F1: The Movie delivers confusing characters but thrilling action

I can’t say that I’ve ever sat through a car race. The inherent danger of it makes me queasy, even though I will watch two people beat the crap out of each other in combat sports. Nonetheless, artists you trust along with a reliable formula can create intrigue for just about anything. Even if a story feels like it’s on factory settings, the people driving it can elevate it to the best possible version. Whether it reaches top speed or just stays consistent, we hop out feeling that our pulse has quickened. Okay, I put as much automobile-related language as I possibly could, so I’ll go into detail about the newest Jerry Bruckheimer-produced blockbuster, F1: The Movie.

Directed by Top Gun: Maverick’s Joseph Kosinski, F1: The Movie focuses on the relationship and rivalry between Sonny, an old-school driver coming out of retirement (Brad Pitt, Fight Club), and a young, hard-headed hot-shot, Joshua Pearce (Damson Idris, Snowfall). Sonny joins the team to help his indebted friend Ruben (Javier Bardem, No Country for Old Men), who holds a piece of ownership but desperately needs on-track success to save his place. Joshua resents the idea that an older driver who underachieved outside of the Formula 1 realm can teach him anything about his own craft. Much of the first act consists of barbs between the two, as both are cocky, stubborn, and lacking in self-awareness. It’s often said that we dislike in others what we see in ourselves, which would be true in this case if either of them actually saw it in themselves. There to play mediator are Ruben, Joshua’s mother Bernadette (Sarah Niles, Ted Lasso), and the team’s technical director, Kate (Kerry Condon, The Banshees of Inisherin). 

The highlights of F1: The Movie clearly reside in the on-track action. As many now know, the film received permission from Formula 1 to film live races up close. The mid-race adjustments and communication between driver and crew give insight into the strategy behind the sport. We see Sonny and Joshua occasionally bend or manipulate the rules, at times angering other drivers. Such a conflict occurs in the very opening scene, as Sonny is competing in the Daytona 500 and draws the ire of a rival that he nearly ran off the track. The tactics and jargon are simplified enough for a laymen’s audience yet explained well enough to draw them in. Like Top Gun: Maverick, F1 plays to its strengths and uses arrested development to heighten the most perilous moments. The straight-on shots of the helmeted drivers with their faces mostly obstructed but communicating through radio connects these two films stylistically.

The best and most dogmatically consistent character is undoubtedly Bernadette, fierce in her protection of her son. Maybe the best character detail of the film is the love Joshua shows to and receives from his mother. Without being overbearing or living vicariously through him, Bernadette calls Joshua out on his abrasive behavior towards Sonny while also having his back when it is necessary. Her influence allows him to evolve throughout the movie and eventually learn to sacrifice for the good of the group. Early in the film, Joshua drives home from the track and tells his best friend he must stop somewhere to visit someone. Though it would seem to be a love interest, it turns out to be his mother, immediately establishing their bond.

What the film misses is a chance to double down on the flaws and virtues of its other main characters, despite making it a point to allude to them. For instance, Joshua has a fixation on his social media presence, a characteristic loosely attributed to his age. Though Sonny verbally criticizes him for it, nothing about Joshua’s behavior reflects a drastic imbalance or obsession. A sequence where it overtly cost him something could drive the point home. Similarly, Kate is the first female technical director in Formula 1, stated many times during the film. While she discloses the occasional detail about her background, what has driven her to this point, and why winning is so important to her, her role in the film eventually becomes fluff and is more based around her romantic chemistry with Sonny (I’d say spoiler alert but anyone could see that coming). 

Moreover, Sonny’s reputation as a career underachiever giving one more go at it feels perplexing. For starters, he is coming off winning a major race, which would seem to be a major success. Secondly, he is crossing over into what is technically a different sport, which comes off as more experimental. And lastly, his main motivation to seize the opportunity is to rescue his friend’s financial and business prospects, which are going down the tube. These all make the characters confounding, even if the actors playing them do a stellar job. It’s almost as if the quest to make the characters look cool got in the way of them experiencing sincere rock bottoms.

F1: The Movie provides the necessary thrills and intensity that is meant to be the main draw. As has been recited by those in the industry, the concept of the movie star has slowly disappeared. In a strange way, this blockbuster release feels like a needle in a haystack, relying on stars in a way many big-budget films do not anymore. While the film is inconsistent in its character-building, it delivers on its core promise. And for bonus points, it takes the same actor who played this lunatic and sticks him in a dapper suit for two and a half hours.