Get ready, y'all! It's summertime when everyone makes plans for travel and adventure with loved ones. So what better option to watch at the movie theater than a PG-13, action-packed, sports drama? And that drama right now is "F1." Brad Pitt's ("Babylon," 2022) star power and sex appeal are important parts of this film's publicity, along with its zooming visuals and estimated $200 million budget. But I'm not sure all of these things will guarantee this film's historic success.
Brad Pitt plays a weathered race car driver who comes out of retirement to help an old friend with a struggling team and unpopular brand. But joining this team forces Brad Pitt to work with a younger, very determined, driver (Damson Idris, "Snowfall," 2017-2023). And almost immediately, they start butting heads with each other.
The official title of this film is "F1: The Movie," and it's a cliche story of teamwork, masculinity, and redemption. Even though 92% of every spoken word is worn out, stale, and monotonous, this film does have exciting sequences on the race tracks. The numerous races in this are exciting kaleidoscopes of rhythm, noise, speed, and adrenaline. The editing in these race sequences is seriously tight, and I was genuinely entertained in most of those parts.
"F1" might have some highly-regarded, prestige actors like Javier Bardem ("Dune: Part Two," 2024), Kerry Condon ("The Banshees of Inisherin," 2022), and Tobias Menzies ("The Crown," 2019-2020), but it's clearly all about the vroom vroom, beep beep, and bang bang. If you love cars, this film is the fulfilling climax you're waiting for. But it took me about 20 minutes into this film to realize it's trying to repeat the huge financial success of another male-centered action hit, "Top Gun: Maverik" (2022) with many of the same plot points, placeholder characters, and conflicts between young and old.
That "Top Gun" sequel earned almost $1.5 billion worldwide for its Paramount, SkyDance, and Jerry Bruckheimer Films studios, so it isn't such a surprise that the Warner Bros., Apple Original Films, and Jerry Bruckheimer Films studios are trying to repeat history. Joseph Kosinski, who directed "Top Gun: Maverik," also directed F1. And Ehren Kruger, who was part of the writing team on "Top Gun: Maverik," also wrote the screenplay for "F1." So even the same people behind the scenes were hired to generate a similar hit trading in the wings of a fighter jet for the curvy body of a racecar.
The length of two hours and 35 minutes is too much for this film, because I started wondering, "How long is this?" well before the ending arrived. "F1" is less of a thought-provoking journey on a man's mental reparations and more of a checklist on stuff heteronormative men love. Like fist bumps, handshakes, car crashes, money, montages of men working out, swearing, jokes about being old, sex, poker, and casual knitwear. But perhaps the most important item on this checklist men love is the specialness of America.
Brad Pitt is the only American driver in this film, and he acts like a laconic enlightened cowboy who doesn't care that much about winning. Hooray! Once I finished watching this film, I don't care about winning anymore either.
