosinski apply his immense visual talent to a movie with a really top-notch script!)

I had a blast sitting in a theater watching this movie.  If you’re going to go see this, find the biggest screen you can.

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