F! The Movie (Photo – Warner Bros/Apple Original Films)
Well, why do you think they call it formula?
F1 The Movie
Directed by Joseph Kosinski – 2025
Reviewed by Garrett Rowlan
Following tie-in ads for a watch company and a hotel chain, both with car-racing motifs, the theater lights dimmed, and Formula One, produced by Jerry Bruckheimer and a bevy of others, hit the screen.
The formula here is of the redemption variety, featuring Brad Pitt as a once-promising race driver whose career derailed after a bad accident, two divorces, and a bankruptcy. These, combined with his fiercely independent streak, have left him wildcatting as a lone driver. The movie opens with him sleeping in his van. He’s either a “has-been or a never-was,” as the film puts it.
Enter Javier Bardem as the head of a team called APX. He needs a seasoned driver to pair with a youthful hotshot, played by Damson Idris, in hopes of pulling the franchise up from the lower rungs of the racing circuit. What follows is a familiar arc of triumphs, setbacks, and, of course, a slow-burning romance with Kerry Condon as the team’s technical leader.
I’m no fan of Formula One racing—or any kind of racing, aside from track and field—but the challenge for a film like this is to spark or stimulate interest in the unfamiliar.
On that front, F1 succeeds moderately well. The racing scenes are engaging, but despite the variety of camera angles, mounted cams, drones, and so on, what you’re ultimately watching is cars going around corners for two-plus hours.
More compelling, for me, was the technical side of APX’s operation: shiny conference rooms, engineers in white coats (and black uniforms for the pit crew), computers, simulations, all designed to shave a few seconds off a miles-long, looping course.
Of course, any film relies heavily on its lead actors. And here, F1 earns a shrug. Brad Pitt still has his good looks, but they’ve broadened and softened, often seeming on the verge of blurring out of focus. For all his remaining charisma, he struggles to convey real hunger, need, or desperation. (Perhaps being a star for over 30 years will do that.) He wears a wry smile or a wince as a one-size-fits-all acting choice. His co-stars don’t fare much better, largely hemmed in by the roles they’ve been assigned.
In short, F1 impressed me no more than Days of Thunder, another Bruckheimer racing flick from 35 years ago. At least I can look back on that one with a measure of nostalgia, something I doubt I’ll have time for with F1.
> Playing at Landmark Pasadena Playhouse, Regal Paseo, Regency Academy Cinemas, IPIC Theaters, Regal UA La Canada, AMC Atlantic Times Square 14, AMC Santa Anita 16, Regal Edwards Alhambra Renaissance. and Laemmle Glendale.
Leave a Reply