A wise Charli XCX once proclaimed, "All my life, I've been waitin' for a good time, a good (let me ride, let me ride)...(Vroom, vroom) those slugs know they can't catch me, (Vroom, vroom) beep, beep, so let's ride.” F1 protagonist Sonny Hayes (Brad Pitt) would make that young girl from Essex proud as he lives a speed-driven life. Hayes never sticks around in one place long, whether it's working as a New York City cab driver or working as a NASCAR racer. This oil-drenched drifter, however, gets an offer for a steadier gig from old friend Ruben Cervantes (Javier Bardem). This blast from the past wants Hayes to drive as a Formula One racer for his team APXGP.
How do you entice a guy who refuses to settle down? Cervantes just explains to Hayes that, if you win at Formula One, "you're the best in the world."
With that, Hayes (who constantly dresses like if Adam Sandler was really into denim) is now back in the Formula One world three decades after he seemingly left it behind for good. He's one of two APXGP drivers, the other being Joshua "Noah" Pearce (Damson Idris). This young hotshot has no time for Hayes coming in like he owns the place. Inevitably, a rival brews the two while other APXGP members like technical director Kate McKenna (Kerry Condon) also doubt "never-was" racer Hayes can really crush it in Formula One. There’s only one way to find out what’s possible…get behind the wheel of a fast car and zoom around the track.
Rarely have I seen such staggering visual disparity in a movie as the gulf in craftsmanship between F1's racing and talk-heavy sequences. Director Joseph Kosinski (famous for Top Gun: Maverick, but also the helmer of the criminally underrated Only the Brave) and the director's go-to cinematographer Claudio Miranda frame those Formula One races with captivating verve. Any scenes where the camera is on a Formula One car’s hood especially had me floored. There’s a climactic instance of this visual approach that evoked 2001: A Space Odyssey’s stargate sequence in its sense of speed and awe-inspiring imagery.
I’ve never watched a Formula One race in my life, yet F1’s on-track camerawork was so transfixing that every squeal of the tire or cars lightly bumping each other had me wincing. The command on tension and precise editing in these sequences, though, bizarrely vanishes whenever it’s just people talking. Kosinski’s penchant for stunning wide shots or ornate framing that served Tron: Legacy and Maverick so well vanishes for F1’s extended dialogue-heavy scenes. Cramped medium shots become the name of the game and images can’t linger on-screen for long.
A mid-movie moment where all the APXGP team members begin banging their fists and chanting “Combat! Combat! Combat!” would’ve worked infinitely better showing multiple people gradually joining in over an extended unbroken take. Wider framing would’ve also allowed audiences to appreciate the dynamics between APXGP employees. Instead, relying on short, unimaginatively tight shots reduces the connection between F1 characters and dilutes the excitement of this bonding moment. Furthermore, weird lighting choices constantly make characters like Cervantes look like they’ve been green screened into very mundane scenes. How do scenes shot at actual Formula One races (which must’ve been a nightmare to orchestrate) look so good while F1’s scenes of people talking in a garage look so slapdash?
F1's most egregious shortcoming, though, is its writing. Specifically, screenwriter Ehren Kruger (previously responsible for the dismal Dumbo and Ghost in the Shell remakes, plus the worst Scream and Transformers installments) shifts F1 into the gear of a very dialogue-heavy 156-minute movie. All those lines are in service of such a tired, predictable retread of traditional sports movie cliches, particularly the grizzled mentor and young hotshot routine between Hayes and Pearce.
There’s an art to hitting familiar beats in crowdpleaser entertainment. Compare F1 to the lively, specifically detailed execution of classic rom-com hallmarks in A Nice Indian Boy. The latter film exudes a love for romantic cinema, by its multiple Dilwale Dulhania Le Jayenge references. However, Nice Indian Boy’s unique ways of achieving pathos remind people why they love the cozy and poignant parts of this genre. Thus, A Nice Indian Boy makes the old feel new again with its infectious passion for a well-worn genre. Kruger’s F1 screenplay, meanwhile, doesn’t radiate tangible adoration for similar sports dramas.
Instead, there’s an unshakeable coldness to the dialogue and characters. Between that and its inability to add anything to the sports drama realm, its rehashing of familiar dialogue and story beats comes off as lazy rather than affectionate homage. The only personality in F1’s writing comes when the film channels a middle-aged white man angry at “the kids these days.” Hayes drops a “participation trophy” retort at Pearce before later demanding this youngster stay off his iPhone (a deeply ironic remark to make in an Apple-bankrolled feature). Krurger’s writing is so obsessed with making Hayes a hero to all commitment-phobic divorced dads everywhere that the other characters are vaguely defined shells.
Given how often F1 defaults to lengthy sequences of people conversing in empty Las Vegas parking garages or dimly lit European taverns, the hollowness of these supporting characters becomes glaringly apparent. While Kosinski’s Only the Brave effectively established an ensemble cast you could easily get invested in, F1 functions as an exercise in flattering Brad Pitt’s ego. Not since everyone breathlessly remarked how “hot” Ryan Reynolds was in The Adam Project has a major American movie constantly reassured assured audiences its leading man is sexy. Kruger’s script is a bloated mess that fails to consistently deliver the automobile-centric mayhem any F1 moviegoer wants to see.
When the IMAX screen is filled with just cars going zoom, F1’s engine roars. Kosinski’s long-standing gift for framing grandeur is exquisitely deployed for the various racing scenes, which Stephen Mirrione also crisply edits. Even without engaging characters in the driver seats, F1’s car-focused segments are a blast. Unfortunately, that just makes the defects in any sequences set outside of a big race glaringly apparent. In these scenes, drab visuals and writing fill up your eyeballs, not to mention oodles of distracting Apple product placement. Only sporadically does F1 live up to the “good time” Charli XCX waited her while life to experience.
Two little sidenotes:
In an early conversation between Hayes and McKenna, the latter character (who speaks in Kerry Condon’s natural Irish accent) mentions off-handedly that her big job before APXGP was working for Lockheed Martin. That line stuck out to me more than any car race scene. What war crimes was she possibly complicit in?!? And why would the Irish character work for Lockheed Martin?!? That’s messed up on so many levels.
Also: Kosinski has deployed popular musicians and bands to make the scores for many of his previous movies. Daft Punk and M83 did the Tron: Legacy and Oblivion scores, respectively, for instance, while Lady Gaga collaborated with Hans Zimmer on the Top Gun: Maverick score. Zimmer alone provides the F1 score…why didn’t he work with a famous musician for these tracks? 100 Gecs, King Lizard and the Gizzard Wizard, or My Chemical Romance should’ve worked on the score! What a missed opportunity!