Hot off the press, well, fresh from the cinema, here is a spoiler-free review of F1: The Movie. It stars Brad Pitt and from director Joseph Kosinski.
First off, I’m not a fan of F1 as a sport; I find it very dull. I used to like it when I was younger, but as I got older, I realised it’s pretty much: whoever gets to the first corner has won. There’s not much overtaking, and it’s all about pit stops.
If you like F1, good for you, but it’s not for me. With that in mind, I was keen to see the movie as it was Kosinski, who’s been a solid director.
F1: The Movie stars Pitt, Damson Idris, Javier Bardem, Kerry Condon, Tobias Menzies, Kim Bodnia, Sarah Niles, and Samson Kayo.
The Story
The story for F1 is a simple one, a classic, and has been done before:
A Formula One driver comes out of retirement to mentor and team up with a younger driver.
A young know-it-all all vs an older ‘could have been’.
Sonny Hayes (Pitt) could have been the best F1 driver in the world, until an accident in the 80s put him out of commission. Since then, he has been driving, here and there, earning a few bucks.
We meet him getting ready for an Indy 24-Hour race. He gets in the car and manages to take the lead in the race. They win, and he takes his $5,000 and leaves. His old friend, Ruben (Bardem), and Ruben is in trouble. He runs an F1 team, and he’s not doing well. In fact, halfway through the season, he’s not scored a single point.
Ruben convinces Sonny that he needs to join the team as a driver, and help train up a new young lad, Joshua (Idris). The rest of the story is about the final nine races of the season and how Sonny needs to try and save Ruben’s team.
As I said, it’s a story we’ve seen before, but it’s always about the characters.
The Cast
Pitt is an excellent actor with an amazing career. The guy will always give 100% to his roles, and he does here. Sonny is a very cool character, the kind of guy you would like to hang around with. It’s not about him, it’s about the team.
At times, Sonny looks like he is in pain, and I’m not sure it wasn’t just Pitt showing his age. I know my knees hurt from getting out of a chair, let alone feeling g-force in an F1 car.
The other main character is Joshua, played by Idris. Again, he gives a really great performance as the young, cocky, know-it-all. Where Sonny thinks about the team, Joshua thinks about himself and winning. If he wins, he can bargain with other teams, make millions and live the life of the rich and famous.
Joshua goes through the biggest arc as the F1 hotshot, and Idris does an excellent job of carrying the role. He’s a new name to me, but one to watch for the future.
Bardem is always good, but he really shines here as the company manager. He wants to win, but it might cost his friend’s life.
I also have to mention Kerry Condon, who I thought was Rebecca Ferguson from the trailer. I have seen Condon before, and she is very beautiful. In this, she has an Irish accent, which makes her even more beautiful.
Cliches
As with any movie, F1 has a few cliches, it can’t be helped, but they are forgivable.
Most of F1 is a man’s movie; it’s about big cars going vroom vroom. They don’t go down the route of any girl bosses, even with Condon’s character.
She plays Kate, the first head mechanic for any F1 team. He wants to get a win to prove that she can do it. It’s not overly done, though, and it’s not all ‘in your face’ about it. He still has to fight in her corner, and she’s not a girl boss.
It was nice to see a woman go through an arc, and not just have everything handed to her on a plate. However, there is a female pit crew who goes a little ‘girl bossy’ towards the end, but again, it’s not overly done.
Condon being so likeable, she can tighten my nuts anytime. Actually, she’s more into aerodynamics, so she can check my exhaust for wind anytime she likes.
I loved the ending, as you just don’t know how it’s going to go. I’m not great at second-guessing endings, and this one was the same. I had no idea how it was going to end, but I was on the edge of my seat.
The Vroom Vrooms
As I said, I’m not an F1 fan, but man alive, I was on the edge of my seat in this. Seeing it on the big screen, I felt myself leaning left or right with the cars. When I caught myself doing this, I smiled. It’s been a while since I felt like this in the cinema.
I found that some of the editing when racing was just a little off. Not sure why, it just did. I am being overly picky, though. I would have liked some longer shots of the cars racing.
However, F1 still nails the action; you feel like you’re in the car with Sonny and Joshua. You feel the engine revving, you feel the g-force in the seat, and it’s great.
On top of all this, the music is held back at the right moments, so you can just focus on the cars. The score is by Hans Zimmer, and he really nails it. On top of that, you have a great soundtrack from Queen’s We Will Rock You to more modern music with a kickass bass.
Overall
F1: The Movie is cinema. I would have been annoyed at myself for missing this in the cinema, I can’t see seeing it on the small screen as the same experience. It is very much worth a visit to the cinema. If you can see it in IMAX, I envy you a lot!
This movie is very much like Top Gun: Maverick, it’s an old school story, it’s very well told, and it has a lot of practical effects. When you saw Tom Cruise getting g-force in Maverick, you see Pitt getting the same in the car.
There is one shot that was overly used; it is when you’re in the car, looking at the front or back, and then it does a 180 to face the other way. It’s a nice shot, but it was used about a dozen times. It wore thin after a while.
Also, there is very little of Lewis Hamilton in this movie. I’m really thankful for that. I was expecting him to give a stirring speech to the new hotshot, but he doesn’t.
Again, I’m being overly picky on what is a very well-directed movie, with a great cast, and a solid story. F1: The Movie is going to get a full 5 stars from me. This makes it the first 5-star experience since the first Dune for me.
F1: The Movie is now in the cinemas and I can’t recommend it enough, even if you don’t like the sport, you’ll like the movie.
