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James Mottram

3/5 stars
Watching F1: The Movie is like being hurled back into 1980s Hollywood, for better and for worse.
The film, about a veteran driver and a rookie in a failing F1 team, sees producer Jerry Bruckheimer (Days of Thunder) and director Joseph Kosinski reunited after Top Gun: Maverick, starring Tom Cruise.
But instead of Cruise, this new film stars Brad Pitt.


Pitt plays Sonny Hayes, a former F1 driver who disappeared from the circuit following a crash at the 1993 Spanish Grand Prix. In the years since, he has scraped by as a New York cabby, developed a gambling habit and had numerous failed marriages.
He gets another shot at the big time when his former teammate Ruben (Javier Bardem) invites him to drive for his failing F1 team, APX GP. Sonny, it turns out, has retained his skill and proves to be a fantastic driver who plays by his own rules.
Made with the cooperation of Formula One teams and drivers – Lewis Hamilton is one of the film’s producers and makes an appearance on-screen alongside some of his rivals – Kosinski’s film scores big time with its driving scenes.
F1 offers the same visceral pleasures as the fighter jet scenes in Top Gun: Maverick, and the movie looks great on IMAX, for which some scenes were specially filmed. Audiences really feel like they are in the driver’s seat.

Less impressive, however, is Ehren Kruger’s script, which is riddled with the corniest of sporting movie tropes. Chief among them is the rivalry between Sonny and Joshua Pearce (Damson Idris), the cocky, arrogant young driver.
Then there is Sonny’s relationship with the team engineer Kate (Kerry Condon), something else you will see coming a mile off. And sprinkling further cliché is Tobias Menzies’ slick-and-smiling corporate villain, who is aiming to wrest control of APX GP from Ruben.
Soundtracked by a Hans Zimmer score and songs by Queen (“We Will Rock You”), Led Zeppelin (“Whole Lotta Love”) and others, this has summer movie written all over it.
A blockbuster moulded for fans of Netflix’s F1 behind-the-scenes series Drive to Survive, F1’s swooping shots of the racetracks look astounding, especially when the cars are screaming past Caesar’s Palace in Las Vegas. But the story stalls on Lap 1 and never really gets going.

Only Sarah Niles, who plays Joshua’s mother, finds any real dimension. Otherwise, it is best watched with your brain in neutral.
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Starring Brad Pitt, Kerry Condon and Javier Bardem, Joseph Kosinski’s F1 dazzles visually but is riddled with corny sporting movie tropes


Starring Brad Pitt, Kerry Condon and Javier Bardem, Joseph Kosinski’s F1 dazzles visually but is riddled with corny sporting movie tropes.


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An assessment or critique of a service, product or creative endeavour.  Film reviews, restaurant reviews, reviews of art exhibitions. (Eg. Crazy Rich Asians: an important film, yes, but a good one?)


Review

Review | F1: The Movie review – Brad Pitt in fun but clichéd motor-racing drama

Starring Brad Pitt, Kerry Condon and Javier Bardem, Joseph Kosinski’s F1 dazzles visually but is riddled with corny sporting movie tropes