F1

Grade: B-

F1, of course, made me think of Ford v Ferrari, and (even more so) Gran Turismo. I liked it better than both of them. Director Joseph Kosinski brought IMAX cameras into fighter jets to great effect in Top Gun: Maverick. Now, he’s doing a similar thing, on the ground this time, with race cars.

The plot doesn’t exactly break new ground – or, you could say, none of the four or five storylines it’s got going do so. There’s enough happening in F1 for a limited series, and I wonder if I would have received it better had it been done in that format. We have the old veteran, coaxed out of his indefinite retirement and brought back into the game. He buts heads with a young, hotheaded up-and-comer. There’s a woman working on the sidelines in some capacity, who has always promised herself she’d keep it professional and not get romantically involved with a participant in the sport, at least during the season – but guess what happens. The coach stands off to the side, passionately yelling into a headset. It all comes down to the last few seconds of the final laps/points/touchdowns/home runs/holes in one/baskets/goal units/etc. 

The tried-and-true old vet is Sonny Hayes (Brad Pitt). He is recruited by Ruben (Javier Bardem), an old “frenemy.” He hopes Sonny can finally get his team at least one win in the final 9 games of their season. The conceited young driver in question is Joshua Pearce. Like the self-aware musical that has the number with the two ladies who sing about how they’ll be best friends by the end of the song, Sonny and Pearce will be good frenemies by the end of F1.

Kerry Condon plays the technical director. Despite having a predictable arc, she is one of the stronger female characters I’ve seen in a movie like this. She’s one of those actresses who is a unique kind of pretty, and it’s a pleasure to hear her authentic Irish accent. She should do audiobooks and various other narration. The camera work during the races is well done; you feel like you are in the cars. The title is in the most confusing font I’ve ever seen. I couldn’t make out the hieroglyphics in the trailer or poster. I had no idea what the movie was called until I read up on it. There is some distracting product placement. They really REALLY want us to drink Heineken 0.0.

In addition to the titles I mentioned above, I’d also liken F1 to Oliver Stone’s Any Given Sunday (1999), which was a sometimes brutal look at football, with all its tension and injuries. It, like F1, also was a bit long and had many irons in the fire when it came to storylines, but the cast and directing style sold it enough to keep me interested. At 2 hours and 35 minutes, F1 is bloated and drawn out, but I remember thinking, when glancing at my watch to see that there was still an hour to go: “Oh, we still have another hour. I don’t mind too much. This is kind of cool.” There’s enough here to keep up the entertainment. I keep using the word “enough.” It’s apt. F1 is enough.

Grade: B-