‘F1: The Movie' Is An Entertaining, But Formulaic Summer Blockbuster
Are you not entertained?! Russell Crowe's Maximus Decimus Meridius shouts at the bloodthirsty crowd gathered in the Roman Coliseum in the 2000 film Gladiator. It's also a reasonable question to ask of the 21st century masses who are still willing to darken the doorways of multiplexes across the country when a suitable spectacle is released by a major film studio. After watching 62-year-old Tom Cruise fighting bad guys in midair on the wings of a bi-plane in Mission: Impossible – The Final Reckoning, you can now watch 61-year-old Brad Pitt do his own high speed driving in F1: The Movie.
Clearly there is something about middle-aged movie stars that pushes them to extremes in an effort to remain in the national zeitgeist. Old stars become new again. Too bad the same can't be said for the movies they are making. Co-writer/director Joseph Kosinski is making a cottage industry out of turning sixty into the new forty for Hollywood leading men. He helmed Cruise's box office juggernaut Top Gun: Maverick, and now he's hoping to trade a fighter plane for a race car and propel Brad Pitt into the box office stratosphere.
Despite my somewhat cynical point of view, I'll admit that F1: The Movie is an entertaining piece of popcorn filmmaking. If you see it on an IMAX screen, there's no reason to ever watch it again because the home experience will never do the cinematography and sound design justice. My primary beef with the film is that it's so by-the-numbers. If I give you the log line, 'an over-the-hill driver who never quite reached the top of the heap is recruited to train a headstrong rookie who could be the Best Ever', you can write the rest of the film yourself.
Every worn out plot beat is present and accounted for. The veteran racer, Sonny Hayes, was in a terrible accident on the track that cost him his confidence, and he walked away from racing. The young rookie (Damson Idris) is cocky, but hasn't proven himself. The old analog pro trains by simply jogging the track he'll be driving on. The digital youngster has every fancy treadmill and training metric modern science can provide. And, the biggest, most tired plot point? To win … they're going to have to work as a team.
There is one place where F1 deviates from standard tropes and betters itself in the process. Oscar nominee Kerry Condon (The Banshess of Inisherin) is onboard as a potential love interest for Pitt, but thankfully she's not in the film for only that purpose. Condon plays Kate, an engineering brain trust who designs and modifies the vehicles being driven by Sonny Hayes and his young protege. It gives Condon more screentime (which is always welcome) and avoids relegating her to the role of the worried supporting female, wringing her hands over the death-defying exploits of her leading man.
The film's secret weapon is, of course, no secret. It's Brad Pitt. He brings the same cool dude swagger to veteran racer Sonny Hayes that he gave to Rusty Ryan in 2001's Ocean's 11. In case the younger members of the audience don't know Pitt is still cool, we first meet Sonny with Led Zeppelin's Whole Lotta Love pounding over the soundtrack as he shuffles a deck of cards like Ricky Jay while the camera pans lovingly over his physique and face. I had to chuckle at such a hero-worshipping intro. That moment before the credits even run is emblematic of the film as a whole: it's trying a little too hard. When it chooses between bombast and silence, it chooses the decibels every time.
With a running time of two-and-a-half hours, F1 could lose a good twenty minutes without costing it any of its tension or excitement. Toward the beginning of the film, the team owner, Ruben (Javier Bardem), explains that there are nine races remaining in the Formula One season, and his team only needs one win to survive a hostile takeover by its Board of Directors. Are you thinking what I was thinking? Are they really gonna have nine racing sequences in this movie? The answer is almost. They montage their way through about three races and drain everything they can from the other six. It quickly becomes clear there are only so many ways to film a car race.
But, Pitt is so damn likable as a performer that you forgive F1: The Movie its excesses, obviousness and repetition. He's a 21st century Steve McQueen or Paul Newman. Both legends played up their ruggedness to avoid being labeled Hollywood pretty boys. It's probably no coincidence that McQueen and Newman were both passionate race car drivers off-screen. They even made their own racing films during their careers: Winning, 1969 (Newman) and Le Mans, 1971 (McQueen). Nothing says 'manly' or 'relevant' like risking death at 200 miles an hour.
I turned 56 this year, just a half dozen years behind Brad Pitt. I've seen every film he's made, and I know what a capable actor he is. If you think he's only a pretty face, you haven't been paying attention. I wish he would play more complicated characters. To continue the Newman comparison, I want to see Pitt's Frank Galvin (The Verdict, 1982) or Donald 'Sully' Sullivan (Nobody's Fool, 1994). When his age becomes undeniable, we'll hopefully get those films.
Are you not entertained? Yes, for now.
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