F1 The Movie – Movie Review

​I write this review to say this: Top Gun: Maverick, step aside! You’re a thing of the past once Kosinski moviegoers get a look at this.

Director Joseph Kosinski has an exhaustive list of action films in his resume. TRON: Legacy, Oblivion, Only the Brave and Top Gun: Maverick, which earned him an Academy Award nomination. He has yet to win an Oscar, but has been nominated several times, a trend that is likely to continue if he sticks to the formula he used here.

Whether you’re a fan of this sport or not, this thrill ride will exhaust you in only the best of ways. It’ll have you clutching your chest for the length of the film, due to its expert directing and intense editing. And I promise you this: you will be a race fan, more specifically a Formula One fan, by the time the film is over. We start with an aging driver, Sonny Hayes (Pitt), who finds out he’s not considered a “has been,” but instead, a “never was.” This he hears from one of the people he’s about to be teammates with.

His old friend Ruben (Bardem), a former driver who has become the owner of the company team APEX, comes knocking when he’s desperate for a new driver, and a mentor for his number two, Joshua Pearce (Idris). He needs to get across the finish line first and has an open seat in F1. Rueben tells Sonny that this young man working under Sonny has the potential to be a no-lose situation. It is said that if you win Formula 1; you’re considered the best in the world. So, this is mutually beneficial as Sonny wins the title he has always chased, and Ruben pays off a lot of debt he’s in trouble for.

Living in a van with not much else but a shattered dream, Sonny decides he’s in.

Did I mention you absolutely must see this on the big screen? Do. If there’s an IMAX near you, watch it there for an experience you won’t soon forget. It’s not long before you witness Sonny on a test run in the new vehicle. He’s not used to a steering wheel that looks like the game controller for games he doesn’t play, so he studies up.

On the course, the camera angles used and the point of view you get from the drivers is spectacular. You’re gripping your seat and very into the Hans Zimmer first-rate score blasting out of the speakers.

You get a lesson on the length of a pit spot, holding other drivers back, when to get a penalty that benefits you and your team and that crashing into other cars can assist you; only looking like a bad thing. Sonny maneuvering around the track and manipulating people around him is his setting in motion what can be, in the end, to his benefit. Learning all of this, along with the jargon in and around the track, makes this film such an exciting movie to watch. It’s a non-stop tutoring session in the sport, and it’s a two-and-a-half-hour education without you realizing it.

To see the course of events unfold and witness the personal relationships develop in the constant clock of a race is brilliant. Everyone is getting to know how Sonny works, picking up on the fact that he’s filled with knowledge you can only get with experience. Almost dying will do that, but now, a few wrecked cars makes Ruben worry. Can APEX withstand his recklessness? Will it be worth nothing, which he can’t afford to happen? Was getting Sonny good for business, or was this a mistake? Will his young driver being pushed to drive 200 miles an hour put everything at risk?

This movie is almost nonstop action. When we’re not watching someone getting in or out of a car, gunning it around a turn at full speed, we’re getting to know a member of the team and their role within that team. Every person is important, from the first female technical director to the members of the pit crew. The dialogue is good in that you’re permanently enlightened about what’s happening during the race, on the track, in the car, or in their heads.

Shots of Vegas are fun, and shots of other tracks are captivating to see, as well. They map each course for you to get an idea of what the drivers are up against. One scene keeps your eyes peeled to the screen as Sonny’s speed climbs higher and higher. How can they keep focus on doing this work? Will you be able to stomach it is the question. It’s worth watching and finding out.