Review 754: F1

F1 is clearly intended to be star vehicle for star Brad Pitt and hot up-and-commer Damson Idris. The movie takes these two stars, puts them in driver's seat and thrusts them into a 

In the 90's, Sonny Hayes (Brad Pitt) was Formula 1's most promising race driver until an accident on the track nearly ended his career and earning him the nickname "the greatest racer that never was". Thirty years later, Sony works a nomadic racer-for-hire until Ruben Cervantes (Javier Bardem), the owner of APXGP, a struggling F1 team convinces Sonny to return to racing and become the best in the world. Driving alongside the team's hotshot rookie Joshua Pearce (Damson Idris), Sonny soon learns that the road to redemption is not something that you travel alone.

Judging by that synopsis alone, you can probably work out; The old vet who gets pulled out of retirement to train the young hot-shot up-and-comer  and the last shot at redemption. The screenplay by Ehren Kruger is formulaic but it does some interesting subtext about passion, ego, celebrity, regret, redemption and how the media operates.

Thankfully, it's not all racing, screeching tyres and car crashes, we also get high tech meeting scenes where the APXGP team discuss very cogently game plans because they have to be competitive, because they want to win. These scenes bring to life the films subtext of creative collaboration 

The race sequences are astonishing and do a good job of putting you inside the cockpit of an F1 car and deserve to be seen on the big screen all set to a rousing, pulse pounding, energy-filled score by Hans Zimmer and are beautifully shot and framed thanks DP Claudio Miranda's gorgeous cinematography. The sound design is incredible; the screeching tyres, the scream of the F1 race engine makes this 

These characters are the most basic archetypes you can find in these genre films but in F1's case that's not a bad thing. It's their natural charisma that keeps these characters afloat and engaging for the films 148 minute runtime.

Brad Pitt  Sonny's F1 career never quite took off, he had promise, talent and swagger, but like many on the cusp of success, he also posses self destructive tendencies such as gambling addiction, his own ego and burnout.   Sonny doesn't care about his reputation or the narrative that the media constructs, hell, he's willing to put it on the line to help the APXGP team. He doesn't want to train Josh, he doesn't want to win. Instead, what he wants (what he's chasing) is a feeling,   But deep down, he cares about something greater. 

Damson Idris   Pearce is young, brash, media savvy  He knows the modern game and plays it well   Whereas Sonny doesn't care what the media thinks of him, Josh is all about keeping up his image 

There is a force of nature under the hood of F1. It's fast, assertive and she doesn't take any nonsense from either Sonny or Joshua. I'm, of course, talking about Kerry Condon as APXGP technical director, Kate McKenna. I came for the racing scenes but stayed for the romance stuff. The relationship between her and Pitt's Sonny provides a nice reprieve from the sound and racing and while the execution was  their chemistry never failed to disappoint. 

Javier Bardem is clearly having a lot of fun playing Ruben Cervantes, 

F1 doesn't reinvent the wheel, but honestly it doesn't need to. It's a crowd-pleaser and an edge of your seat ride, 4.5/.

The Anonymous Critic.