Film review: The F1 movie is a fine vehicle for summer popcorn cinema

Irish Examiner

3 days ago

For a mega-budget summer blockbuster, F1: The Movie (PG) opens with a surprisingly modest ambition: Formula One team boss Ruben (Javier Bardem) wants his old pal Sonny (Brad Pitt) to come out of semi-retirement to help the struggling APX team win just one race.
In fact, Ruben would be delighted with a podium place; and if the veteran maverick Sonny can mentor APX's promising driver Joshua (Damson Idris) along the way, helping the young tyro to channel his raw talent into a more mature, team-oriented approach, Ruben will let Sonny write his own cheque. There's only two problems. One, Sonny isn't in it for the money; two, Sonny's a throwback who can't be doing with all the fuss – rules, especially – that goes with competing in Formula One these days.
Given the basic set-up, it's no surprise to learn that the writers – Ehren Kreuger and Joseph Kosinski, with Kosinski directing – recently combined on Top Gun: Maverick, but F1 has a charm of its own, much of it derived from Kerry Condon, who plays Kate, the no-nonsense APX technical director who takes it upon herself to puncture Sonny's ego at every opportunity, and in an accent that unapologetically strips the paint from the walls.
In fact, most of the main characters are pretty likeable here: Javier Barden is artfully flighty as the smooth-talking Ruben, Damson Idris holds his own as the fearless but impetuous Joshua, and Brad Pitt is charmingly self-deprecating as the world-weary knight-errant Sonny, who is just about holding it all together for one last tilt at glory. The driving sequences are expertly done (the camerawork from inside the cars is either thrilling or terrifying, depending on how you feel about piloting rockets travelling at 350 km/h), and the fact that the movie is made in association with the FIA gives it verisimilitude – Sonny and Joshua are racing against Ferrari and Red Bull, Lewis Hamilton and Max Verstappen.
Is it plausible? Not really. Is it the best popcorn-friendly cinema of the summer so far? Most definitely.
M3gan 2.0
M3gan 2.0
★★★☆☆
Theatrical release
The killer doll from M3gan (2022) returns in M3gan 2.0 (15A), although the stakes are considerably higher this time around: M3gan's basic programming has been enhanced to the point where she is now a top secret military asset, aka Amelia (Ivanna Sakhno), an unkillable AI uber-weapon that immediately goes rogue and begins hunting down her creators as a precursor to annihilating the entire human race.
Standing in Amelia's way are M3gan's creator Gemma (Allison Williams), Gemma's 12-year-old niece Cady (Violet McGraw), and the original M3gan (Amie McDonald), who is really, really sorry she tried to kill off Gemma the last time out.
Written by Akela Cooper and Gerard Johnstone, with Johnstone directing, M3gan 2.0 is a sci-fi horror that leans into worst-case scenarios surrounding AI, piling on the absurdities and borrowing heavily from the Terminator movies (Amelia is basically the Terminator decked out like Veronica Lake).
It's all very silly, of course, but it's also enjoyably mindless fun.
The Road to Patagonia
The Road to Patagonia
★★★★☆
Theatrical release
The Road to Patagonia (PG) is a documentary by Australian ecologist, surfer and filmmaker Matty Hannon, who set out to motorcycle from the northern tip of Alaska all the way to South America's southernmost cape.
Along the way he meets the Canadian urban farmer Heather, swaps their motorcycles for horses, and embraces a variety of 'nature-based cultures' that the couple encounter on their epic trek.
There's an seductive naivety to the central theme of rejecting neo-capitalism's evils in favour of a slower life more in tune with natural rhythms, one that calls to mind the work of Robert Pirsig or Robert Macfarlane as Matty and Heather traverse mountains, deserts, jungles and shorelines on their rollercoaster trip toward enlightenment.
The scenery is fabulous and the couple are good company on an feelgood odyssey that is as gritty as it is idyllic.
(theatrical release)