FILM REVIEW: "F1" is an absolute thrill ride
Director Joseph Kosinski, he of Top Gun: Maverick fame, does it again with an immersive, muscular melodrama about an aging movie star who’s still got it.
That’s the meta narrative, anyway; F1’s actual story is an immersive, muscular melodrama about an aging race car driver who’s still got it. Well, he’s got his problems too.
In this case, the fictional character just happens to have Brad Pitt’s mellow macho charm and good looks.
If you’ve seen Top Gun: Maverick and F1 has caught your attention, then rest assured that the ingredients that made that belated sequel work are also well integrated here. It’s not so much an interesting story on paper, but rather, the elements are attuned to the right frequency, somehow being poignant in a broad kind of way without exuding too much sentimentality.
The cliche of watching a race car in the vague hopes of a spectacular crash also applies here, and it’s filmed beautifully, leaving the entire theatre stunned for the few breathless seconds a race car violently hurtles toward a fiery finish. For someone who’s not that excited by the rumble of specific engines, these racing scenes, of which there are many, were always an absolute thrill ride to behold.
What F1 has to say about Formula 1, I’m not exactly sure. But then, Top Gun: Maverick didn’t enlighten me on the American military either, but both show a kind of idealised version of masculinity and, yes, even romance, sketchily drawn as it is. But it was done with conviction and a sincere desire to entertain the audience. And the filmmaking backs it up. It’s a blast.
