F1 The Movie

Brad Pitt, at 61, has finally aged into roles like these. And sometimes, as F1 proves, they’re the best thing that can happen to a guy.

There have been better motor racing movies -- including Michael Mann’s recent Ferrari -- but F1 has its thrilling moments, and its 156-minute run time goes by almost as fast as Hayes drives.

Again and again, “F1” finds fresh pathways into familiar material; it keeps its surface-level moves unpredictable even though its overarching trajectory isn’t.

“Thrilling” and “lulling” can be oddly close together, and that’s how it feels watching the cars speed round and round the track in the skilfully made if somewhat monotonous F1.

F1 is super entertaining and mostly a bloody good time, it comes with a lot of buts, caveats and howevers.

Switch off your brain and F1 will overwhelm your senses with spectacle, sonics and just enough human drama to hold it all together.

while the film is full of visceral thrills, it is Sonny's unorthodox strategy on the track and the multiple levels of personal and business relationships that make the film a full meal.


It’s proper, old-fashioned, escapist fun.

It’s conventional, familiar, and does not have the obstacles and stakes to make things seem truly do-or-die... In that sense, it’s something of a miracle that “F1” remains as compelling as it is.

F1 offers the same visceral pleasures as the fighter jet scenes in Top Gun: Maverick, and the movie looks great on IMAX, for which some scenes were specially filmed. Audiences really feel like they are in the driver’s seat.