Brad Pitt, Fast Cars and there's not much more to it...
this is a spoiler free review of my views on the new f1 movie
I want to start this by acknowledging that I've never been a massive fan of Formula One. I get why people are into it but personally, it's just never been a sport I've paid that much attention too outside of reading general sports news. Over the years, I've seen a lot of people talk about Drive to Survive, the Netflix 'documentary' series about each F1 season which is their current mainstream attempt to bring in new audiences, but unfortunately, that show has never really appealed to me. I was intrigued when they announced that the Director of Top Gun Maverick, Joseph Kosinski, was making a new blockbuster about the sport. It felt like this was an attempt potentially to bring in different audiences that aren't as fussed by the real life stories and therefore, I assumed I was in the target demographic but I am not sure I actually was. I like movies, I like sports, I like cool visuals, so surely F1: The Movie ticks all the boxes for me?
The answer is I am still not 100% sure where I stand on the film because I saw it on Wednesday and as of writing, it's Friday and I still don't feel like I've massively cleared up my thoughts on it. However, this is what I've concluded so far....
There's no denying that production wise, it's a really well made movie. They've clearly learnt a lot from shooting the planes in Top Gun: Maverick and as a result, the shots of the cars racing throughout the film are really cool. Although I found the race scenes lost their magic a little bit over the film, the initial feeling you have with the POV shots from inside the car are so unique you can't help but enjoy it.
It's a sports film and that means a lot of tropes are inevitable to some degree in order to make them entertaining and to work as dramas. A lot of the characters had really strong story arcs, in particular Sonny Hayes (Brad Pitt) and Joshua Pearce (Damson Idris), which makes you root for them throughout the film. The arcs are also really benefited by some good acting performances. The problem is, you can pretty much see the story arcs coming before they actually happen. I don't think this is necessarily a bad thing if you're able to not look at the film too critically, but if you are perhaps on the more critical side, that's definitely where frustrations from myself (and others I've chatted too!) started to slip in.
I am not sure who the overall target demographic was for the film because it didn't feel like it was a story that would necessarily appeal to hardcore F1 fans due to some of the angles it took around how APX (the team of Sonny and JP) improved throughout the in-universe season but I am also not sure how it appeals to non F1 fans either. Yes, the visuals were really cool and it showcased the sport well, but the issues with the tropes I mentioned in the previous paragraph combined with the now commonly known traditional sports movie story arc didn't really make me feel like I have any interest in watching the sport on a weekly basis after watching the film. It feels that it tried to appeal to both demographics throughout (those that love F1 and those that don't really know the sport) and I don't think that's a bad thing, but it also meant it sat on the fence with what it wanted to achieve more than it needed too.
There's a lot of talk in the press about how Simone Ashley was completely cut from the film and although I think it is a massive shame, I can see why they needed to pick a storyline to remove. The film is nearly 2 and half hours and regularly feels bloated in the story it's trying to tell. As an audience, you get a lot of detail and backstory about pretty much every character you see but not all of it adds to the movie. I think perhaps they could have cut down on a few storylines (such as the arc involving Jodie, the tiregunner) and focussed on nailing the main few and it would have been a much stronger film story wise.
Overall, I went into this film incredibly open minded, and although I enjoyed the film, I did come away from it feeling a little disappointed that there wasn't more substance to it. I really wanted to like it more throughout the film but I think there's just not much more to it than being a fun summer film that heavily benefits from being watched on the big screen and I say that because I am not sure it would work as well on the small screen at all. However, If you are interested in F1, or sports films, or just want a fun film to watch this summer, then it's definitely worth seeing. I am intrigued to see how well this film stands the tests of time, especially with sequel rumours on the horizon, but with that, I guess I'll have to wait and see..
F1: The Movie - 3 STARS
