F1: THE MOVIE teaches us that it’s not the Grail, as the old saying goes, it’s the quest. In this case, the natural high that Sonny Hayes (eminently likable Brad Pitt) experiences when he drives a race car. Amid the mild melodrama and occasional predictability of the script, the film as a whole delivers on the sort of pulse-pounding action that arises when alpha males drive their tricked-out Formula 1 cars very, very fast around several tricky racetracks. The stakes are high, the characters are engaging, and the whizzing speeds are conveyed to the audience with everything but the extra G-forces at play.
The plot involves Sonny, whose name is duly noted as having meteorological overtones, a passionate racecar driver who never quite lived up to his promising start. He currently lives in a camper. What happened, and how it haunts him, is revealed in bits and pieces after his old pal, Gucci-clad Ruben Cervantes (Javier Bardem at is irresistible best) tracks Sonny down at a laundromat and offers him a second chance. Ruben has an F1 team halfway through a losing Grand Prix season that needs a seasoned driver to balance out the talented but immature driver on the team and keep the team viable in the racing world. That would be Joshua Pearce (Damson Idris), who is ambitious, impatient, and in no mood to let an old man horn in on his glory. Never mind that Sonny has just won the Daytona 500.
Then again, no one on the APeX team that Ruben is trying to save takes Sonny seriously. It’s a classic set-up for Sonny to win them all over while proving to himself and them that the old guy still has what it takes. And he does. Of course. The pleasure of the film is the way that Sonny accomplishes what Ruben wants, but in ways he didn’t anticipate, and in how it changes everyone, including Sonny. Yes, cliché, but these characters are well-written to avoid caricature and played with intelligence as well as warmth. That is particularly true of the inevitable love interest, Kate McKenna, in the form of the formidable Kerry Condon. As the first female tech director of an F1 team, she is suitably tough, has not been dolled up by a stylist, and is also smart enough to see that Sonny might know something about what is keeping her designs from winning. Not to mention accepting that there might be some limitations in laser simulations. Theirs is a meeting of the minds, and a passion for shaving 1/10th of a second off a car’s speed, before the more carnal variety sets in. It’s also adorable to see the way that Joshua’s mother (Sarah Niles) reacts to Sonny’s shaggy good looks.
Pitt is terrific as a guy who has made peace with his past, mostly, and realizes that what he wants money can’t buy. The camera does not shy away from the wrinkles as it catches the gleam in his eyes about racing, and the laid-back affect is the perfect cover for the intensity of Sonny’s need to win. His Sonny is fighting an aging body with graceful courage, an agile mind, and raw determination. For him, as he instills in the others, this is combat, and Plan C may stand for chaos, but it’s also the path to glory. It doesn’t hurt that he looks great, whether revealing a back scar in a loving close-up, sporting his logo-encrusted racing jumpsuit, or submerging himself in an ice bath.
The racing sequences and personal drama all build to a perfectly crafted nail-biter of a finale that has everything on the line for everybody. Never mind if you know nothing about Formula 1, or any racing for that matter. The chatter between drivers and tech team, including a dubious German (Kim Bodnia), cue us in on what is happening during those tense POV shots of drivers and what they see as they zip around using strategy as well as speed to out-race the competition. Plus, for every race there is a delightfully excitable Grand Prix announcer giving color commentary that annotates what is happening with a delirious, British-accented precision. The cross-cutting between management, tech, and the drivers makes the exposition effortless, even enlightening as the throbbing music amplifies the suspense.
F1: THE MOVIE gives us the verisimilitude of F1 teams and their drivers making cameos throughout in an action film that allows the details to move the story along. For an action film, there is telling nuance. Sonny’s mis-matched socks, Joshua’s sweetness towards his mother, a poker game as a therapy session, and Ruben’s carefully controlled anxiety telegraphed with a sad smile or a sudden outburst. Verging on a fable in its tropes, F1 remains grounded enough to keep the adrenalin going and make it easy to forgive its few flaws.
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