A One Mann’s Movies review of “F1®” (2025).
Original Title: F1® The Movie.
What an annoying ® symbol! I assume that Formula One Licensing B.V., who hold the trademarks for “Formula 1” and “F1”, had a strop about it and made them do it! (Although, curiously, I notice that the titles on the actual film itself DIDN’T have it!)
But, anyway, “F1: The Movie” (or just “F1” as it now, thankfully, seems to have got away with) at least gives some cause for a celebration. There are precious few films in this summer season that are ‘original stories’ rather than being episode <nn> of a tired, long-standing franchise or a remake of an animated classic. (Although ‘original’ is perhaps stretching it for this one: the film is almost a reworking of “Days of Thunder”.) And while it doesn’t exactly make me want to trumpet its praises from the rooftops, it is a high-octane, popcorn-munching, fun way to spend a few hours in a dark air-conditioned building during this warm spell of weather.
Bob the Movie Man Rating:
“F1®” Plot:
Sonny Hayes (Brad Pitt) used to be in Formula 1 racing before a terrible crash cut his promising career short. Now he makes a living in speedway racing… and anything else involving fast cars and requiring skilled driving. But when approached by an ex-colleague Ruben Cervantes (Javier Bardem) from struggling F1 team APX, he gets another shot at the big time in F1.
Certification:
UK: 12A; US: PG-13. (From the BBFC web site: Infrequent strong language, moderate threat.)
Talent:
Starring: Brad Pitt, Damson Idris, Javier Bardem, Kerry Condon, Tobias Menzies, Kim Bodnia, Sarah Niles,
Will Merrick, Joseph Balderrama, Abdul Salis, Callie Cooke, Samson Kayo, Simon Kunz.
Directed by: Joseph Kosinski.
Written by: Ehren Kruger. (Based on a story by Joseph Kosinski & Ehren Kruger.)
Running Time: 2h 35m.
“F1®” Summary:
Positives:
- The racing scenes are well-shot, exciting and deliver the required adrenaline shot.
- Pitt oozes star-quality and Kerry Conlon makes for an interesting and believable love-interest.
- The soundtrack from Hans Zimmer is stonking.
Negatives:
- It’s all pretty vanilla and predictable, story-wise.
- A ‘corporate shenanigans’ subplot confused and irritated me.
- Some of the dialogue is unintelligible.
Review of “F1®”:
Women want to sleep with him… My God, even I do!
Brad Pitt is a phenomenal star-presence at the heart of this movie. I was complaining re. “Mission Impossible: The Final Reckoning” that Tom Cruise is only a year younger than I am. Similarly, Brad Pitt is only two-and-a-half years younger than I am! What HAVE I been doing with my skin? Or, more to the point, what has he been doing with his?!
His co-star in this, Kerry Condon, is nearly 20 years his junior. But it still doesn’t feel ‘ick’ in the way that some of the Roger Moore James Bond encounters often did. Even the junior crew-girl Jodie (Callie Cooke, aged 31) eyes him up in his ice bath. Well, you just would, wouldn’t you?
Pitt just oozes charisma in the role and he really cements his place as still a major draw to this sort of summer blockbuster…. like a fox marking his territory.
Kerry Conlon is also terrific, not ditching any of her “Banshees of Inisherin” accent. It’s a good counterbalance to the male-oriented testosterone of the film that here is a woman in a senior engineering role who proves to be absolutely key to the success of the team. A good role model for young girls to aspire to.
A Really Strong supporting cast.
Elsewhere, the strong cast is strewn with well-known faces.
- Javier Bardem is as solid and reliable as you would expect him to be in the role of the team’s manager, up against the ropes and grasping at straws;
- Damson Idris (who I only vaguely remember from that terrible Liam Neeson offering “The Commuter“) makes a terrific impression as the cock-sure youngster: a guy with talent but no self-control;
- Tobias Menzies (Prince Philip in “The Crown” if, like me, you were struggling to place him) is slimy and supercilious as one of the board members;
- Kim Bodnia, from “Killing Eve”, is great as the chief-engineer of the team but perhaps not given enough to do;
- And we get not one, but two appearances from actors from Richard Curtis-oriented films: Simon Kunz, so memorable as the luckless ‘John with the unfaithful wife’ from “Four Weddings and a Funeral” appears as an aggressive journalist who gets a nice pay-check; and Abdul Salis plays one of the engineering team. Salis famously began his first day on a film set in 2003 at Heathrow airport having the nice surprise (kept secret from him) of having to snog Denise Richards in “Love Actually”!
Splendid cinematography.
This was the team that brought you “Top Gun: Maverick“: director Joseph Kozinski and cinematographer Claudio Miranda. Some of the same camera technology that put you in the cockpit of the jets in that film is employed to put you very much in the cockpit of the F1 cars in this film. It’s very effective at giving you the adrenaline rush of the circuits. An even more effective shot is one on the front-bumper of the car, seen during a “flying” sequence, although this is rather underused imho.
One of Hans Zimmer’s best.
It was often difficult to hear some of the soundtrack over the roar of the engines, but my first impression of Hans Zimmer’s soundtrack for this film was extremely positive. Zimmer has done an F1 soundtrack before: he did the one for 2013’s “Rush“. But this just sounds terrific and I can’t wait for it to drop on Spotify so I can give it another listen.
But the story is lacklustre.
Despite all of the positives – and this IS a fun film to watch – the off-the-circuit drama is really all rather vanilla and dull. It was the same problem with the classic racing-genre film from 1966, John Frankenheimer’s “Grand Prix” (a film where, legend has it, Frankenheimer blew up the tea shack on a blazing hot day to get a reaction from the extras in the stands!). “Grand Prix” was great when we were in the cars, pumped along by Maurice Jarre’s classic music. But it ground to a soggy, melodramatic mess when we delved into the off-track loves and lives of the drivers. I can’t even make that complaint with “F1”: apart from a chaste little fling with Kate (Kerry Conlon), there is no deep, romantic intrigue going on. It’s actually difficult to really sum up WHAT happens in the non-racing scenes… there is really no structure or depth to the story at all for a film that is (overlong at) two-and-a-half-hours.
Another aspect of the script which didn’t make sense to me was a sub-plot involving Tobias Menzies as corporate boss Peter Banning. I can’t go into details without dropping spoilers, but I had no idea what he was trying to do and why. Perhaps I nodded off briefly! But I suspect it was just very poorly explained in the set-up.
I know this is an ‘old geezer’ complaint….
…but some of the dialogue on the soundtrack was unintelligible to me. This was particularly true when the drivers were talking with their helmets on. There is something known as over-dubbing guys!
Summary Thoughts on “F1®”
Once again, let’s just glory in the fact that here is a credible summer blockbuster popcorn movie that is NOT either a franchise or a remake of an animated classic. Lord be praised! People should go to see this in droves just to send that message to the film-makers: yes please!
Given that, it’s not the slam-dunk that it could have been with some rather lazy writing and a very vanilla and predictable plot. But, hey, you can’t have everything. I still had fun at the cinema with it and I think you will too.
(And aren’t you proud of me that I managed to get tot the end of this review without making a gag about Pitt stops? Damn it… so close!)
Where to Watch it (Powered by Justwatch)
Trailer for “F1®”:
The trailer is here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w2lNNHGyyBU.
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