The Reel Review
Three decades after a serious crash forced him out of the Formula 1 car racing circuit, a nomadic, once up-and-coming racer known for his strategic driving skills gets a final shot at redemption when a friend recruits him to drive for his struggling team. Brad Pitt, Javier Bardem and Kerry Condon star in this motorsport action/drama.
Director Joseph Kosinski (Top Gun: Maverick) has created a thrilling, pulse-pounding story with immersive race sequences, a fun, twisty ending and a kick-ass soundtrack that includes tracks from Oscar-winning composer Hans Zimmer and a slew of popular artists. Pitt does a fantastic job carrying the old-fashioned action/thriller with a character whose tactical driving skills can’t help but win over those around him, be it Bardem as the team director, Condon (The Banshees of Inisherin) as the team’s car designer, Damson Idris (Snowfall) as his rival fellow team driver and Sarah Niles (Ted Lasso – Season Two) as that driver’s mother.
Even those who are not fans of F1 racing will find themselves enthralled at the racetrack drama, as Pitt’s Sonny Hayes works the angles to help his team rise to the top. At more than two and a half hours, F1: The Movie is about 20 minutes too long, but the nonstop action should have you hardly noticing.
REEL FACTS
• Brad Pitt was paid a whopping $30 million to star in F1: The Movie, the largest single salary payout of his career.
• The Fleetwood Mac song “The Chain” in the trailer has been used by the BBC for their coverage of the sport since 1978.
• The mismatched socks worn by Brad Pitt’s character in the film is a nod to former F1 driver Alex Wurz, who raced from 1997 to 2007 wearing mismatched racing shoes.
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