F1 Review

Brad Pitt plays a racer who is brought back to Formula One racing after three decades by his old racing buddy to help save his team, and he butts heads with a young hotshot teammate…

So let me get my biggest critique out of the way: F1 has a lot of familiar story beats and clichés you’ve seen in other sports movies. “A shot at the big leagues for an (over the hump) athlete,” “Can these two teammates get along?” “Saving the team from being shut down,” and a couple more I won’t spoil. But to F1’s credit, it’s not so much what you do but how you do it, and the cast and crew really elevate this material so it feels fresh and fun.

What also helps is the actual racing. Now I don’t know a lot about Formula One racing (there were several cameos from real-life racers and figures that went over my head lol), but this movie is quite good at pulling you into this world and showing you all the little details, science, mechanics, and human endurance it takes to race, which was very fascinating and intriguingly told. I could definitely see people leaving this movie on a Saturday and watching some formal one the following Sunday.

To go along with that, the racing scenes are incredible; they film it so you're in the driver's seat while they're taking all these fast & tight turns, with very convincing CGI throughout, and the sound editing really makes you feel all the turns and speed. I would actually recommend seeing this in IMAX if you can.

Brad Pitt does what he does best… being laid-back, charismatic, and cool. But it helps his character have some interesting depth that makes you root for him.

Damson Idris plays the young racing partner, and this is the first thing I’ve seen this actor in, and for me it’s a good debut. He's likeable and charming, and he had good chemistry with Brad Pitt. I hope to see him in more projects in the future.

I liked Kerry Condon in the movie; she was fun, smart, and sassy. I could see some people’s criticism of her storyline of being Brad Pitt’s love interest as “unnecessary,” but honestly it didn’t take away from the rest of the story for me, and she and Pitt have fun chemistry, so I was fine with it.

Javier Bardem is enjoyable as well. He’s very debonair, adds some heart to the film, and he and Brad Pitt have very believable “old buddies” chemistry.

There are quite a few minor characters in this, all very likable, funny, and sweet in their roles. The movie is good at making you root for the racing team… There are two characters I felt were included to be antagonistic and add stakes to the film, which I don’t think was needed, although one character does have a funny payoffto his jerk arc.

I did not realize going in that the movie was two and a half hours long, and I didn’t really feel it while watching the movie, which is impressive for any film, so my hats off to the filmmakers for pulling that off.

I did get to see this movie with my cousins (shout out to Grady, Griffith, and Billy), who all enjoyed the film and explained some of the racer references to me after the film, lol, but it was a blast seeing the movie with them.

So to summarize, this movie is a great example of a “fun popcorn movie” done well. Through the filmmaking, performances, and showing you the ins and outs of Formula One, it takes familiar stories and ideas and shakes them up in a way so the audiences are engrossed while watching and will more than likely walk out feeling positive and having had a good time.

I give F1 four stars ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️️. Also, try and catch this movie on the big screen if you can because it’s definitely worth it.