F1: The Movie

I can confirm, after seeing this one, that Formula 1 is basically the bougie version of NASCAR, and I find that absolutely hilarious.

Spinning the tale of aging racing superstar Sonny Hayes (Brad Pitt) after he’s called back into the big leagues by a friend and former teammate-turned-desperate-team-owner Rubén Cervantes (Javier Bardem), F1: The Movie puts the pedal to the metal right from the jump as it charts Sonny’s journey from self-imposed obscurity to becoming one of the top competitive racers in the sport once again. Brought onboard to much skepticism from his new co-workers on team APXGT, technical director Kate McKenna (Kerry Condon), especially, Sonny faces an uphill battle in the driver’s seat as well, thanks to an up-and-coming rookie named Joshua Pearce (Damson Idris), a racer whose arrogance and ego threaten to derail his and Sonny’s chances at having a successful season. With Rubén’s control over APXGP riding on his team’s performance, it’s up to Sonny to find a way to not only do his job on the track but also figure out a way to bring together a group of people who don’t exactly care for Sonny’s unconventional way of going about his business. Rev your engines and buckle your seat belts, people, because things are about to get fast, and possibly even a little furious.

From director Joseph Kosinski, the filmmaker behind 2022’s adrenaline-soaked Top Gun: Maverick, F1 shares DNA with some of the best sports/racing dramas around, while blazing a path of burned rubber all its own. By diving deep into the world of Formula 1, both inside the car and outside of it, the racing culture surrounding each exotic locale visited, and what it takes to win — and keep winning — in this highly competitive environment, F1 is a thrill ride from start to finish, even if its by-the-numbers plot doesn’t always help matters. And although this one doesn’t reach near as high of heights as what Kosinski managed to pull off with Top Gun: Maverick, F1 is a technical masterpiece on virtually every level, especially when it comes to how these races were filmed, edited, and mixed, with Pitt’s patented cool guy swagger working in all the places where F1’s script doesn’t.

Making a big deal (rightfully so) about the fact that F1 was filmed on real Formula 1 tracks with real cars and real actors inside of them (Pitt and his fellow actors drove the cars themselves more often than not during filming), the idea that Kosinski had to develop new camera tech to make even half of this work says a lot about the filmmaking put on display here, to say nothing about the way it all feels sitting glued to your seat in a theater with the sound cranked to eleven and the IMAX screen looming large in front of you. Throw in a thumping EDM-tinged score by Hans Zimmer that works well as a background beat to all the white-knuckled racing, and F1 is a highly enjoyable film that I would recommend to anyone looking for something light but undeniably impressive to watch.

Too bad a movie can’t coast on its technical achievements alone though, so where does that leave the rest of the film? For one, Brad Pitt is pretty damn good as Sonny Hayes, reminding audiences why he’s still one of our biggest Hollywood stars, despite being super selective about the roles he chooses nowadays. But it’s mostly because of Pitt that Sonny works as a character, with his weak characterization and corny dialogue constantly putting a damper on scenes that are only saved by the acting going on in them. Clearly having the most fun out of everyone, Javier Bardem is great as the struggling but hopeful Rubén, with Damson Idris’ Joshua playing well against Pitt (despite losing some importance in the third act), and Kerry Condon giving a whip-smart performance as Kate, making the casting of this film the least of its worries.

But maybe my biggest gripe with this one is, for all the high-octane racing sequences F1 pulls off seemingly with ease, the film rarely concerns itself with telling an equally exciting story. Sure, we get to see the professional rivalry between Sonny and Joshua develop, as well as the more personal relationship between Sonny and Kate. But the plot is relatively unsurprising from a dramatic standpoint, save for one well-executed second-act set piece that almost changes things for the better. Unfortunately, it kinda doesn’t, and other than that unexpected moment, I’d be hard-pressed to recount too much else about F1‘s perfectly serviceable yet slightly safe plot to rave about.

When F1 fires on all cylinders, it’s sure to leave you breathless and on the edge of your seat as it expertly captures the danger, speed, and incredible amount of technical detail and skill needed to win a real-life F1 race. But thanks to some just okay storytelling and a few issues with the characters, Pitt’s Sonny included, F1 falls short of being the best version of itself. Thankfully, the sheer thrill of seeing how some of F1: The Movie’s better racing sequences play out absolutely needs to be experienced, and if I’m being honest, it’s good to see Pitt back onscreen too.