Film review: F1: The Movie

Even before we hear the first rumble of an engine, there’s the recognisable logo of Jerry Bruckheimer’s production company. The man who, for better or worse, dictated what our collective minds regard as the 90s blockbuster. It’s The Rock, Top Gun, Gone in 60 Seconds, and Days of Thunder. It’s a reminder of the time when blockbusters were engineered to an almost psychological precision to please the broader public with little market research or test screenings. Why mess with a formula that works? Just give the audience what it wants, and what they want is a visual spectacle so effective they’ll forget we may be on the verge of World War III for at least two hours.

Director Joseph Kosinski learned the right lessons with his previous Top Gun: Maverick, thus turning into the most competent student of this lost art. His films don’t have that grey sheen Marvel films have from lighting scenes uniformly before special effects are approved, and they are not constrained by the narrative impositions of a “cinematic universe.” For a moment, I thought his style was old school, but now I realise it’s evergreen. The formula never stopped working; our filmmakers just lost touch. But not Kosinski. He would make Tony Scott proud.

The story is an all-timer. Sonny Hayes (Brad Pitt) is a has-been past wunderkind of Formula 1 now relegated to fringe races when he’s approached by his old driving partner-cum-team leader Ruben (Javier Bardem) to save his team’s F1 season – they are currently bottom of the ladder with zero points, and if in nine races they don’t win at least one race, the board of directors will sell everything. So Sonny joins to bring some of that old-school gung-ho American mentality and teach the old ways to the team’s young prospect Joshua (Damson Idris), a Black British cocky driver who is as interested in winning as he is in raising his social media profile.

So it’s a mentor-student story arc, plus a redemption story and an underdog triumph. These are the best ingredients for a quintessential American classic. Pitt does his best Newman to remind us of a different time, and in a way, Idris has the self-centeredness of a young Cruise but adapted to a generation of non-stop approval and online presence. There’s even a romantic subplot with an experienced, no-nonsense professional who, at the start, isn’t impressed by Sonny’s unpredictable antics but is eventually charmed to the sheets. And if somehow all these would once be considered a tired cliché, things have come a long way to now turn it into a refreshing nostalgic take.

But we are not here for the workings of the meagre script. F1: The Movie is ultimately about the brand it represents, blessed and protected by the organisation that manages it. The races, the cars, the drivers are real. Lewis Hamilton, who produces the film – and it’s hard not to see the comparison between him and the character of Idris – inserts himself as the final boss in the final race. Carlos Sainz, Fernando Alonso, and Max Verstappen cross paths with the character. The travel from Silverstone to Monza, Vegas and Abu Dhabi (I reckon Monaco would’ve been a production nightmare to achieve). The camera is strapped to the car, trying to capture every rumble, every shake, every turn. It’s kinetic and exciting, even for someone who doesn’t know anything about Formula 1.

For the F1 nerds, there are some incongruencies in the way their plan to win works, but why get bogged in details when you get to see fast cars go vroom? The script is relegated to the backseat because everything is an excuse to raise the stakes more and more between each race. It’s pushing the primal receptors of our brain to keep an audience engaged. Very basic stuff, but it works. It absolutely works.

In a way, the film isn’t about racing. The old-school glow around it, the Bruckheimer logo, Pitt’s demeanour being halfway between Paul Newman and Steve McQueen, it’s all reminiscing of how much the industry has changed. F1: The Movie is produced by Warner Bros., one of the “Big Five Majors” studios, now being completely gutted by a CEO who is boycotting releases and productions of films to focus on franchises and sequels. It’s not a reach to say Tobias Menzies’ character, a board member with an interest in seeing the team fail, could’ve been inspired by David Zaslav, the man currently turning WB inside-out, shelving produced films for tax purposes, and focusing the brand on projects with corporate interests. The message from Kosinski and his writing partner Ehren Kruger is no amount of corporate meddling can replace the passion of those out on the track.

But all this is slightly undermined by the incessant product placement in the film. It’s also redundant. Formula has product placement everywhere, from the tracks to the cars. Do we really need a logo-facing slow cooker in the centre of the screen? Do we need a close-up of the luxury watch? Do we need a large airline plane whitewashing a state built by modern slavery? It shows that the film holds the brand of F1 on its title – and shares its logo and registered mark. At the end of the day, regardless of Kosinski’s intentions, there’s a reason why this film is out in cinemas everywhere. Our enjoyment is directly related to how prepared we are to hide the same corporate hegemony. But then again, what’s more 90s than that?

Verdict: 3 out of 5
This is for fans of Formula 1 and nostalgic millennials. Kosinski delivers the goods, which is all we asked for.