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Brad Pitt stars as a Formula One racecar driver who comes out of retirement to boost the lackluster performance of an old friend’s racing team before its owners sell it off. There’s immediate friction between Pitt and the team’s younger driver (Damson Idris), and romantic potential between Pitt and the team’s technical director (Kerry Condon). Accidents, injuries, egos, firings, and sabotage all rear their ugly heads as the team struggles toward an unlikely victory — in no small part due to Pitt’s tenacity, insight, and willingness to take advantage of every loophole in the rules book.
F1 sounds like a lot of other sports/action movies, but it’s executed at level of remarkable excellence. Director Joseph Kosinski never lets up on the action, and somehow manages to make the film’s myriad race scenes feel fresh and new. It’s highly recommended that you watch F1 in a theater with a big screen and loud sound for maximum impact. It’s a bit more of an experience than a narrative, but that’s not to criticize the narrative. On the contrary, Kosinski and co-writer Ehren Kruger deliver an elegant, subtle screenplay that creates fully formed characters and compelling relationships with an economy of dialogue and screen time. It’s a good screenplay to study when it comes to ‘show, don’t tell’. It also indicates a lot of its intrinsic drama, instead of belaboring any of it.
Though it’s grounded in reality, F1 is a mightily stylized film. Jerry Bruckheimer (Top Gun, Days of Thunder) is one of the film’s producers, and it harkens back to his iconic action films of the ’80s and ’90s, without coming off as a full-bown car commercial. It’s a visual feast, combining claustrophobic race-car POVs with wide, drone-captured vistas, all set to a pulsing, electronic score by Hans Zimmer that operates much the same way Daft Punk’s music did in Kosinski’s debut film, Tron: Legacy.
There’s no weak link in the supporting cast. Javier Bardem is memorable as the team’s manager and Pitt’s old friend. Bardem engenders enough of our compassion that we hope the team wins, if only for his sake. Condon is terrific as a combative, reluctant love interest, and Idris sophisticates his young, eager character beyond its two-dimensional circumstances. The film’s best scene is one in which Condon invites Pitt and Idris to dinner and a poker game, forcing the two men to air their grievances and skillfully guiding them toward a mutual understanding. Sarah Niles also deserves mention for her performance as Idris’s mother. She’s at every race, as worried as she is proud. She has great moments with both Idris and Pitt.
F1 isn’t breaking any new ground with its storytelling, but it’s definitely worth seeing for the thrilling, and surprisingly compelling way in which it’s told. The director, cast, screenplay, photography, and film editing are all award-worthy. See it big. See it loud. 2025 studio movies probably don’t come any better than this one.
With Tobias Menzies, Kim Bodnia, a Will Merrick.