Though it may not be a perfect movie, and it certainly won’t garner the stellar reputation of director Joseph Kosinski’s previous film, Top Gun: Maverick, F1 is everything you could ask for from a solidly fun summer sports movie. Saying the film is thinly written would be the understatement of the century, but the starry cast and incredible racing photography elevate it at every turn (pun intended).
Brad Pitt lends his unending on-screen charisma to Sonny Hayes, a fictional racer with experience in Formula One, NASCAR, and everything in between. Decades after his initial success in Formula One as a young adult and a terrifying crash which derailed his career, Sonny returns to the sport when former teammate Ruben (Javier Bardem) offers him an open seat on his long-beleaguered team. Presumably, Sonny’s main task will be mentoring rookie sensation Joshua Pearce (Damson Idris), but many, including Joshua, express frustration with Sonny’s methods.
Until the film’s key races begin, there aren’t many surprises to be found. Pretty much every character fits a neat little role: Sonny’s the wizened rebel, Joshua’s the egotistical kid, Ruben is the exasperated voice of reason, Kate (Kerry Condon) is the techie and Sonny’s love interest, and Peter (Tobias Menzies) is the mustache-twirling team owner. Several pit crew members are also introduced, but the film is so overstuffed that it doesn’t have time to develop them, or, as in one glaring case, finish subplots it starts revolving around them.
There are times, however, when the film sparkles off the racetrack. One particular reconciliation between Sonny and Joshua, engineered by Ruben and Kate, is quite unique and quite hilarious, especially when Sonny’s gambling habit is used as a crucial story point. This reconciliation proves moot when a truly startling accident occurs, testing Sonny and Joshua’s burgeoning camaraderie. F1 is about an hour too long in general, but I do like how long it takes this relationship to rebuild itself. It contributes to how epic in scope the film feels, despite its paper-thin writing. The wins — both personal and behind the wheel — feel sincerely earned, at least as sincere as a quasi-cornball movie like this can make them feel.
What sets F1 apart as a car-racing movie is its focus on driving as a team. Sonny’s methods of encouraging and helping Joshua typically involve using the rules of the sport to their advantage. Rules which are enforced for parity’s sake are bent by Sonny’s out-of-the-box quick thinking to put Joshua in better and better positions, even if it takes him a while to see it as the favor it is. Kate’s backstory, though only very briefly explored, gives us an inkling as to why someone so technologically and scientifically inclined might choose to use those talents for sports as opposed to anything else. On the corporate end, an interesting (though ultimately unnecessary) subplot involving Ruben and Peter’s dueling motivations gives us some sense of the palace intrigue which often goes on behind the scenes of these multi-million dollar endeavors.
I believe most audiences will turn up to F1 to see fantastic car action, and the film certainly doesn’t disappoint on that account. I do wonder whether the film’s gargantuan two-and-a-half-hour length will turn away family audiences, but if you’re looking for a fun car racing movie, F1 does provide a very filling charcuterie board of the sub-genre. | George Napper