logo
A charismatic Brad Pitt is the engine behind the loud and silly ‘F1'

A charismatic Brad Pitt is the engine behind the loud and silly ‘F1'

The pleasures of 'F1' are engineered to bypass the brain. It's muscular and thrilling and zippy, even though at over two-and-a-half hours long, it has a toy dump truck's worth of plot. Sonny (Brad Pitt), a 50-something driver who spun out in the '90s, agrees to compete in the globe's most prestigious racing event to salvage his reputation and APX, the failing team of his buddy Ruben (Javier Bardem). What he's really chasing is a sense of fulfillment he can't, and won't, catch. It eludes him like a mechanical rabbit on a track.
Directed by Joseph Kosinski from a script by Ehren Kruger, 'F1' has an amiable romance with a likable automotive engineer, Kate (Kerry Condon), and a bit of cautionary flag-waving about the financial shenanigans taking place off the track. But really, it's built from the same chassis as Kosinki's last movie, 'Top Gun: Maverick.' There's the A-list reckless elder, his upstart protegee (Damson Idris) and a high-octane mission that's damn near impossible, with lots of speedy action intercut with scenes of its alpha male movie star out of his helmet and grinning for fans.
The film opens with a kinetic montage of Sonny's dreams. With a meditation tape on and old nightmares in his head, the images flicker between ocean waves and nerve-racking curves, from zen calm to zen focus. Sonny wakes up, blasts some Led Zeppelin and grabs the wheel at the Daytona Speedway where fireworks explode so close to his dashboard that Florida appears to be under attack. Editor Stephen Mirrione cheekily layers Robert Plant's ecstatic moans over a shot of a pit crew's air gun having its way with a set of lug nuts.
Straightaway, the energy is so macho that it's almost corny. Embrace the tone while allowing the occasional eye roll at Brad Pitt's near-mythic modern-day Steve McQueen. Laconic, cocky, stubborn and unapologetic, he's a loner in a sport that requires teamwork. Drivers can't get anywhere without people eager to change all four of their tires in 2.9 seconds.
Sonny must help APX place in the top 10 before investors like Banning (a disarmingly twinkly Tobias Menzies) fire the entire staff. His much younger teammate, Josh (Idris), is also on the chopping block but scoffs at Sonny as though he's Methuselah pushing the first stone wheel. 'He's old — like really old, like 80,' Josh grumbles to his mother, a scene-stealing Sarah Niles, who visibly disagrees: She looks at Sonny like a Popsicle on a hot day. Nevertheless, the squad needs to shift strategies and Sonny is here to take them from pathetic to aggressive. He gets a room of technicians to chant, 'Combat! Combat!'
But the cars aren't great. When a Ferrari representative is asked what he thinks of APX, he replies, 'We don't.' In turn, the script barely thinks of Ferrari either, which feels especially brazen as the film was shot on location at nine Formula One Grand Prix events during the 2023 season, from Japan to Mexico to Abu Dhabi. There's priceless production value in watching Pitt do laps on the real tracks surrounded by real chaos, real drivers and real fans doing the wave. Still, it's a bit surreal to hear the announcers obsess over Sonny's high jinks in the back of the pack while ignoring the winners.
The counterargument is that you can't make a villain out of that year's actual champion, Max Verstappen, when Sonny drives a lot like him. Both drivers share a nail-gnawing approach to safety that can feel dangerously close to a demolition derby. (Last year, F1 tweaked a rule so that one of his tactics here now results in a disqualification.)
The film itself pulls a couple illegal moves, most gratingly when it orders us to care about Sonny's past spinal injury, only to pivot away from that plot point and show him hurtling over sand dunes. His one big monologue about what racing means to him doesn't land with any impact.
But 'F1' is on firm ground watching Sonny shake up a sport that's become the world's most expensive game of chase. Technology has taken over with simulators and treadmills and sensors hunting for spare fractions of a second to eliminate. The film doesn't insult our intelligence by pretending all of these innovations are nonsense — they matter just as much as Sonny's mystical connection to the road. For balance, however, he and his love interest, Kate, bond over their old-school hobbies: He jogs, she bikes.
Idris makes his rookie character bristly yet endearing, with the thin-skinned transparency of a generation raised to measure its worth in likes. Josh's aptly named manager, Cashman (Samson Kayo), pressures him to spend more time on social media, arguing that in today's plugged-in modern circuit, fame is as good of a career path as getting across the finish line first.
I saw 'F1' in a screening that was predominantly influencers who didn't seem offended by the movie's disdain for vapid self-promotion. Sonny sneers every time he catches Josh doing a phony smile, even when the kid is simply posing for the advertisements they're both supposedly contracted to do. Instead, we were all swept up by the races themselves, which are honest-to-Goodyear fantastic.
The cinematographer Claudio Miranda keeps the camera fast and low. Sometimes he fills the screen with road, other times he places the lens between the windshield and the wheel so all we can see is Pitt's gloved fist jerking around turns. The noises are energizing: tire squeals, engine rumbles and a hip soundtrack once it gets past the classic rock standards. To keep pace, Hans Zimmer has concocted a visceral new growl that rattles our seats.
Race cars and blockbuster movies have a core thing in common: They're expensive contraptions made by teams who are painfully aware that they can fine-tune everything and still crash. The average Formula One car costs $20 million. Pitt's 'F1' salary was one-and-a-half times that (and the film's overall budget has been estimated between $200 and $300 million). As mechanized as a race — or a movie — can feel, success or failure hinge on the human element, the hero battling the gremlins in the machine.
Unlike in his earlier 'Troy' years, Pitt is confident having a movie this massive built around him. Sonny is the closest he's come to circling back around to his breakout role in 'Thelma & Louise' as a charismatic cowboy scamp. For decades, he tried to wriggle out of that typecasting to play kooks and himbos. Every time he was advised to play the romantic hero, those roles seemed to pinch him around the collar. But Pitt's 2019 Oscar win as the stuntman Clint Booth in 'Once Upon a Time in Hollywood' seems to have finally made him comfortable in the skin of a red-blooded sex symbol. At 61, he seems to have sprouted a new rung of abs.
Yet, Pitt can't resist quirking up the character in ways that don't totally congeal. One scene, he's acting like the Marlboro Man; in another, he reveals a torso littered with doodly Gen-Z tattoos, including a cartoon hot dog shooting finger guns. If that's Sonny's sense of humor, there's no other evidence of it. I adored the costume designer Julian Day's avant-garde takes on a plain white shirt — fancy textures, loose Tyler Durden-esque cuffs — but couldn't imagine Sonny packing any of it in the worn duffel bag on his shoulder. Who cares? We're just here to watch Pitt go.
Orange background

Try Our AI Features

Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:

Comments

No comments yet...

Related Articles

Gwyneth Paltrow Is Staying Unbothered Ahead of New Biography About Her Life, Source Says
Gwyneth Paltrow Is Staying Unbothered Ahead of New Biography About Her Life, Source Says

Yahoo

time3 hours ago

  • Yahoo

Gwyneth Paltrow Is Staying Unbothered Ahead of New Biography About Her Life, Source Says

Gwyneth Paltrow 'isn't too bothered' by the upcoming book about her life, a source tells Us Weekly exclusively. 'Gwyneth's been in the Hollywood game for a long time and so has a thick skin,' the insider continues. 'This book isn't a big deal for her.' Author Amy Odell is set to release Gwyneth: The Biography on Tuesday, July 29, offering insight into Paltrow's life from the early days of her career to behind-the-scenes details on how she became an A-list star. 'She didn't participate in the book like Anna Wintour did with the author's last book,' the same source says about Paltrow, referring to Odell's 2022 book Anna: The Biography. Gwyneth Paltrow Through the Years Odell's book doesn't hit shelves for a few more weeks, but People started rolling out excerpts from the biography on Wednesday, July 16. Portions of the book highlighted for the magazine start with Paltrow's time at a Manhattan private school. 'She had strangely potent charisma, and other Spence girls — even seniors — wanted to invest in knowing this new middle schooler,' the book reads. 'But other students seemed to feel threatened. One classmate recalled, 'Not one person had a doubt that she was going to be famous.'' Both of her past romances with Brad Pitt and Ben Affleck are showcased as the book runs through the early days of her career, as is a rumored feud with Winona Ryder over Paltrow's Oscar-winning Shakespeare in Love role. Paltrow allegedly passed on the 1998 film role, with the book claiming that she actually suggested Ryder for the part of Viola de Lesseps. It's been rumored for years that Paltrow ultimately took the role back from Ryder. 'After a story about Gwyneth allegedly stealing the script from Winona's coffee table reached the media, Gwyneth told friends that Ryder had started the rumor, and insisted she'd received the script through her agent,' Odell's book reads. (Paltrow denied the feud in a 2015 interview.) Gwyneth Paltrow's Dating History: Brad Pitt, Ben Affleck, Chris Martin and More Paltrow's past marriage to Coldplay frontman Chris Martin is also discussed throughout the book. The former couple were married from 2003 to 2016 and share two kids: Apple, 21, and Moses, 19. Paltrow has since moved on, marrying producer Brad Falchuk in 2018. Along with her personal life and acting career, Odell's book also addresses the Goop of it all. Paltrow launched the wellness brand as a weekly newsletter in 2008, and it's since become an empire. "Gwyneth was committed to covering products and experiences that translated her own tastes for her audience — however bizarre or inaccessible they might be,' Odell writes. Gwyneth: The Biography will be released on July 29. Solve the daily Crossword

'Fantastic Four' tops North American box office with $118M
'Fantastic Four' tops North American box office with $118M

UPI

time7 hours ago

  • UPI

'Fantastic Four' tops North American box office with $118M

Pedro Pascal's "The Fantastic Four: First Steps" is the No. 1 movie in North America this weekend. File Photo by Rune Hellestad/ UPI | License Photo July 27 (UPI) -- The Fantastic Four: First Steps is the No. 1 movie in North America, earning $118 million in receipts this weekend, announced Sunday. Coming in at No. 2 is Superman with $24.9 million, followed by Jurassic World: Rebirth at No. 3 with $13 million, F1: The Movie at No. 4 with $6.2 million and Smurfs at No. 5 with $5.4 million. Rounding out the top tier are I Know What You Did Last Summer at No. 6 with $2.8 million, How to Train Your Dragon at No. 7 with $2.8 million, Eddington at No. 8 with $1.7 million, Oh, Hi! at No. 9 with $1.1 million and The Home at No. 10 with $1 million.

'Superman,' 'F1' both cross $500 million at the global box office
'Superman,' 'F1' both cross $500 million at the global box office

CNBC

time10 hours ago

  • CNBC

'Superman,' 'F1' both cross $500 million at the global box office

Warner Bros. Discovery had a bountiful weekend at the global box office. The studio had two films cross the $500 million mark worldwide — "Superman" soared to $502 million and Apple's "F1," which Warner Bros. distributed, topped $509 million in ticket sales. The benchmark is a boon for Warner Bros.' DC Studios, as "Superman" is the first theatrical debut of James Gunn and Peter Safran since they became co-heads of the film and TV unit in late 2022. The pair has developed a 10-year plan to reinvigorate the studio's franchises across TV and film, including fresh spins on Superman and Batman. At present, 2025's "Superman" is the fourth-highest-grossing film featuring Superman. Zack Snyder's 2016 "Batman v. Superman: Dawn of Justice" is the highest with $874 million in global ticket sales, while 2013's "Man of Steel" is second-highest with $669 million and 2017's "Justice League" with $661 million, according to data from Comscore. "Superman" debuted in theaters just two weeks ago and continues to drive weekend moviegoing as well as weekday trips. As for Apple's "F1," passing the $500 million mark is just another feather in the cap for the studio. Earlier this month, the film became Apple's best film release ever, surpassing Ridley Scott's "Napoleon," which generated $221 million during its 2023 run, to become Apple's then-highest-grossing theatrical release. The tech company has only sent a handful of films to cinemas with wide releases since delving into the media business in recent years. "Killers of the Flower Moon" tallied $158 million worldwide, "Fly Me to the Moon" took in just $42 million and "Argylle" generated $96 million in ticket sales globally. "F1" has benefited greatly from its partnership with IMAX. Before production, Apple and the film's top creatives reached out to not only secure the use of IMAX's camera technology but also a three-week release in its theaters.

DOWNLOAD THE APP

Get Started Now: Download the App

Ready to dive into a world of global content with local flavor? Download Daily8 app today from your preferred app store and start exploring.
app-storeplay-store