A reliable, time-tested plot device: bringing a washed-up old hero back for one last fight, and to train the rookie. The beats of this plot are tattooed upon our hearts, and they are also the complete storyline of F1: The Movie.
This may sound like a bad thing, but it works. In many ways, F1 is a companion to Top Gun: Maverick, another IMAX installment from director Joseph Kosinski, cinematographer Claudio Miranda and screenwriter Ehren Kruger. Here Brad Pitt plays Sonny Hayes, a kind of Zen-cowboy Tom Cruise, and the big hook of F1 is that Pitt drove while acting in the film. (He drove a Formula 2 engine — technically not as powerful as Formula 1, but still impressive.)
The other big hook of F1? The special IMAX cameras used to film the Top Gun F/A-18 cockpits have been shrunken down and installed all over these cars to give viewers the feeling of being on the track. As with Maverick, the F1 plot is merely accessory to this experience, so why make it more complicated than it needs to be?
Years after a serious crash, Pitt’s Sonny is back to guide rookie Noah Pearce (played by British actor Damson Idris, who also drove his own car) and to save the Apex Grand Prix (APXGP) team from being sold. Most of us are comfortable seeing Pitt play a dirtbag who’s vibing off another leading man, so he’s at his best when sharing a scene with Javier Bardem, dripping in Gucci as team owner Ruben Cervantes. Doing nearly all of the emotional and plot lifting is Irish actor Kerry Condon as Kate McKenna, the brilliant designer of their new car. At one point she even conducts a therapy session for the two angry dudes. Hans Zimmer’s score does the rest of the work.
Pitt, like Sonny, is a man with a certain odiousness after his ex-wife Angelina Jolie’s allegations of abuse. But odious men often have success in F1, and Sonny finds a real family on the APXGP team. He’s American — rough around the edges — and there’s not one but two shots of him walking toward us in full denim, duffel bags slung over his shoulder. Most of the film’s jokes are about how old he is, and truth be told, when you squish Pitt’s face into an F1 helmet, he looks a lot like George W. Bush. “Ah, dag nab it,” he mutters after a crash.
Sonny has plenty of hokey little kernels of wisdom, but no one’s preaching about living each day like it’s your last. Sonny’s strategies on the track are Harlem Globetrotters tomfoolery, and when he solemnly repeats “Drive fast,” we can’t help but think of Talladega Nights’ Ricky Bobby — and that simplicity is exactly what I want from a racing movie.
When they do drive fast, it’s outstanding, beautifully shot, a dreamspace of roar and violence, and all filmed during real F1 races, with Pitt’s and Idris’ cars added digitally. The thrill of F1 is when a sudden something happens after hours of edging; sometimes it’s a crash, but more often it’s an overtake or some tire drama. F1 has nailed that feeling. It’s an experience you’ll love, and then you’ll likely forget you were ever there.
