F1 Review: I Love The Eye-Popping Races, But The Sports Movie Clichés Are Overwhelming

There is no question that director Joseph Kosinski knows how to shoot things moving super fast. He first demonstrated this expertise about a decade and a half ago with Lightcycles zooming around The Grid in Tron: Legacy, and his collaboration with daredevil Tom Cruise three years ago yielded the wild aerial awesomeness of Top Gun: Maverick. All of this is to say that the filmmaker is a natural fit for a film about Formula One racing – a project that offers ample opportunity for Kosinski to make audiences feel like they are moving at extremely high velocity while simply sitting in a comfy chair.

As one would anticipate, F1 is an impressive technical achievement. It repeatedly offers the visceral experience of being strapped to the hood/side/back of one of the title sport’s speedy cars, with inventive cinematography and brilliant sound design working in tandem to create the powerful effect. I can say without any reservation that the film met all my expectations in that respect, as I felt like I could practically smell the burning rubber on asphalt. However, it also falls short in some key narrative and storytelling arenas, which very much hamper the 156 minute epic.

Brad Pitt is using every ounce of his star power playing driver Sonny Hayes, but the movie nonetheless fails to make it over two key hurdles: fast cars and crashes/explosions can’t disguise the fact that the script by Ehren Kruger is excessively trope-ridden and formulaic. For those who don’t know the various rules and regulations of the sport going in to the movie, it provides very little assistance and asks that you figure everything out via context (which I normally wouldn’t ding a film for, but the reality is that I felt confused more often than desirable for an entertaining big screen experience).

Javier Bardem) has a team that is desperate to win races and in need of a veteran to train hotshot rookie Joshua Pearce (Damson Idris). Sonny is far from the first choice, but he is the first one to say yes.

Things start off rocky as the team fails to synchronize and mistakes are made. But as Sonny and Joshua starts moving in the same direction toward the target goal, personality conflicts are overcome. And with the help of technical director Kate McKenna (Kerry Condon) using her knowhow to make the cars work best for the drivers in the tandem driving sport, they start to win.

F1 is basically a collection of sport movie cliches.

I don’t know if anyone has ever tried to calculate a golden “cliché to runtime” ratio, but F1 is certainly a film that goes far beyond what it would be. Stock characters and story can be fine if properly packaged into a breezy 90-minute feature, but the Formula One feature asks for an hour-plus more than that, and it’s too big an ask. Stakes and emotional investment dwindle when the moviegoer is left waiting for next obvious plot development to unfold, and that comes paired with disappointment as you consistently recognize that the work isn’t going to make any effort to try something new.

It can’t be denied that some people find comfort in a movie like this, as it’s a nostalgic throwback to a past era of filmmaking… but if I’m seeking that kind of comfort, I simply go back to watch the titles from the late 20^th century that originated it. Anyone’s desire to see the storytelling evolve and to get something sincerely fresh out of the experience will be wanting (those seeking a similar aesthetic thrill can also find it elsewhere, with recent titles springing to mind including James Mangold’s Ford vs. Ferrari and Neill Blomkamp’s Gran Turismo).

If you’re ignorant of Formula One racing, you may want to read up a bit on the sport before seeing F1.

As for the presentation of the eponymous sport, I will admit to being of two minds. I have vitriol for mindless exposition that gracelessly spoon feeds information to ensure that everyone in the audience understands everything that is going on, and I also understand that Formula One has a massive, worldwide fanbase that would be insulted if F1 tried to hold their hand through every racing sequence in the film. All that being said, I am a layman who struggled to fully understand certain mid-race events and found myself disengaged during my screening.

I get it: I would hate any baseball movie that felt the need to explain to me that three strikes equals a strikeout and/or what a home run is. But a little hand-holding isn’t the worst thing. A great baseball movie can get across the mechanics of the game and potentially turn a non-fan into a fan; after watching F1, I can’t say I feel any kind of motivation to learn more about Formula One (which offers a kind of disappointment unto itself). Die-hards will love seeing their favorite sport on screen, but newbies like myself are kept at arm’s length and won’t feel regarded as a target audience (a contrast with everything else about it that screams “mass appeal”).

Star power does a lot of favors for F1.

The various characters are as clichéd as the plot – from Kerry Condon’s “the only woman rebelling in a male-dominated field” to Tobias Menzies’ “slimy executive-type offering back-stabbing deals” – and there is exactly nothing unique about the dynamic between the grizzled veteran and egotistical rookie. F1 is a case of actors elevating material, though.

Brad Pitt isn’t exactly developing his range playing Sonny Hayes, but there certainly is a proper exploitation that has made him a star in the last 30+ years, and a great deal of credit is deserved for his work actually getting behind the wheel and driving at three-figure speeds. And while this is certainly a case of “The Brad Pitt Show,” it can be said that Bardem brings a lot of charm as the “good friend who is way out over his skis” and Damson Idris demonstrates impressive confidence as an up-and-coming performer going toe-to-toe with his A-list co-star.

F1 is a movie that seems to have a very clear idea of who it is for, but a consequence is that anyone on the outside of that target won’t find much to love. It’s a proper big screen experience, as you’ll want to feel your chair rumbling from the sound mix and have your entire field of vision dominated by whizzing scenery and blurry asphalt, but thanks to its underwhelming script, its shelf life beyond cinemas is going to be questionable.