F1: The Movie
A good racing movie can be an awfully fun time at the movies. While not a great film, F1 sticks to the basic formula giving us a gritty old veteran with something to prove, a hotshot rookie who hasn't broken through, and a racing team outgunned and outmatched that desperately needs a miracle win. F1 may but the formulaic in Formula One, but there's a reason the formula works as director Joseph Kosinski fits these pieces (and some darn good looking racing sequences - particularly in IMAX) into just the kind of fun summer movie I was hoping for and would make a fun pairing with something like Ford v Ferrari for a racing double-feature which ultimately has something similar to say about racing and the crazy fools who do it for a living.
We start with struggling racing owner Ruben Cervantes (Javier Bardem) who, in desperate straights, brings in his old friend, the once-great promising driver Sonny Hayes (Brad Pitt), who flamed out in the 90s after a devastating wreck before returning a decade later to race in any league and track which would take him. Cervantes hopes the pairing of Hayes with the talented, but not yet seasoned, Joshua Pearce (Damson Idris) will lead to a Formula One win he needs to keep the team together for another season.
Kosinski's film takes the audience inside the structure of a team focusing on both the high-tech to get the cars ready and the human element involving the drivers and pit crew. We also get Kerry Condon as the technical director, and love interest for Sonny, designing and modifying the cars for Sonny's unorthodox style of racing (which at times borderlines on cheating) that makes the team completive while still failing to grab that illusive big win.
For anyone that's seen a feel-good sports movie, the ending of F1: The Movie won't be a surprise, but the script by Kosinski and Ehren Kruger does allow for a couple different variations, allowing tensions to stay high through the final lap of the film's final race. The win feels earned, and, in the end, it's the audience who are the winners no matter which race crosses the finish line.
Watch the trailer- Title: F1: The Movie
- IMDb: link
