THE STORY – A Formula One driver comes out of retirement to mentor and team up with a younger driver.
THE CAST – Brad Pitt, Damson Idris, Kerry Condon, Javier Bardem, Kim Bodina, Tobias Menzies, Sarah Niles, Samson Kayo & Shea Whigham
THE TEAM – Joseph Kosinski (Director) & Ehren Kruger (Writer)
THE RUNNING TIME – 156 Minutes
It’s almost impossible not to buy into the narrative of how “Top Gun: Maverick,” in fact, “saved the movies” when it was released in 2023. In a post-COVID landscape, it was the perfect storm of everything working in harmony to create a film that had audiences in droves at their local theater and celebrated by critics and the Academy. Filmmaker Joseph Kosinski did what many in his position have dismally failed to achieve when tackling legacy sequels. After orchestrating success at that level, he propelled himself into a position he had never been in Hollywood. All eyes would be locked on what he would create next, with almost impossible expectations. So why not take the innovative filmmaking that thrust audiences into the skies like never before and put that into some of the fastest cars racing throughout multiple countries? Reuniting with producer Jerry Bruckheimer, screenwriter Ehren Kruger, cinematographer Claudio Miranda, and composer Hans Zimmer, “F1” finds Kosinski crafting one of the most ambitiously directed racing films ever assembled that may cross the finish line but loses a few parts in the process.
Audiences follow Brad Pitt’s down-and-out professional racer Sonny Hayes, a once-promising Formula One driver, who was permanently sidelined from greatness after a tragic crash nearly thirty years ago. Now, he lives in his camper, aimlessly drifting down wherever the road takes him, hoping to recapture that unobtainable feeling he lost. “F1” doesn’t waste any time putting Pitt behind the wheel as viewers are treated to a taste of what’s to come with the opening sequence set at Daytona. Kosinski and cinematographer Claudio Miranda immediately set the standard that these thrilling racing moments will only seek to exceed throughout the film’s hearty two-hour-plus runtime. The intensity slowly instilled in the audience is palpable, but it only resides at a pace with room to build upon. That’s where Javier Bardem’s Ruben Cervantes comes into play. An old friend and former colleague of Sonny, Ruben, desperately needs a veteran racer to help his whimpering team, Apex. If Ruben can’t win one Grand Prix within the remaining nine races of the season, he’ll lose ownership of Apex. The stakes are as high as they have ever been for Sonny, as he now has a chance to return to the spotlight that left him. It won’t be easy as he’s forced to push this team beyond its limits, which constantly puts him at odds with other members of the crew, mainly his teammate, the talented but self-absorbed rookie Joshua Pearce, played by Damson Idris.
The dynamic between Hayes and Pearce has not only been explored before in previous racing films but even in Kosinski’s “Top Gun: Maverick.” That sense of repetition is ultimately due to Ehren Kruger’s screenplay, a farmer’s market with all of the most reliable ingredients from this genre packed into a recipe elevated by Kosinski’s precise direction. It shouldn’t be as effective as it is due to its familiarity. Yet, somehow, it’s still able to elicit that solid big-screen movie magic audiences would expect from a film that’s emulating everything about ’90s blockbusters. Even that level of corniness within the humor still manages to prompt some laughs and enjoyment, mainly when Sonny is in the presence of Ruben or the team’s technical director, Kate McKenna, played by Academy Award-nominee Kerry Condon (“The Banshees of Inisherin“).
Kate is one of the many vessels of Kruger’s screenplay, where “F1” throws out tons of technical jargon to make the audience nod their head as they try to understand the complexities of F1. Fans of the sport will most likely keep up with it as Kruger does a pretty good job at building out the world of Formula One racing in a manner that is only aided by Kosinski’s commitment to filming throughout the real racing season and making the environment as realistic as possible for the audience, both inside the car and outside. Real-life racers such as Lewis Hamilton (back when he was with Mercedes) and Max Verstappen inhabit the background of many of the races, as audiences will see Sonny and Joshua go head to head against some of the biggest names in the sport. Much of the film is rooted in getting the sport’s particulars down accurately to almost a molecular level. Whether it’s with the technicality of the simulations the racers prepare for each race, the multitude of factors that go into crafting a car built for what the racers need, or the intricacies of the communications between the drivers and their team in the middle of a grand prix. It’s all to the point where Kosinski even enlisted the help of Hamilton as a producer to ensure “F1” would bring nothing but a sense of realism that immerses audiences in an entirely different manner than any racing film has accomplished.
That immersion is successfully achieved as none of the faults with “F1” lie within Kosinski’s direction, which is the main reason why audiences will get their money’s worth if they seek this out on the biggest screen possible. Every time these characters step behind the wheel, audiences will likely tense up as the cars shoot past the starting line, never once letting up. On a technical level, “F1” is everything you could want out of a summer blockbuster. Miranda’s clean cinematography puts audiences in a position that is the closest they’ll ever get to being in that driver’s seat themselves. Every pan or cut to another car on the heels of Sonny or Joshua feels razor-sharp in part due to Stephen Mirrione’s editing. Oddly enough, there’s more symmetry in the editing of the racing sequences than in some scenes where multiple characters are conversing with one another, coming off as stilted at times.
When it comes to the performances, maybe the overall familiarity of “F1” eases Pitt into a space to efficiently anchor the production with a performance rooted in an archetype that’s been done before. Pitt still maintains his rugged charm, which feels perfectly in line for a character that has the reckless but charming reputation Sonny does. Where Pitt pushes himself (along with Idris) is in the high-stakes driving sequences that place these Hollywood actors right in the driver’s seat of vehicles built to go as fast as possible. In this case, it’s only aided by the presence of the IMAX cameras strapped to them, which is another technique “Top Gun: Maverick” utilized to significant effect. Pitt attempts to bring more to his character than what’s laid out for him by Kruger’s screenplay. He’s worn down and rough around the edges, almost perfectly fitting in line with where Pitt is at in this phase of his career. His made-for-combat cowboy driving style is always a delight to watch, especially as it clashes fundamentally against a far more respectable expectation that Formula One holds itself to, let alone what the rest of the Apex team expects. On paper, it makes sense why Kosinski would build a film of this scale around Pitt in the aftermath of working with Tom Cruise. “F1” works almost as a quasi-sequel to “Top Gun: Maverick,” having this almost meta-like quality of an older Hollywood star still holding on to an industry that seeks to move past them. The mindset that there’s still gas left in the tank is very much present in Sonny, and it’s sold effortlessly by Pitt.
Idris, who for many rose to fame in the criminally underrated FX series “Snowfall,” feels like someone who should’ve already been starring in films of this scale by now. Finally, he gets the opportunity he’s been waiting for, going toe to toe with someone of Pitt’s caliber with confidence and ease. Idris oozes charisma, which aligns very much with the false sense of importance that clouds Pearce’s judgment. He’s undeniably talented yet refuses to let go of the juvenile antics that hold him and his team back. Like Pitt’s, his arc is predictable, representing a younger generation at odds with those before them. All of what he knows is expectedly challenged as Pearce is sharpened into the figure not only to ensure that Apex will remain for another season but also to guarantee he still has a place in Formula One. Whenever the cars are parked, every moment Pitt and Idris share the screen is “F1” at its best. The supporting cast as a whole is excellent, mainly Bardem and Condon. The latter’s strong chemistry with Pitt makes for an endearing romance even if it doesn’t have much depth underneath, which is fine in this case, considering the playful nature around it. The only member who sticks out is Tobias Menzies, who plays Peter Banning, an Apex Board of Directors member, seizing an opportunity on the heels of Ruben’s position. It’s the only character whose cartoonishly motivated behavior feels like the worst replication of a trope done many times in a far less efficient manner.
What Kosinski is able to accomplish on a technical level with “F1” is unparalleled by anything that has come before it in the racing genre. It’s an ideal display of big-budget filmmaking that satisfies the itch of why people go to the movies. Despite all that Kosinski brings, the story never quite shakes the feeling that it’s living in the shadow of racing films that have come before it. It also doesn’t even match up to “Top Gun: Maverick,” which, in Kosinski’s defense, was a tall order even though he recruited most of the same team to come back for this production. There’s just an emotionality that feels absent here, which is, in fact, the thing that keeps “F1” from cementing itself as one of the greatest racing films ever made. Whether that impacts “F1” beyond its shelf life in theaters remains to be seen, but it’s undoubtedly a fun time at the movies, bringing audiences one of the best theatrical experiences they can have this year. That alone is worth the price of starting the engine and taking this 156-minute-long behemoth for a long and winding ride.
