Back in the late 90’s, I was watching Formula 1 and Martin Brundle was doing his gridwalk before the start of the race at Monaco cause there was talk of their being an F1 Movie. That ‘F1 Movie’ was an Indycar movie that was 2001’s Driven. So we had to wait until 2013 before we got a Formula One movie with Ron Howard’s Rush which is a brilliant film. 12 years later we get a full blown F1 Movie from the director of Top Gun: Maverick. I think your interest in this film will depend on whether you are a fan of Formula One and you might have guessed that I am. I don't watch it as much as I used to but know enough to be interested.
The film sees Brad Pitt playing Sonny Hayes who was once a driver in Formula One 30 years ago is enticed back into the sport by Ruben Cervantes (played by Javier Bardem). Hayes is told that if they don't win a race in the remaining 9 races of the season then the plug will be pulled. The team consists of his team mates Joshua (Damson Idris), Technical Director Kate (Kerry Condon), Team Principal Kaspar (Kim Bodnia) with member of the board Peter (Tobias Menzies) being the good guy at first but then appearing to want to take over the team and wants the team to not win a race.
There are many things that as a watcher of Formula One that I knew didn't seem right. The idea of a team that hasn't scored a point in two and half seasons of racing suddenly being in a position of winning races is quite ridiculous. There is also the issue that Sonny’s antics about causing the safety car to come out would definitely have caused him to get dragged in front of the stewards who would have really come down hard on him. Also the idea that Sonny after WINNING A RACE would just be able to walk through the crowd and not get stopped or having to do some interviews did ring a bit untrue. I suppose the argument that you could use is that it has to change things to appeal to a wide audience and you have to use some dramatic licence and for that I would forgive them.
Generally the performances were really good. There is something about Brad Pitt that made this character work. In the hands of another American it would have come across as completely cheesy and eye rolling and Pitt comes across as arrogant but likeable. Javier Bardem does appear to be chewing the scenery but again makes the character work. He does make the owner of a Formula One team come across as way too nice but again I suppose they have to make some allowances for a wider audience. Kerry Condon is the love interest for Sonny but again she makes Kate someone who is there because she is talented and is good at her job instead of being there just so she can become the lead’s love interest. Damson Idris’ Joshua was slightly frustrating because he was understandably the arrogant young rookie but then seems to flip flop between that and someone who respects Sonny. This isn't a comment on Idris’ performance but just how the character was written.
The main reason why you should see this film is because of the racing and they are done really well. I did forget a couple of times that I was watching a movie because the scenes are edited together really well. I think that they were done during the races at a few circuits to add to the atmosphere (and probably save on production costs). There are a few racing scenes in this movie so you definitely get your money's worth. F1 The Movie is a very good movie. If you took the racing out then it wouldn't be worth watching but the racing scenes help you get past some of the more fanciful aspects that they try to pass off as part of the Formula One experience.
Comments
Post a Comment