A Formula One driver comes out of retirement to mentor and team up with a younger driver.
Chuck says:
The very definition of a star vehicle, Joseph Kosinski’s “F1” features Bard Pitt, really fast cars, Brad Pitt, international locations, Brad Pitt, a pedestrian plot, Brad Pitt, dynamic filmmaking, Brad Pitt and a sleek visual approach.
Brad Pitt is in it as well.
With a budget north of $250 million, Warner Brothers and Apple Original Films are wisely putting the international movie star front and center in the many, many promotions for the movie. It’s a wise approach as the actor and all his Pittness is necessary in keeping the viewer engaged as “F1” runs afoul of the many pitfalls that have that have caused other racing films to spin out. While we’re on the track, it’s dynamite; when the action switches to the boardrooms, hospitals and pit area, not so much.
The script by Ehren Kruger and Kosinski leans heavily on convention, the duo eschewing originality as if it were a plague. Pitt is Sonny Hayes, a one-time promising racer who is now a driver for hire. Out of the blue, he’s contacted by his old rival Ruben Cervantes (Javier Bardem), the owner of the APXGP race team which is in big trouble. Having failed to place in the top 10 in any of the first nine races of the season and having lost his lead driver, he hopes Hayes will step in to help salvage the rest of the season.
He agrees but is hardly given a rousing welcome. Crew members doubt whether he still has what it takes, what with him being seen as the senior citizen of the circuit, while his unorthodox, old-school approach doesn’t mesh with their modern high-tech method of racing. Kate McKenna (the lovely Kerry Condon) is hesitant to put the car she’s built in his hands while the arrogant rookie driver on the team, Joshua Pearce (Damson Idris) resents his inclusion on the team, refusing to recognize the wisdom the veteran has to offer.
Films as predictable as this live or die by the ability of their actors to bring life to the familiar and, if nothing else, Kosinski has assembled a cast more than capable of doing that. Relative newcomer Idris proves he can play with the big boys, his live-wire energy a nice counterpoint to Pitt’s laidback persona. Bardem brings his simmering intensity to every scene, Condon proves once more she deserves to be a constant presence on the big screen and Pitt is Pitt. Like his contemporaries, Clooney, Cruise and Smith, he effortlessly commands our attention, his smile still able to dazzle, his boyish good looks barely visible beneath, giving way to a Robert Redford-like weathered beauty that remains arresting. His moments with Bardem are a delight, their opposing styles leaving me wanting a film focused on only them, much like last years “Wolves” with Pitt and Clooney.
Without question, this is a movie that demands to be seen on the biggest screen possible, Kosinski putting us inside the car with the drivers, as well as catching every twist and turn of the tracks they find themselves on. The small digital cameras being used allow the director to bring an immediacy to these sequences that’s thrilling. That being said, this doesn’t reach the heights of Ron Howard’s criminally underseen “Rush,” the gold-standard of modern race movies, but in the end, it gets the job done.
Surprisingly, though it runs over two-and-a-half hours, the movie never feels bloated. Covering nine races, the story’s structure never allows it to lag, the opportunity to get us back on the track always at hand. It’s June, which means it’s time for a summertime movie and “F1” fills the bill handsomely. Built to dazzle and deliver a feel-good story, Pitt and company succeed in doing just that. That you might not remember it a day after you saw it is inconsequential. It’s how much you enjoy your popcorn while watching it, that does.
3 Stars
