Racing movies can be great, but not always deliver! I love racing movies. I love racing movies that are made from video games like Gran Turismo. Unfortunately, even if the action scenes are great and I’m racing movie combat the drama doesn’t always deliver. So when it comes to F1 starring Brad Pitt and directed by Joseph Kosinski, does stack up to some of the all-time great racing movies. Well, the answer is yes and no. If you thought you were going to get a simple answer, sorry to disappoint… sometimes there isn’t a simple answer. I like the movie F1, but it’s not the best racing movie and while it is a great cinematic experience, it’s trying too hard to be a great race movie but falls short in a lot of ways. It does have a great cast starring Brad Pitt and Javier Bardem, along with Damson Idris, and the sensational Kerry Condon. But a great cast can’t always deliver ahead, they can only make the movie better than it really is and for me that’s the story of F1. Let me explain because while I do not think movies like Days of Thunder are necessarily great, they’re very entertaining. Ford v Ferrari is probably my favorite racing movie and that film delivered in every possible way. But I also love Steve McQueen’s Le Mans… it is a very underrated racing movie but ahead of its time when capturing actual racing from the 24-hour Le Mans race. That film doesn’t get the credit it deserves. So there are quite a few racing movies that F1 is judged against. And some of those films are hard to measure up to… I admit that freely when reviewing this phone.
The story of F1 is about a has-been race car driver who was once a young Phenom on the F1 circuit 30 years prior to this story. He is called in to help a rookie driver get better and to make the racing team relevant. Brad Pitt does a great job of playing this character, but I have to confess as much as I love him as an actor, he doesn’t do the movie any favors by essentially playing the same character he did from Quentin Tarantino’s Once Upon a Time in Hollywood. The character of Sonny Hayes in this movie is essentially Cliff Booth. But there are a lot of things going for this particular movie. You can call at the Top Gun of racing and it’s definitely that. The best part of the film is the racing scenes. Just like with Top Gun: Maverick, the action is absolutely incredible while in the race cars and around the track to where you feel like you’re in the race. It is probably one of the best shot racing movies out there. And it’s those action scenes that prop up the story. Now don’t get me wrong I’m not going to completely blast this film and say not to go see it. It’s definitely fun on the big screen. It’s meant to be seen on the big screen, However, the film has a lot of problems that keep it from being a great racing movie starting with the length.
This is not a movie that needed to be two and a half hours. It’s a story that I can easily have been told in 2 hours, if that. It’s a predictable story. We know who’s going to win. We know the tropes built within the story. Old veteran comes to help the young kid who doesn’t understand him, but eventually, they become teammates. Didn’t Sylvester Stallone do a movie just like that where he was driving Formula 1. I knew how Ford v Ferrari was going to end because I knew the history and that movie didn’t feel as predictable. Brad Pitt has done a lot of great movies and I definitely think he deserves the Oscar for Once Upon a Time in Hollywood, But I don’t need him playing the same character, only this time he plays a race car driver instead of a stuntman. And of course his character is going to get with the main girl. Of course, the younger and better driver will become a better teammate. There’s nothing shocking in this movie. There’s no heart. Gran Turismo turned out to be one of my favorite racing movies not only because it was based on a true story of a gamer who became a racer, but the story of his father accepting his ability when he thought gaming was a waste of time. It was very easy to root for the characters in Gran Turismo and I’m not saying that you’re not going to root for Brad Pitt as Sonny Hayes, but with a predictable story, why root for them at all when you know what’s going to happen. This film follows the same formula as Top Gun. In some ways I think Joseph Kolinski was remaking Top Gun:Maverick but for racing. Sure, go right ahead, but at least Top Gun: Maverick had a lot of heart and a great emotional connection to the main characters especially with Val Kilmer coming back to play Iceman. There’s none of that in this movie.
F1 is a great action movie…that’s the best compliment I can give it. It looks great on the big screen. It feels great when you’re seeing it in an IMAX type of theater and you feel close to the action, but to be a good movie you have to have more than just great action scenes. Yes, Days of Thunder, Ford v Ferrari, and Gran Turismo are my favorite racing movies, but they all have that one thing that F1 doesn’t… heart. It’s the thing that makes you invest in the characters and root for them. You don’t find that in F1. If I’m being honest you find a lot of clichés with the characters that get overshadowed by the fantastic action during the races. There are definitely better Formula 1 racing movies out there. “Rush” is another great one. But don’t go into this movie expecting it to be anything you need, check it out because you love to see fantastic racing action on the big screen. And I think this movie will be largely forgotten in the years to come compared to the ones I’ve mentioned in this review. The drama is average at best while the action sequences are great, and just makes it an okay movie that’s still fun to watch even if just once. Maybe F1 would have been better as a series on a streaming channel.
