Big-screen thrills come roaring back with the energizing F1 the Movie, a potent blend of racing action and character drama from the same team as Top Gun: Maverick. Much like Stephen Spielberg or Christopher Nolan, director Joseph Kosinski seems tailor-made for theatrical spectacles, and his latest almost demands to be seen in the best format possible. The film’s story may not take the podium in its originality (the same could be said for its lame, SEO-first title), but the exciting racing sequences make up for any deficiencies found elsewhere.

As with Top Gun, F1 the Movie is centered around a movie star of a certain age as he seeks a way back in to the world that once defined him. Brad Pitt stars as Sonny Hayes, a once-promising F1 driver who now slums it as a hired gun for whatever racing team needs him. Until long-time friend and new F1 team owner Ruben Cervantes (Javier Bardem) convinces Sonny to join his team for the back half of the season, and serve as a kind of mentor to young gun Joshua Pearce (Damson Idris).

Ehren Kruger’s screenplay works at effectively setting up Hayes’ ethos, and Pitt’s million-dollar smile goes a long way in earning our trust, but F1 the Movie‘s fatal flaw is in Sonny as a bit of a blank character. It’s not until the final hour when we can really get under his skin, and even then, we’re left asking questions. Is Sonny a daredevil, asking to cheat death because he walked away from a terrible crash in the 90s? His real motivations, his views on racing, and his relationship with Pearce, seem to change more frequently than the turns on a race course.

The film could have easily taken shortcuts with some of its characters, but each is given necessary depth when it counts. Pearce is desperate to prove himself as a respected commodity; even his manager-cousin (Samson Kayo) isn’t as reprehensible as he could be. Cervantes is always supportive of Sonny and Pearce, despite feeling the squeeze from his board members to sell the team. Pitt’s flirtation with team chief technical director Kate McKenna (Kerry Condon) is a bright spot during F1 the Movie‘s slower portions.

But Kosinski and his team – mostly cinematographer Claudio Miranda, and editor Stephen Mirrione – know the main attraction for F1 the Movie is its intense racing sequences, and the film delivers in spades. Whether it’s Sonny’s first warm-up lap tuned to Chris Stapleton’s “Bad as I Used to Be”, or in the thick of the F1 season, the racing scenes are thrilling, loud, and propulsive. Kruger and Kosinski are able to make the oft-bizarre rules and strategies within the sport and make them easy to understand, and each race becomes unique in its circumstances and strategies.

Much like Top Gun: Maverick, there’s a commitment to verisimilitude which goes a long way towards investing the viewer in what’s at stake. Yes, only the actor’s eyes are visible through their racing helmets, but it’s nearly impossible to tell when Pitt or Idris are racing versus a trained stunt double. No racing film would be complete without upsettingly visceral crashes, and F1 the Movie‘s seamless visual effects make each one feel real and dangerous. That the film was shot in the heart of the 2023 F1 season, with all the pomp and circumstance which comes with each race, lends some necessary credibility as well.

Like an oval course, there’s a familiarity within F1 the Movie in its storytelling. We’ve seen versions of all of these characters in some shape or form before, but its dedication to eliciting pulse-pounding thrills gets the film across the finish line. Not since Kosinski’s last theatrically-released film has there been a film which necessitates a premium format experience to remind audiences of the exciting possibilities of blockbuster filmmaking.

F1 the Movie will be in theaters nationwide on June 27, and the film will be released on AppleTV+ at a later date.

OSCAR POTENTIAL:

• When Top Gun: Maverick first premiered at Cannes in 2022, nobody could have predicted the wave it rode all the way to a Best Picture nomination (and much less its surprise Best Adapted Screenplay nomination). I don’t think a similar fate awaits F1, but I don’t expect it to be completely shut out either. The film is currently Apple’s big awards player (unless they make a fall film festival acquisition), so don’t be surprised to see an all-out blitz of an FYC campaign when it counts.
• Claudio Miranda’s cinematography snub for Maverick still hurts to this day. Miranda’s work here is just as thrilling, so don’t be surprised if the goodwill takes him over the edge to a nomination.
• Just like Maverick, F1‘s editing and sound work is exciting and propulsive. Expect nominations – and possibly wins – for each.
• Hans Zimmer is an Oscar mainstay, and his score helps to complement the exciting racing sequences at every turn.