Jordy D
F1: The Movie brings all the action, thrill, and adrenaline of the sport to the big screen. While it is masterfully intertwined and grounded within the real world of Formula 1, the shortfalls in its narrative and pacing will leave its legacy as a visual spectacle rather than a blockbuster masterpiece.
The film follows Sonny Hayes (Brad Pitt) – a washed-up driver whose F1 career was cut short and who now races anything he can anywhere in the world. He’s called up by the owner of the struggling APXGP team, Ruben Cervantes (Javier Bardem) to turn around its performance, or else Cervantes could risk losing the franchise. To do this, Hayes must learn to work with his team mate, the young and cocky Joshua Pearce (Damson Idris), and navigate the consequences of his unique strategy in F1 racing.
The highlight of F1: The Movie is undoubtedly the races themselves. These are done with an immense amount of care and this bleeds through the screen. For one, much of the action surrounding the races are filmed at real Grands Prix (you can even see videos online of the film crews and actors at these events). This means you experience the real build-up of a race, with the real franchises, and even cameos from our favourite racers like Lewis Hamilton and Max Verstappen. Secondly, the way the action is filmed is breathtaking. They’ve utilised new technology to attach the cameras to the cars so it feels as intimate and realistic as it would for the drivers themselves. Alongside the sound engineering – it creates an immersive experience which propels the overall experience.
However it feels like all this effort put into the races have come at the expense of the rest of the film. The conflict between Hayes and Pearce is marketed as a cornerstone of the film’s tension, the experienced racer vs the fresh-naive kid on the block. This ultimately comes across as surface level with no real long-lasting consequences or satisfying resolution.
We are also told to believe there could be some sort of connection between Hayes and the team’s head engineer Kate McKenna (Kerry Condon) but, again, this just isn’t at a level which could be considered convincing.
This doesn’t help the overall plot outside of the races. There is one event about halfway through the movie which initially feels like it will have profound consequences for the rest of the movie. I was initially shocked, and actually quite excited to see how the story was going to go from here. You can understand my disappointment when, about 10 minutes later, it felt like nothing had happened at all. What’s even worse is they repeat a similar event closer to the end of the film which, again, would make for an amazing twist to an otherwise typical hero’s journey-style story. The audience is then burned when details we thought were going to be significant have no real impact on the rest of the film.
All this just ultimately makes chunks of the film a little boring and like it could have been cut down by about 20 or 30 minutes.
However, in conclusion, this doesn’t take away from the fact that this is an exciting blockbuster to take your mind off the world for 150 minutes. The acting is overall solid, with some awkward deliveries here or there, and the thrill of the races is enough to forget about the inconsequential conversation we heard five minutes prior.
It is easy to follow for people unfamiliar with F1 and Brad Pitt gives a stellar performance as always.
Year: 2025
Rating: M
Running Time: 156 MIN
Genre: Action, Action
Director: Joseph Kosinski
Starring: Brad Pitt, Damson Idris, Kerry Condon, Tobias Menzies, Javier Bardem
Production Studio: Apple Studios, Jerry Bruckheimer Films, Plan B Entertainment
Distributor: Warner Bros.