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Japan Today
3 days ago
- Entertainment
- Japan Today
From bumper to bumper, 'F1' is Formula One spectacle
review By JAKE COYLE The wide-screen spectacle of Formula One gets a gleaming, rip-roaring workout in Joseph Kosinski's 'F1,' a fine-tuned machine of a movie that, in its most riveting racing scenes, approaches a kind of high-speed splendor. Kosinski, who last endeavored to put moviegoers in the seat of a fighter jet in 'Top Gun: Maverick,' has moved to the open cockpits of Formula One with much the same affection, if not outright need, for speed. A lot of the same team is back. Jerry Bruckheimer produces. Ehren Kruger, a co-writer on 'Maverick,' takes sole credit here. Hans Zimmer, a co-composer previously, supplies the thumping score. And, again, our central figure is an older, high-flying cowboy plucked down in an ultramodern, gas-guzzling conveyance to teach a younger generation about old-school ingenuity and, maybe, the enduring appeal of denim. But whereas Tom Cruise is a particularly forward-moving action star, Brad Pitt, who stars as the driving-addicted Sonny Hayes in 'F1,' has always been a more arrestingly poised presence. Think of the way he so calmly and half-interestedly faces off with Bruce Lee in Quentin Tarantino's 'Once Upon a Time … in Hollywood.' In the opening scene of 'F1,' he's sleeping in a van with headphones on when someone rouses him. He splashes some water on his face and walks a few steps over to the Daytona oval, where he quickly enters his team's car, in the midst of a 24-hour race. Pitt goes from zero to 180 mph in a minute. Sonny, a long-ago phenom who crashed out of Formula One decades earlier and has since been racing any vehicle, even a taxi, he can get behind the wheel of, is approached by an old friend, Ruben Cervantes (Javier Bardem) about joining his flagging F1 team, APX. Sonny turns him down at first but, of course, he joins and 'F1' is off to the races. The title sequence, exquisitely timed to the syncopated rhythms of Zimmer's score, is a blistering introduction. The hotshot rookie driver Noah Pearce (Damson Idris) is just running a practice lap, but Kosinski, his camera adeptly moving in and out of the cockpit, uses the moment to plunge us into the high-tech world of Formula One, where every inch of the car is connected to digital sensors monitored by a watchful team. Here, that includes technical director Kate McKenna (Kerry Condon) and Kaspar Molinski (Kim Bodnia), the team's chief. Verisimilitude is of obvious importance to the filmmakers, who bathe this very Formula One-authorized film in all the sleek operations and globe-trotting spectacle of the sport. That Apple, which produced the film, would even go for such a high-priced summer movie about Formula One is a testament to the upswing in popularity of a sport once quite niche in America, and of the halo effects of both the Netflix series 'Formula 1: Drive to Survive' and the much-celebrated driver Lewis Hamilton, an executive producer on 'F1.' Whether 'F1' pleases diehards I'll leave to more ardent followers of the circuit. But what I can say definitively is that Claudio Miranda knows how to shoot it. The cinematographer, who has shot all of Kosinski's films as well as wonders like Ang Lee's 'Life of Pi,' brings Formula One to vivid, visceral life. When 'F1' heads to the big races, Miranda is always simultaneously capturing the zooming cars from the asphalt while backgrounding it with the sweeping spectacle of a course like the U.K.'s fabled Silverstone Circuit. OK, you might be thinking, so the racing is good; is there a story? There's what I'd call enough of one, though you might have to go to the photo finish to verify that. When Sonny shows up, and rapidly turns one practice vehicle into toast, it's clear that he's going to be an agent of chaos at APX, a low-ranking team that's in heavy debt and struggling to find a car that performs. This gives Pitt a fine opportunity to flash his charisma, playing Sonny as an obsessive who refuses any trophy and has no real interest in money, either. The flashier, media-ready Noah watches Sonny's arrival with skepticism, and two begin more as rivals than teammates. Idris is up to the mano-a-mano challenge, but he's limited by a role ultimately revolving around — and reducing to — a young Black man learning a lesson in work ethic. A relationship does develop, but 'F1' struggles to get its characters out of the starting blocks, keeping them closer to the cliches they start out as. The actor who, more than anyone, keeps the momentum going is Condon, playing an aerodynamics specialist whose connection with Pitt's Sonny is immediate. Just as she did in between another pair of headstrong men in 'The Banshees of Inisherin,' Condon is a rush of naturalism. If there's something preventing 'F1' from hitting full speed, it's its insistence on having its characters constantly voice Sonny's motivations. The same holds true on the race course, where broadcast commentary narrates virtually every moment of the drama. That may be a necessity for a sport where the crucial strategies of hot tires and pit-stop timing aren't quite household concepts. But the best car race movies — from 'Grand Prix' to 'Senna' to 'Ferrari' — know when to rely on nothing but the roar of an engine. 'F1' steers predictably to the finish line, cribbing here and there from sports dramas before it. (Tobias Menzies plays a board member with uncertain corporate goals.) When 'F1' does, finally, quiet down, for one blissful moment, the movie, almost literally, soars. It's not quite enough to forget all the high-octane macho dramatics before it, but it's enough to glimpse another road 'F1' might have taken. 'F1,' an Apple Studios productions released by Warner Bros., is rated PG-13 by the Motion Picture Association for strong language and action. Running time: 155 minutes. Three stars out of four. © Copyright 2025 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without permission.
Hamilton Spectator
4 days ago
- Entertainment
- Hamilton Spectator
Movie Review: From bumper to bumper, ‘F1' is Formula One spectacle
The wide-screen spectacle of Formula One gets a gleaming, rip-roaring workout in Joseph Kosinski's 'F1,' a fine-tuned machine of a movie that, in its most riveting racing scenes, approaches a kind of high-speed splendor. Kosinski, who last endeavored to put moviegoers in the seat of a fighter jet in 'Top Gun: Maverick,' has moved to the open cockpits of Formula One with much the same affection, if not outright need, for speed. A lot of the same team is back. Jerry Bruckheimer produces. Ehren Kruger, a co-writer on 'Maverick,' takes sole credit here. Hans Zimmer, a co-composer previously, supplies the thumping score. And, again, our central figure is an older, high-flying cowboy plucked down in an ultramodern, gas-guzzling conveyance to teach a younger generation about old-school ingenuity and, maybe, the enduring appeal of denim. But whereas Tom Cruise is a particularly forward-moving action star, Brad Pitt , who stars as the driving-addicted Sonny Hayes in 'F1,' has always been a more arrestingly poised presence. Think of the way he so calmly and half-interestedly faces off with Bruce Lee in Quentin Tarantino's 'Once Upon a Time … in Hollywood.' In the opening scene of 'F1,' he's sleeping in a van with headphones on when someone rouses him. He splashes some water on his face and walks a few steps over to the Daytona oval, where he quickly enters his team's car, in the midst of a 24-hour race. Pitt goes from zero to 180 mph in a minute. Sonny, a long-ago phenom who crashed out of Formula One decades earlier and has since been racing any vehicle, even a taxi, he can get behind the wheel of, is approached by an old friend, Ruben Cervantes (Javier Bardem) about joining his flagging F1 team, APX. Sonny turns him down at first but, of course, he joins and 'F1' is off to the races. The title sequence, exquisitely timed to the syncopated rhythms of Zimmer's score, is a blistering introduction. The hotshot rookie driver Noah Pearce (Damson Idris) is just running a practice lap, but Kosinski, his camera adeptly moving in and out of the cockpit, uses the moment to plunge us into the high-tech world of Formula One, where every inch of the car is connected to digital sensors monitored by a watchful team. Here, that includes technical director Kate McKenna (Kerry Condon) and Kaspar Molinski (Kim Bodnia), the team's chief. Verisimilitude is of obvious importance to the filmmakers, who bathe this very Formula One-authorized film in all the sleek operations and globe-trotting spectacle of the sport. That Apple, which produced the film, would even go for such a high-priced summer movie about Formula One is a testament to the upswing in popularity of a sport once quite niche in America, and of the halo effects of both the Netflix series 'Formula 1: Drive to Survive' and the much-celebrated driver Lewis Hamilton , an executive producer on 'F1.' Whether 'F1' pleases diehards I'll leave to more ardent followers of the circuit. But what I can say definitively is that Claudio Miranda knows how to shoot it. The cinematographer, who has shot all of Kosinski's films as well as wonders like Ang Lee's 'Life of Pi,' brings Formula One to vivid, visceral life. When 'F1' heads to the big races, Miranda is always simultaneously capturing the zooming cars from the asphalt while backgrounding it with the sweeping spectacle of a course like the U.K.'s fabled Silverstone Circuit. OK, you might be thinking, so the racing is good; is there a story? There's what I'd call enough of one, though you might have to go to the photo finish to verify that. When Sonny shows up, and rapidly turns one practice vehicle into toast, it's clear that he's going to be an agent of chaos at APX, a low-ranking team that's in heavy debt and struggling to find a car that performs. This gives Pitt a fine opportunity to flash his charisma, playing Sonny as an obsessive who refuses any trophy and has no real interest in money, either. The flashier, media-ready Noah watches Sonny's arrival with skepticism, and two begin more as rivals than teammates. Idris is up to the mano-a-mano challenge, but he's limited by a role ultimately revolving around — and reducing to — a young Black man learning a lesson in work ethic. A relationship does develop, but 'F1' struggles to get its characters out of the starting blocks, keeping them closer to the cliches they start out as. The actor who, more than anyone, keeps the momentum going is Condon, playing an aerodynamics specialist whose connection with Pitt's Sonny is immediate. Just as she did in between another pair of headstrong men in 'The Banshees of Inisherin,' Condon is a rush of naturalism. If there's something preventing 'F1' from hitting full speed, it's its insistence on having its characters constantly voice Sonny's motivations. The same holds true on the race course, where broadcast commentary narrates virtually every moment of the drama. That may be a necessity for a sport where the crucial strategies of hot tires and pit-stop timing aren't quite household concepts. But the best car race movies — from 'Grand Prix' to 'Senna' to 'Ferrari' — know when to rely on nothing but the roar of an engine. 'F1' steers predictably to the finish line, cribbing here and there from sports dramas before it. (Tobias Menzies plays a board member with uncertain corporate goals.) When 'F1' does, finally, quiet down, for one blissful moment, the movie, almost literally, soars. It's not quite enough to forget all the high-octane macho dramatics before it, but it's enough to glimpse another road 'F1' might have taken. 'F1,' an Apple Studios productions released by Warner Bros., is rated PG-13 by the Motion Picture Association for strong language and action. Running time: 155 minutes. Three stars out of four.
Winnipeg Free Press
4 days ago
- Entertainment
- Winnipeg Free Press
Movie Review: From bumper to bumper, ‘F1' is Formula One spectacle
The wide-screen spectacle of Formula One gets a gleaming, rip-roaring workout in Joseph Kosinski's 'F1,' a fine-tuned machine of a movie that, in its most riveting racing scenes, approaches a kind of high-speed splendor. Kosinski, who last endeavored to put moviegoers in the seat of a fighter jet in 'Top Gun: Maverick,' has moved to the open cockpits of Formula One with much the same affection, if not outright need, for speed. A lot of the same team is back. Jerry Bruckheimer produces. Ehren Kruger, a co-writer on 'Maverick,' takes sole credit here. Hans Zimmer, a co-composer previously, supplies the thumping score. And, again, our central figure is an older, high-flying cowboy plucked down in an ultramodern, gas-guzzling conveyance to teach a younger generation about old-school ingenuity and, maybe, the enduring appeal of denim. But whereas Tom Cruise is a particularly forward-moving action star, Brad Pitt, who stars as the driving-addicted Sonny Hayes in 'F1,' has always been a more arrestingly poised presence. Think of the way he so calmly and half-interestedly faces off with Bruce Lee in Quentin Tarantino's 'Once Upon a Time … in Hollywood.' In the opening scene of 'F1,' he's sleeping in a van with headphones on when someone rouses him. He splashes some water on his face and walks a few steps over to the Daytona oval, where he quickly enters his team's car, in the midst of a 24-hour race. Pitt goes from zero to 180 mph in a minute. Sonny, a long-ago phenom who crashed out of Formula One decades earlier and has since been racing any vehicle, even a taxi, he can get behind the wheel of, is approached by an old friend, Ruben Cervantes (Javier Bardem) about joining his flagging F1 team, APX. Sonny turns him down at first but, of course, he joins and 'F1' is off to the races. The title sequence, exquisitely timed to the syncopated rhythms of Zimmer's score, is a blistering introduction. The hotshot rookie driver Noah Pearce (Damson Idris) is just running a practice lap, but Kosinski, his camera adeptly moving in and out of the cockpit, uses the moment to plunge us into the high-tech world of Formula One, where every inch of the car is connected to digital sensors monitored by a watchful team. Here, that includes technical director Kate McKenna (Kerry Condon) and Kaspar Molinski (Kim Bodnia), the team's chief. Verisimilitude is of obvious importance to the filmmakers, who bathe this very Formula One-authorized film in all the sleek operations and globe-trotting spectacle of the sport. That Apple, which produced the film, would even go for such a high-priced summer movie about Formula One is a testament to the upswing in popularity of a sport once quite niche in America, and of the halo effects of both the Netflix series 'Formula 1: Drive to Survive' and the much-celebrated driver Lewis Hamilton, an executive producer on 'F1.' Whether 'F1' pleases diehards I'll leave to more ardent followers of the circuit. But what I can say definitively is that Claudio Miranda knows how to shoot it. The cinematographer, who has shot all of Kosinski's films as well as wonders like Ang Lee's 'Life of Pi,' brings Formula One to vivid, visceral life. When 'F1' heads to the big races, Miranda is always simultaneously capturing the zooming cars from the asphalt while backgrounding it with the sweeping spectacle of a course like the U.K.'s fabled Silverstone Circuit. OK, you might be thinking, so the racing is good; is there a story? There's what I'd call enough of one, though you might have to go to the photo finish to verify that. When Sonny shows up, and rapidly turns one practice vehicle into toast, it's clear that he's going to be an agent of chaos at APX, a low-ranking team that's in heavy debt and struggling to find a car that performs. This gives Pitt a fine opportunity to flash his charisma, playing Sonny as an obsessive who refuses any trophy and has no real interest in money, either. The flashier, media-ready Noah watches Sonny's arrival with skepticism, and two begin more as rivals than teammates. Idris is up to the mano-a-mano challenge, but he's limited by a role ultimately revolving around — and reducing to — a young Black man learning a lesson in work ethic. A relationship does develop, but 'F1' struggles to get its characters out of the starting blocks, keeping them closer to the cliches they start out as. The actor who, more than anyone, keeps the momentum going is Condon, playing an aerodynamics specialist whose connection with Pitt's Sonny is immediate. Just as she did in between another pair of headstrong men in 'The Banshees of Inisherin,' Condon is a rush of naturalism. If there's something preventing 'F1' from hitting full speed, it's its insistence on having its characters constantly voice Sonny's motivations. The same holds true on the race course, where broadcast commentary narrates virtually every moment of the drama. That may be a necessity for a sport where the crucial strategies of hot tires and pit-stop timing aren't quite household concepts. But the best car race movies — from 'Grand Prix' to 'Senna' to 'Ferrari' — know when to rely on nothing but the roar of an engine. 'F1' steers predictably to the finish line, cribbing here and there from sports dramas before it. (Tobias Menzies plays a board member with uncertain corporate goals.) When 'F1' does, finally, quiet down, for one blissful moment, the movie, almost literally, soars. It's not quite enough to forget all the high-octane macho dramatics before it, but it's enough to glimpse another road 'F1' might have taken. 'F1,' an Apple Studios productions released by Warner Bros., is rated PG-13 by the Motion Picture Association for strong language and action. Running time: 155 minutes. Three stars out of four.
CBC
4 days ago
- Entertainment
- CBC
Brad Pitt's F1 movie is formulaic. But after all, this is Formula 1
Watching Brad Pitt's new racing movie, F1 The Movie, I am a bit like a Labrador at the beach. Because as I try to follow the racing rules, overdone plot beats and famous faces, I am generally confused, have no idea what anyone is doing, am more than a little annoyed by the music and will probably squeeze in a few opportune moments to nap. But on the whole, I'm still excited to be here. Despite the many, many bumps on the road, F1 still manages to roll us across the finish line — something a bit easier perhaps for a genre whose only demand is showing things go really fast. Following itinerant, woebegone Formula 1 racing alum Sonny Hayes (Pitt), the film hits all the requirements of the genre. Hayes is a down-on-his-luck, grizzled vet with a chip on his shoulder, and when we meet him, he's skipping around the world's racing circuits as a gun-for-hire. Anyone looking for a devil-may-care driver to push them over the edge is enough to get him. What if they can't pay much? Doesn't matter. Money, Hayes assures us, isn't the point. So what is the point? That's a fuzzy proposition — one that only gets fuzzier as his old racing buddy Ruben Cervantes (Javier Bardem) tracks him down at one of the rathole dive bars he frequents these days. Cervantes is wearing a Gucci suit, but the flash is for show — despite ruling the roost as the owner of the APX F1 racing team, he's currently $350 million in the hole. WATCH | F1 The Movie trailer: It gets worse. Cervantes's lead driver has hit the road, his other driver is the renegade rookie Joshua Pearce (Damson Idris), and if his pathetic team doesn't manage to win at least one of the nine races left in the season, the board can force Cervantes to sell. This makes Hayes his best bet; or, his best bet after nine earlier options turned him down. In Hayes's favour is his erstwhile superstar status. That is, before a spectacular crash broke a couple of vertebrae and forced him into the relatively slower lanes of NASCAR and off-road racing. At the same time, Hayes's clinically cavalier attitude at least gives Cervantes a shot. But this entails Hayes and Pearce getting over their egos to help one another, instead of turning their souped-up testosterone-mobiles into 300 km/h metaphors for unmanaged inadequacy complexes and chronic intimacy intolerance. So in essence, Ford v. Ferrari. Or Rush. Or, perhaps most similarly, Talladega Nights. Or really, any racing movie ever made. The films are never about racing per se, but about the romantic ideals of self-destructive masculine pride and will-they-or-won't-they competitive camaraderie. This time, the through-line is something closer to Call Me By Your Name: a mentorship-slash-rivalry between Hayes and Pearce that — for the most part — gives the otherwise formulaic plot some momentum. Which, to be fair, is the least interesting form of momentum on offer when judging a movie promising so much exhilarating action it advertised through a haptic trailer. This is an Imax feature using characters as an excuse for racing, and it shows — primarily, for how much those racing scenes pop. With cameras mounted on the hoods, dashes, rooftops and bumpers of the most popular motorsport in the world, F1 performs best as all good racing movies do: when all the annoying storylines have been dealt with so we can get back to the track, the whole reason we and our dads bothered heading to the theatre. This is good given the fact that the canned, often clunky non-racing scenes alternately drag or work against the film's theme. For example, Hayes's constant flirting with team technical director Kate McKenna (Kerry Condon) might not flesh out either of the characters, but where would we be without a romantic subplot? The contrived one-liners don't evoke an Ocean's 11 old-school vibe so much as draw attention to how far from classic this film is. Maybe we can excuse Bardem for unironically uttering the line, "The board is up my ass." Or rejigging Talladega Nights ' satirical quip "If you're not first, you're last" into the more self-serious "Sometimes when you lose, you win." And what about when McKenna cuttingly remarks, "They're saying Sonny Hayes isn't a has-been — he's a never-was"? Well, that one's a bit harder to forgive. For those without deep knowledge of Formula 1, what may be worse is the logic of the races themselves. Hayes's whole schtick is fudging the arcane rules of the sport to force an advantage — a sort of Moneyball rehash for Pitt, except with fewer whiteboards. For those of us lacking the experiential understanding of how, for example, damaged wings can lead to red flags, it may be a bit hard to keep track of the how or why of it all. If it weren't for the frequently yelled explanations from racing analysts describing just how Hayes has subverted the rules, it may be impossible to follow why he's so impressive at all. Or whether he's ingeniously winning or blatantly losing when he and his partner crash into a barrier. And another barrier. And lose. And lose again. And, infuriatingly, tease the audience with more failure to the point where you wonder whether these are the same guys tailgating you on duller stretches of Highway 1. Which, again, is less important than how fast the cars go. Complaining about the structure feels like a fool's errand — though it would be even more foolish not to mention how the ending seems to invalidate everything that came before. There's a bait-and-switch that takes Hayes's character arc and completely undoes it. The film uses a thousand symbols pointing out how the allure of racing glory has been destroying him, only to then twist them around to say he was always right to yearn for it. It is the screenwriting equivalent of Fast & Furious actors' contractual requirement that they don't lose fights, in order to ensure they continue looking heroic. It is the character-growth equivalent of having their cake and eating it, too, and then eating seven more. And then opening a bakery. It's a silly, counterproductive narrative failing. But really, who cares? We're here to see cars go fast. And when Pitt's behind the wheel, do they ever.
Time of India
13-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Time of India
F1 trailer: Brad Pitt returns to the fast lane in high-octane racing drama
It's finally time to start those engines. The official trailer for F1, the adrenaline-charged racing drama starring Brad Pitt , has been released—and it's promising an intense mix of speed, rivalry, and redemption. Directed by Top Gun: Maverick filmmaker Joseph Kosinski , F1 puts Pitt in the driver's seat as Sonny Hayes, a former Formula 1 driver staging a dramatic comeback. Set in the high-stakes world of professional racing, the film follows Hayes as he returns to the track to mentor a rising talent, played by Snowfall star Damson Idris . What sets F1 apart from previous racing films is its realism. Filmed at actual Formula 1 Grand Prix weekends on real tracks, the production carved out time between qualifying sessions to capture a genuine race-day atmosphere. While the racing team in the film, APX, is fictional, everything else—from the noise of the engines to the thrill of the chase—is grounded in real-world racing. Pitt and Idris reportedly underwent extensive training for their roles, stepping into real F1 cars rather than using simulated rigs. The actors could only nail their performance with the help of seven-time world champion Lewis Hamilton—who also serves as a producer. 'Lewis wanted to make sure Brad could really drive,' Kosinski revealed during a recent Q&A session. 'If he couldn't, the entire vision would've fallen apart. Thankfully, he delivered.' The trailer showcases heart-pounding race sequences, heated team dynamics, and the emotional weight of a man chasing both glory and redemption, capturing the spirit of one of the world's most elite motorsports. F1 will premiere in theatres globally on June 25, followed by its North American release on June 27. F1 The Movie | Main Trailer Check out our list of the latest Hindi , English , Tamil , Telugu , Malayalam , and Kannada movies . And don't miss our picks for the best Hindi movies , best Tamil movies, and best Telugu films .
