"Hope is not a strategy. Create your own breaks."

My thoughts on F1, the blockbuster film directed by Joseph Kosinski and starring Brad Pitt

Seeing Formula One’s rise in popularity (at least in America and amongst the kinds of people I follow on social media) has been something of a shock. The Netflix series Drive to Survive certainly plays a role in that (it makes me wonder if what a given sport or league needs to see a boost in popularity is a stylish Netflix documentary series—look at what’s happened with golf through Full Swing). But Formula One has become a popular sport to follow for everyone, not just for extreme auto enthusiasts. One way that popularity has manifested is in a big-budget blockbuster summer film telling a story set in that world. That film, which is titled F1, was directed by Joseph Kosinski in his first project since the smashing success of Top Gun: Maverick. Though there are elements of the film that are cliché and others that are problematic in terms of what it says about the film industry, F1 is a resounding success as a big summer blockbuster built around a classic movie star performance and amazing production value.

That movie star performance, the center of gravity in the film, is delivered by Brad Pitt. Pitt plays Sonny Hayes, described as “a nomadic racer-for-hire and former 1990s Formula One driver for Lotus who returns to F1 with APXGP.” That return is precipitated by his friend and former teammate at Lotus, Ruben Cervantes (played by Javier Bardem), who needs his team to ensure his team wins one race this season so that Ruben can maintain his ownership of the APXGP team. This is a classic, movie-star performance from Pitt, following in the vein of Steve McQueen in Le Mans. He’s in just about every scene in the film and you can’t take your eyes off him. The idea of a world-weary “racer-for-hire” is an easy part for Pitt to play and his natural charisma carries him throughout, but you still have to have that and bring that for the film to work and Pitt certainly does.

Javier Bardem, as the former driver and current team owner, brings a kind of over-the-top energy that feels perfect for the film and certainly provides some silliness. Damson Idris plays the young counterpart to Pitt’s character on the APXGP team, and their old veteran-young up and comer chemistry is good. Kerry Condon plays the technical director for APXGP and also the love interest for Pitt. There are moments in their courtship that one rolls their eyes, but it’s nothing that takes away and Condon is a stellar actress and thus a welcome presence. I have to give a special shoutout to Tobias Menzies playing a perfectly Tobias Menzies part and the Shea Whigham brief appearance in the beginning of the film.

Kosinski’s work on Top Gun: Maverick was rightly praised for the way in which he eschewed CGI in favor of practical stunts and effects, particularly regarding the usage of planes. Not surprisingly, you get much of the same with the cars in F1. It’s clear that those are real cars out there being featured on the film, and Kosinski (and cinematographer Claudio Miranda) put you right in the midst of that racing action. The film is visually quite exciting and beautiful as well (which I’ll chalk up to Apple’s involvement in the production of the film) and features yet another excellent score from Hans Zimmer.

You’ll certainly hear the complaints that the story is pretty standard fare for the sports movie and… well, that’s not too far from the truth. F1 is playing the hits and hitting all the notes you’d expect, but it does it so confidently and beautifully that you don’t mind. I also think there’s a conversation to be had about brand synergy and how much of the film does feel like a kind of advertisement for Formula 1 (it worked on me, I’m definitely more interested in following that sport now) and that it takes this kind of business-savvy move (aligning with a sports league) to get this kind of big, crowd-pleasing film made.

F1 doesn’t quite get to the levels of Top Gun: Maverick, but that was going to be an impossible ask. Top Gun: Maverick had our collective nostalgia for the whole Top Gun franchise supporting it and pushing that film to impressive box office numbers. But F1 does reach the heights of the best summer blockbuster films that make for a great time at the movies during the high heat of the summer. Kosinski has proven himself to be an elite director of these kinds of films as he manages to produce big entertainments that don’t feel as superficial as, say, something by Michael Bay but without the oddity of some of Tony Scott’s work. F1 proves that his work in Top Gun: Maverick wasn’t a fluke and is someone who we should count on at the box office going forward.