Director Joseph Kosinski has more or less made several films in a row now about aging heroes or underdogs being called into the limelight for one big, final mission. Whether it’s his directorial debut, the underrated Tron: Legacy, his moving tribute to the Granite Mountain Hotshots in Only the Brave, and of course, his billion dollar-grossing megahit Top Gun: Maverick, Kosinski has made his affection for the underdog well known. His latest film, set in the cutthroat world of Formula 1 racing, shares many of those same traits, to the point where it wouldn’t be radical to accuse the filmmaking of copying his own homework. His latest foray into Summer Blockbuster territory hits many of the same beats as Top Gun: Maverick, but with lesser results. Thankfully, the muscular, thrilling direction keeps everything in tact.
Courtesy Warner Bros
Racing legend Sonny Hayes (Brad Pitt) was once a hotshot driver known for his dangerous style of racing. After debuting in Formula 1, his career was derailed after a terrible accident that took him away from the sport for over 10 years, plunging into alcoholism and piles of gambling debt. After returning to racing as a journeymen driver, keeping his head down and winning trophy after trophy, he is recruited by his old racing friend and current owner of the struggling APX Formula 1 team, Ruben Cervantes (Javier Bardem). Ruben’s team is in danger of being sold off after a terrible start to their season, with only their cocky rookie driver Joshua Pearce (Damson Idris) showing any potential. In a last-ditch effort to save the team, Ruben enlists Sonny to return to Formula 1 and drive for APX in hopes of turning things around.
Directed By Joseph Kosinski, F1 is full-blown Summer Movie in the truest fashion. Like any greats sports movie, this is an exciting and deeply entertaining film experience that warrants seeing on the biggest screen you can find. While one can ding the film for its many product placement tie-ins and overall glossy sheen, the filmmaking on display is downright remarkable. Even when the script fails to bring any depth or originality into its plotting or character, the spectacle, itself, is simply spectacular.
Cinematographer Claudio Miranda’s elegant and slick photography keeps a lump in your chest during every racing sequence or shot. Properly immersing the audiences in the drivers seat, what Miranda, Kosinski and team have pulled off in regard to their action is nothing short of miraculous. The filmmakers are able to place cameras directly in the seat of the cars and in seemingly every other area in the race track to capture some of the most immersive and textured racing sequences ever captured for the big screen.
Just the shots of Pitt alone in his race car is enough to make any hardened cinephile beam with cinematic bliss. The editing precision, by editors Stephen Mirrione (Traffic) and Patrick J. Smith (Top Gun: Maverick), keeps the suspense on a tight rope, breathlessly cutting between one awe-inducing image to the next. Even the fiercely-cut extended montages, set to an eclectic soundtrack featuring artists such as Doja Cat, Don Toliver, Tate McRae, Ed Sheeran and Roddy Rich, provide chills based off showmanship alone. Hans Zimmer’s pulsating score makes you feel like you’re inside an EDM concert while watching some of the greatest sports spectacle to ever grace the screen.
Courtesy Warner Bros
Despite F1’s top-tier filmmaking, the script is unusually thin for a film such as this, skimping out on the meaty subtext and character depth as seen in Maverick or even Only the Brave. Those films had genuine weight and pathos to them, whether in the actual script text or in meta subtext ala Top Gun. F1 insists on having the similar weight, but the script is sorely lacking, dishing out stock characters and generic cliches in abundance.
Pitt’s laid back performance exhibits many of the hallmarks traits that made him such a star in the first place, even if his Sonny Hayes feels like an amalgamation of every “cool” character the Oscar-winner has ever played. Pitt’s Hayes feels the most real when he’s locking horns with Damson Idris’s Joshua Pearce or when he’s brought down to Earth by Kerry Condon’s racing engineer Kate McKenna. Condon and Pitt have a sparkling chemistry that elevates the true scripting, allowing for genuine, albeit brief, moments of humanism.
The supporting cast around them, including Bardem’s well-meaning owner, Shea Whigham in a blink-or-you’ll-miss-him cameo and Tobias Menzies as the nefarious money man looking to sell the tram to the highest bidder, all fill out fairly pedestrian roles with ease. Kosinski has typically been able to match his sense of scale and spectacle with tangible drama, whereas the drama in F1 tends to get repetitive in the second half, rehashing its own emotional beats that stall out as the film progresses.
Courtesy Warner Bros
F1 is riddled with cliches and lacks significant thematic depth, yet it’s still a thrilling summer movie. Director Joseph Kosinski and cinematographer Claudio Miranda capture some of the most immersive and heart-stopping races you’ll ever find on the big screen and this is as confidently made as any blockbuster this year, one that fully delivers in terrific popcorn entertainment.
F1 is now playing in theaters.
Pass. I talked myself into letting people trick me on Ford vs Ferrari. Just hate car movies
Might be worth streaming
I thought it was a good underdog story – the racing scenes were phenomenal especially in IMAX.
Some amazing action scenes. However film is overlong and full of too many of the tropes one sees in the “old master training young student” film.
Did like damson idris. Really liked him in Snowfall on FX. 3 of 4 stars
This would have been better if Idris would keep saying to Brad Pitt “Kachow!” and a tow truck would drive up and talk all sassy to both of ’em.
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