F1: THE MOVIE (2025)

From the Producer of Days of Thunder (Jerry Bruckheimer) and the Director of Tom Gun Maverick (Joseph Kosinski) comes a new ORIGINAL summer epic combining elements of both films and even headlined by an major movie star comparable to Tom Cruise..  That would be Oscar-winner Brad Pitt who stars as Sonny, a veteran racer on the verge of retirement who returns to his original sport of passion, Formula One racing.  He has been courted back by his his old teammate (Javier Bardem) who now owns a racing team and is being paired with a hot shot rookie racer named Joshua played by British up-and-comer Damson Idris (Snowfall).  In the middle of a tumultuous season, they compete together - or against each other - in an increasingly high-stakes series of races, with guidance and assistance from their Team Leader/Designer Kate played by Oscar-nominee Kerry Condon (The Banshees of Inisherin).  And what results is a pulse-pounding, high-speed racing spectacle.....but is it as good as those other films which clearly inspired it?

Host & Editor: Geoff Gershon

Editor: Ella Gershon

Producer: Marlene Gershon

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Transcript

F1: THE MOVIE - 2025

Directed by Joseph Kosinski

Starring Brad Pitt, Damson Idris, Kerry Condon, Javier Bardem, Kim Bodnia, Tobias Menzies, Sarah Niles, Samson Kayo, and Shea Whigham

Genre: Sports Drama (Audio clip)

F1: THE MOVIE is a high-octane, pulse-pounding, AND rip-roaring spectacle which needs to be seen on the big screen. Director Joseph Kosinski has proven once again after the recent triumph of Top Gun Maverick and the underrated Tron Legacy that there are few filmmakers out there at crafting impressive extended action sequences which could almost be thrilling mini-movies of their own. Seeing this in Dolby, I could just FEEL the sheer propulsive nature of these racing sequences.....

The camera and sound work is truly next level as we can not only clearly the geography of where these cars are in relation to each other but also from different POV's. And thanks to a well-done mix of the actors voices, the excitable announcer, and the noises emanating from each car - along with another banger score Hans Zimmer playing overhead - we can almost always follow what's going on INCLUDING the sometimes convoluted rules of Formula One. 🤔 From a technical standpoint, the film is top-notch!

Now from a story/screenplay standpoint.....not so much. 🙄 To criticize it for recycling sports (especially racing movie) cliches is pretty much redundant - you've got Sonny played by Brad Pitt as the disgraced veteran FINALLY looking for one last chance at the prize who has a few things to teach along the way and you've got Joshua played by Damson Idris as the brash, young hot shot who needs to hone his skills....and Ruben the beleaguered financier (also Sonny's former racing partner) played by Javier Bardem, and Kate, the sharp car designer with something to prove played by Kerry Condon. Good cast but only one of these characters is particularly well-drawn....Idris is an actor I had not seen before and consider me impressed, he kind of owns this movie with his performance.

Bardem and Condon are fine but the screenplay from Ehren Kruger (who also wrote Top Gun Maverick) isn't doing their characters any favors as their motivations and/or vibes are never particularly consistent except for ONE key factor: they need to make Brad Pitt's Sonny come off as the most likeable, smartest guy in the room at all times. 🙃 The overall structure of the narrative also gets repetitive with a never-ending stream of backstage tension regarding injuries, sponsorships, the design of the car.....with the outcome almost ALWAYS leading to Sonny being right! 😆 The screenplay tries to make his character flawed and/or vulnerable but can never quite commit.....with one particularly egregious example later in the film which unfortunately weakened the climax for me just a bit. 

And sorry but you can FEEL this movie's 155 minute runtime...yeah there's also a completely unnecessary subplot involving Tobias Menzies' (Edmund Tully from Game of Thrones!) racing company board member which just stops the movie in its tracks for no reason other than to add MORE drama. Just too much padding overall. 

Best Needledrop (best song cue or score used throughout runtime of film): 

For the THIRD time in his storied career, Hans “The Zimm” Zimmer has composed the music for a movie about auto-racing – the previous two were absolute bangers too, previous episodes Days of Thunder AND Rush, both genuinely memorable scores with very catchy themes too! (Audio clip) 

Now is this one QUITE as good as those other two?  Likely not, Days of Thunder’s theme is just more hummable and the GORGEOUS more expansive Rush score is more emotional, just an all-timer!  But the official F1 theme which we hear throughout and most gloriously over the closing credits is still pretty great – more electronica-infused than the other two scores and likely his most synth-heavy score since…..possibly previous episode Black Rain.  It’s fast, propulsive, and as I have read one British critic refer to it….it just BOPS! (Audio Clip) 

And yet that’s STILL not my favorite part of the score and that might be because there is one slowed-down portion filled with strings which I’m pretty sure reminds me very much of one of my favorite tracks of his….from Rush no less, that would be the memorable “Lost But One.” (Audio clip) 

You TELL me how similar this sounds….and whether it does or not, doesn’t matter.  We hear this I THINK roughly about a third of the way into the film as we go through a brief montage of both racers training cut against Kate’s working tirelously to both design AND test new designs for their car.  It’s probably one of the better representations of the genuinely exhaustive TEAMWORK which goes into the prep for Formula One racing – this track is called “Built For Combat.” (Audio Clip) 

Wasted Talent (most under-utilized talent involved with film): 

And Pitt himself.....well he LOOKS amazing! Even now in his '60's, the dude owns the camera. I can get the why of it all....he's a top tier movie star selling an expensive original movie, you need him to fill seats. But if I'm being honest, I just found his character irritating more than anything else.
 His Sonny is often viewed in close-up seemingly about to say something profound....and then doesn't. 😕 I mean say what you will about later (OR early...Cocktail era) Tom Cruise and how now seemingly every screenplay has every character referring to him as "The Greatest"....going back to the underrated Days of Thunder and of course his recent Top Gun Maverick (sorry given the pedigree of this film, it's pretty impossible to NOT compare this to those two movies), he was still fun to watch playing the fool and generally convincing at playing vulnerable. 

Here with Pitt TRYING to do similar things, it just doesn't land nearly as well - Pitt's a good actor but I have always found him strongest as a character actor or at least playing less conventional leads a la Fight Club. Sadly this might be his most vacant movie star performance since Troy. 😯 Yes we buy him at the wheel, the training montages, etc...he's got the physicality DOWN. Beyond that though, he's just not as interesting....

Trailer Moment (scene or moment that best describes this movie):

Ugh, this is a tough one because I don’t want to spoil too much as this movie just came out….and it’s probably also a factor in why leaving the theater upon seeing this, I might have felt a tad disappointed.  Let’s just say that our two main races – Hayes and Pierce – are both KILLING it during this final race in Abu Dabi. They’re a full-on TEAM now and from a strategic standpoint, they’re doing a bang-up job of boxing out the competition at increasingly high speeds…..there’s a point LATE in this climax where one of them SEEMS to have broken out, on his way towards victory….and I was bouncing in my seat, super-excited – the music, the cutting back-and-forth between both of them, the volume going up from this character.  It’s rousing and triumphant….and then…..let’s just say that this race peaked for me BEFORE it was finished.  It still looked and sounded AMAZING….

MVP (person or people most responsible for the success of this film):

Like Ron Howard's Rush (a superior film overall which I seem to keep mentioning….) from twelve years ago, a major part of the overall thrill is witnessing these almost toy-like little rickety machines screeching across the racetrack....I don't pretend to be a racing expert but just based on their overall look, it feels SO much more dangerous than stock car racing. :( There's just not as much body there surrounding the driver and at points, they even start to visually resemble shiny Hot Wheels being slingshot around a plastic racetrack. 🤔 Just brief moments and this isn't a criticism mind you, it feels like an intentional thing on DP Claudio Miranda's (also Top Gun Maverick) part - it still looks fantastic and it just makes it all the more harrowing to see on the big screen.

And along those lines as much props as I give to Kosinski for the overall design of the racing setpieces, I feel like his choices for the overall structure and story of this film are just not as sound.  Not only is the overall arc of the Sonny character confusing, there are just TOO many repetitive beats – not one but TWO sequences of a major character in a hospital bed following an injury and from my count at LEAST FOUR different instances of a race being stopped because of the SAME damage-driven gimmick on Sonny’s part.  As exciting as it is at points, this movie is just too padded and overstuffed.  At the end of the day, it still LOOKS amazing though….

And that comes down its DP who hails from Valparaiso, Chile and has been working as a feature length cinematographer for just under twenty years, mostly on films directed by Kosinski including Tron Legacy and Oblivion though he DID win an Oscar for Life of Pi, a film from Ang Lee which I have egregiously missed.  I also think he VERY much deserved at least an Oscar nomination for Top Gun Maverick, not sure why he didn’t…..but you go back to earlier in his career and it becomes even MORE clear how talented this guy is.  Working in the camera and electrical department, he was an early acolyte of both David Fincher and the late, great Tony Scott….you can see his visual flair coming through on some MAJOR films of theirs too including Se7en, Fight Club, Zodiac, and…one of my all-time favorites…previous episode Crimson Tide.  For bring his eye to one of the most visually exciting sports dramas in years, Claudio Miranda is the MVP. 

Final Rating: 3 stars out of 5 

Was I engrossed during those racing sequences? You bet! If you're looking for a sensory experience showcasing fast-moving vehicles, you won't leave disappointed – we need to support well-made big budget ORIGINAL films, see it on the biggest screen possible. BUT….if you're seeking a compelling drama with well-drawn characters AND good racing sequences, check out Rush instead. ;)

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And that ends another FORMULAIC review!