F1: The Movie review

F1: THE MOVIE: 

TOP GUN: MAVERICK FOR FORMULA ONE RACING! 

By Nico Beland

Movie Review: *** ½ out of 4

WARNER BROS. PICTURES AND APPLE ORIGINAL FILMS

Brad Pitt in F1

 

            Joseph Kosinski (Tron: Legacy, Only the Brave, Top Gun: Maverick) takes his Top Gun: Maverick directing from the air to the racetrack in the new sports drama film, F1. This was one of my most anticipated films of the year, I loved Top Gun: Maverick and thought Kosinski knocked it out of the park with that movie so I was eagerly awaiting his next project after the big impact his Top Gun sequel had. 

            While I can’t say F1 reaches that legendary height that Top Gun: Maverick achieved, this is still a damn good movie worth seeing not on the big screen, but IMAX and ONLY IMAX! This truly is an experience kind of movie as when you watch it in IMAX, you’re put on the racetrack seeing, hearing, and feeling every passing car, turn, and hit. 

            The film follows Sonny Hayes (Brad Pitt-Inglourious Basterds, Moneyball, Once Upon a Time in Hollywood), a racer for hire and former Formula One driver who returns to the sport after a thirty year absence to save his old teammate, Ruben Cervantes (Javier Bardem-No Country for Old Men, Skyfall, Dune 1 and 2)’s underdog APXGP F1squad from collapse. He’ll drive alongside hotshot rookie, Joshua Pearce (Damson Idris-Snowfall, The Commuter, Outside the Wire) who’s intent on setting his own pace while also finding out that in Formula One, your teammate is your fiercest competition. 

            The film also stars Kerry Condon (Unleashed, Dom Hemingway, The Banshees of Inisherin) as Kate McKenna, Tobias Menzies (Casino Royale, Underworld: Blood Wars, You Hurt My Feelings) as Peter Banning, Kim Bodnia (The Bridge, Killing Eve, Young Woman and the Sea) as Kaspar Smolinski, Shea Whigham (Fast & Furious franchise, Sicario: Day of the Soldado, Mission: Impossible 7 and 8) as Chip Hart, Will Merrick (Skins, About Time, Dead Pixels) as Nickleby, Joseph Balderrama (The Current War, Uncharted, The Substance) as Rico Fazio, Sarah Niles (Happy-Go-Lucky, The Toxic Avenger (2023), The Fantastic Four: First Steps) as Bernadette Pearce, Samson Kayo (Bloods, Our Flag Means Death, Puss in Boots: The Last Wish) as Cashman, Abdul Salis (Love Actually, Sahara, Flyboys) as Dodge Dowda, Callie Cooke (Britannia, Cheaters, Blithe Spirit) as Jodie, and professional racecar driver Lucano Bacheta as Luca Cortez. 

            Overall, F1 is an incredible moviegoing experience with plenty of large-scale spectacle while also just being a well-crafted film in general with emotional weight and captivating characters. The movie does draw parallels with Top Gun: Maverick as it’s essentially another older driver/pilot from yesteryear coming in to train a new rookie team of fighter pilots/racecar drivers with Sonny Hayes being this film’s equivalent to Tom Cruise’s Maverick, but it doesn’t feel like Kosinski just copied and pasted Top Gun: Maverick’s script and replaced planes with Formula One racing. 

            It’s a formula that works and there is enough in here to make it stand out when compared to the Top Gun sequel. I didn’t really notice the similarities between both movies that much as I was watching it. 

            Brad Pitt as a cocky ex-racer is perfect casting as he utilizes his “Cool Guy” persona he’s embraced since Lt. Aldo Raine in Inglourious Basterds to full effect very much like how Jeff Goldblum embraces his “Ah”s. To the point where if I see a movie where Brad Pitt doesn’t do the “Cool Guy” thing, I’ll find it jarring. 

            Damson Idris was a big standout as Joshua, the young hotshot who’s both Sonny’s teammate and rival throughout the film who’s career is in jeopardy because he’s part of a company that doesn’t win hence why Sonny is brought in. They do the whole old mentor showing the new guy the ropes thing, but Pitt and Idris’ characters don’t exactly get along which leads to some great banter as they learn the only way to win is to work together. 

            The race sequences are amazing and look and sound spectacular on the IMAX screen with Kosinski incorporating a lot of the same camera tricks he used in the planes for Top Gun: Maverick. Because of this, you don’t feel like you’re watching Formula One racing, you’re in the driver’s seat in the car on the racetrack. 

            It’s the kind of IMAX enhanced with phenomenal editing and camera work that gets your adrenaline pumping and leaves you on the edge of your seat. With the exception of Mission: Impossible – The Final Reckoning, I can’t think of any other big blockbuster this year that took my breath away and put me on the edge of my seat in terms of large-scale action so I guess leave it to Joseph Kosinski and Christopher McQuarrie to remind people why we go out to the movies in the first place because this should not be streamed on Apple TV+. 

            Admittedly, the movie does start to lose some of its energy in the second half and this is a 2 hour and 35 minute film, after a certain crash it begins to drag a little, but it regains that adrenaline-pumping energy in the third act. Maybe had it been trimmed down or the second half was more interesting, it would have been much stronger, that’s just me though. 

            F1 is a big screen movie that deserves to be seen on IMAX, the races are exhilarating, the characters are endearing, and the plot keeps you invested. It is definitely also made for F1 fans with a ton of cameos from real-life people, but it works exceptionally well for the uninitiated and might even get them interested in checking out the real sport.