LOS ANGELES, June 17 (UPI) -- F1, in theaters June 27, crafts a rousing Hollywood blockbuster out of Formula 1 racing. Though it contains all the requisite cliches, it does the job of showcasing visceral racing.
Brad Pitt stars as Sonny Hayes, a former F1 driver who retired after a crash. Now driving the midnight shift for a 24 hour Daytona race team, Sonny receives an offer from Ruben Cervantes (Javier Bardem) to join his F1 team, APXGP. APXGP's star, Joshua Pearce (Damson Idris), doesn't appreciate a veteran with no wins stealing his spotlight.
The script by Ehren Kruger and director Joseph Kosinski sets up APXGP to be underdogs. The odds could not be more stacked against them.
Not only has APXGP never won an F1 race, but their opponents like Ferrari and Aston Martin already have the fastest vehicles. Since APXGP can't win with speed, Sonny devises other strategies.
He asks technical director Kate (Kerry Condon) to modify their cars for turning so they'll have the advantage when opponents have to slow down for turns. Sonny also manipulates the safety regulations of F1 to buy himself and Joshua time or extra pit stops.
Through these strategies, the film teaches the rules of F1 to neophyte viewers. Between commentators explaining protocols for hazards and the pit crew arguing with Sonny over his headset, the viewer learns what's at stake and which rules Sonny is bending.
Sonny plays chicken with his pit crew, refusing to race until they put on the tires he requests. The film does a good job explaining the differences in tires, which becomes a major factor in other races.
An early pit stop is said to be too long at seven seconds, so when a later stop is completed in 2.9, the audience understands it is a success.
Some of Sonny's plans fail with serious consequences, though it doesn't exactly humble him. He has the bravado of the pilots in Top Gun, which is good for a movie, so luckily this film is not real life. Kosinski directed Top Gun: Maverick and Jerry Bruckheimer produced F1 and both Top Guns.
The races are what F1 viewers come to see and Kosinski delivers them as summer movie set pieces. The entire film fills the IMAX screen, not just the race scenes.
With the grandeur of IMAX, one wishes Kosinski would allow shots to linger so viewers can take in the scope. The editing is sound, however, cutting between shots from inside the cars to exteriors capturing the lay of the track, giving a sense of the speed within the race.
The film posits Sonny as a mysterious stranger who never talks about his past, like a Man with No Name of racing. Exposition is given through press conferences, questions which Sonny dismisses, or news footage.
Videos of Sonny's 1993 racing accident with a de-aged Pitt are fortunately brief, but a Photoshopped magazine cover with young Pitt and Bardem's headshots is more egregious.
Pitt certainly has the charisma to make the ambiguity charming. His physical routines, involving playing cards and tennis balls, show more about his character than dialogue. Specifics shared in dialogue merely amount to daddy issues, for both Sonny and Joshua.
The clashing mentor/student theme plays out by the book, too. Kosinski and Kruger give Pitt cocky lines to say that he relishes, such as "You're just worried I'm quicker" or accusing Joshua of winning participation trophies.
There is a relevant heart to the Sonny/Joshua dynamic. Sonny is teaching Joshua to shut out the noise and distractions to focus on his craft and skill at racing. The sniping between them can be superficial because Joshua's learning is inevitable.
When Joshua refuses to apologize to Sonny because he sees it as a sign of weakness, the blatant expression of his immaturity never really pays off. Sonny certainly never sets an example of humility, but Joshua earns his respect by the third race, which is how men show affection in movies like this, and often in life.
Sonny flirts with Kate, mainly because a Brad Pitt movie has to have a love interest. Though both characters respect each other professionally, Pitt and Condon have undeniable chemistry because they too are pros who can charm anyone, let alone each other.
At least the female mechanic, Jodie (Callie Cooke), gets to be solely a professional, and even scolds Sonny for white knighting her. To her, fortunately, Sonny respectfully defers.
F1 is practically mathematically constructed to make mass audiences root for Sonny, and Joshua too as long as no one roots for him more. The team involved from the performers to the filmmakers are all experts at this, so they execute the winning formula in a new milieu.
Fred Topel, who attended film school at Ithaca College, is a UPI entertainment writer based in Los Angeles. He has been a professional film critic since 1999, a Rotten Tomatoes critic since 2001, and a member of the Television Critics Association since 2012 and the Critics Choice Association since 2023. Read more of his work in Entertainment.
