It seems like every few years a racing movie comes out. There are animated movies (“Cars”), comedy movies (“Talladega Nights”), movies based on a true story (“Ford vs Ferrari”), movies based on other things (“Grand Turismo” based on a video game and “Speed Racer” based on a TV show), etc. (there are also horse racing movies – but that’s a slightly different sport). The latest racing movie is “F1 The Movie”. Personally, I’m not a fan of racing. It’s a bunch of cars driving around in a circle over and over for hours. If you want me to be interested in a racing movie you need to have some good racing scenes and you need to have a decent plotline. This movie succeeds in doing the first part right, but not the second part.
“F1” isn’t a sequel or remake but the plot lines make it feel like it is. I’ve seen most of the plot lines in this movie before. The main storyline follows Sonny Hays (Brad Pitt) who was a hot F1 driver several years before, but that ended after a major crash that put him in the hospital. The movie starts years later. Sonny now lives in his van and occasionally fills in on some races – the first scene in the movie he helps win a NASCAR race. That’s where Ruben Cervantes (Javier Bardem) finds him. Ruben used to race with Sonny years ago, now he runs an F1 racing team. The racing team is currently dead last, and they just lost one of their drivers. If Ruben doesn’t turn things around and win, he thinks the company that owns the team will either fire him or sell the team and get out of the racing business. So, Sonny agrees to race for him. The first time he’s driven and F1 racing car since the accident years ago.
That sets up all the generic storyline that are in this movie. The storyline with the older experienced driver teaching the hot young newcomer Joshua Pearce (Damson Idris) about how to win a race. The storyline that one person alone can’t win, it takes a team to win. Flirting with Kate McKenna (Kerry Condon), one of the only women on the team. The storyline that if the team doesn’t win then the team could all be fired. The storyline that one driver gets injured and doesn’t return to racing until one of the final races. I’ve seen all those storylines in other sports movies. There’s even been some racing movies with similar storylines (the 2001 movie “Driven” has an old driver played by Sylvester Stallone returning to mentor a young driver). Some of the dialogue in “F1” even falls flat although it’s not always due because of the script. The quick editing sometimes ruins the punch lines in the dialogue.
However, the racing scenes are mostly very entertaining helped by the cast including Brad Pitt, Javier Bardem, Damson Idris, Kerry Condon, Sarah Niles (playing Joshua Pearce’s mother), and Callie Cooke (playing an inexperienced member of the pit crew). The directing by Joseph Kosinski (Top Gun: Maverick) and the musical score by Academy Award winner Hans Zimmer do a good job keeping the pace of the movie when it’s just one race after another. However, I do think they could have shortened the 2.5+ hour running time a little bit.
Also, I saw the movie in Dolby Vision. The cinematography (highlighted by the high dynamic range Dolby Vision picture) and the sound (Dolby Atmos audio) do a good job making you feel like you’re in the car with the racers. There’s some great shots of the races and the cities that they race in including a scene where the fireworks are so close there’s sparks on the racetrack (I’m guessing that was CGI) and several shots of hotels in Las Vegas before and after the F1 race in Las Vegas (filmed during the real F1 race in Las Vegas). It looks like members of the race crew stayed at different hotels in Las Vegas because there’s several different hotels shown.
Overall, the acting, the directing, the cinematography, and especially the races often make you forget about the generic storylines although I think the 2.5+ hour running time is a little too long. There’s enough entertainment in this movie to keep you interested even if you’re not a fan of racing like me.
Overall: 7.5 out of 10
LOS ANGELES FILM REVIEW 