Movie Review: F1® THE MOVIE

Geek Girl Authority

7 hours ago

Kids, I have to admit something. I'm a shameless sports movie fan. Add a weepy ending, and I'll see a flick multiple times. Well, F1® The Movie hits theaters this week, combining not just one, but two of my favorite things. I fell hard for Formula 1 more than a decade ago and still love it. Is this highbrow sports movie on pace to win the championship? Or is this set for a 'DNF' at the box office? Read on. F1® The Movie
F1® The Movie follows Sonny Hayes (Brad Pitt), a journeyman driver recruited by an old friend (Javier Bardem) to lead a struggling Formula One team. There are only two problems. The car is a beast, and the team's B driver (Damson Idris) is young, headstrong and desperately in need of mentoring. Kerry Condon and Tobias Menzies costar in the film. Joseph Kosinski directs F1® The Movie from a script by Ehren Kruger.
Friends, sometimes a movie comes along that leaves you stumped. It leaves you scratching your head, wondering just how to interpret it.
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International readers, please don't judge us too harshly, but despite the best efforts of this Jenson Button fangirl, Formula One remains a fairly niche sport here in the United States.
That's my long way of saying, F1® The Movie, surprisingly, is less of a racing movie and more of a Formula One film, and everything that entails.
Kosinski showed audiences how good he is with action sequences while directing Top Gun: Maverick . I was intrigued. Kosinski directing F1 racing sequences in IMAX? Count me in.
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Truthfully, the impressive racing sequences aren't taken as far as they can go. Racing takes a back seat to the F1 world and all its complexities. We hear about tire strategies, we see aerodynamic engineering, DRS and there's so much about FIA rules. So much. This is all to say that F1® The Movie is very 'Inside Baseball.'
It goes without saying that fans of the sport are certain to enjoy this one. Luckily, the film spent a lot of time shooting in and around the Grand Prix circuit. This is sure to be candy for F1 fans. It's fan fiction in the best way possible, thanks to the dozens of familiar names and faces who will be instantly recognizable to anyone following Formula One.
With all this being said, though, I really struggle to see the joy here for non-F1 people. Even the racing sequences are structured less like an action film and more like Formula One TV coverage or a video game. Don't get me wrong, there are racing sequences, but I was left wanting more — especially with all the emphasis the film's marketing placed on IMAX. If you have Abu Dhabi and Las Vegas at your disposal for nighttime races, use them. Wow me. Unfortunately, it's never quite as impressive as it realistically could be.
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Switching gears, F1® The Movie brings Brad Pitt a very interesting change of pace. The actor is one of the few remaining old-school 'movie stars.' You go to a 'Brad Pitt movie.' He's identifiable across the generations.
In Pitt's hands, Sonny Hayes is a gritty and grizzled old driver, and there's a very real sense that the sun is going down on his story. As I watched, I found myself immediately reminded of films like True Grit and The Shootist from the late 1960s and early 1970s.
These movies came as the sun set on John Wayne's career. At that time, the once dynamic action movie lead was moving a little slower, and there was the very real feeling that he wasn't quite the main character in these stories anymore. This was a man whose action movie days were behind him. The world he knew had passed him by.
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While Pitt isn't quite in the same stage of life as Wayne in those classic films, there's a similar sense of melancholy at play here. This feels like a change for Pitt. There's a sense of self-awareness that his star persona needs to transition, and he's beginning to embrace his inner grizzled old man. Give those of us who remember Legends of the Fall your thoughts during this difficult time. Melodrama
The main issue plaguing F1® The Movie , though, revolves around Kruger's script. For much of the movie, the story is comfortable with its easy, almost slice-of-life narrative. As mentioned, this is Formula One fan fiction. However, as the movie slides into act three, it suddenly veers sharply into melodramatic territory.
We all know sports movies. Melodrama is not a rarity in this genre. However, the emotional plot twist happens so late into this two and a half hour movie that it hardly feels needed. The stakes feel manufactured, and by that point in the story, the twist serves only to distract from this interesting world.
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When all is said and done, I'm going to be watching with interest how F1® The Movie does this weekend. I'm struggling to write this review because friends, I am biased. I'm a Formula 1 fangirl going back more than a decade. However, I am also a realist. F1® The Movie looks on the surface to be a racing film, when in truth, it's an F1 movie with all the 'inside baseball' rules and jargon that come with it. I can't say that F1® The Movie will be an easy sit for those not well-versed in Formula One; however, you never know, try it out and you might be a fan.
F1® The Movie opens in theaters around the country on June 27, 2025.
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