F1 The Movie

This weekend, F1 The Movie, a new Formula One racing film starring Brad Pitt and directed by the director of Top Gun Maverick, releases in theaters. F1 follows Sonny Hayes, a retired Formula One driver who comes out of retirement to team up with and mentor a rookie driver. This movie is made by Apple who have produced some very memorable theatrical movies so I was very interested to see how this movie was going to turn out.

I had a blast with this movie. F1 is probably the most crowd-pleasing movie I have seen this year. This movie is just a classic feel-good racing story. It hits all the right notes to get you excited and invested in the story and is just a perfect example of a summer blockbuster. The camera work in this movie is so well done. It puts you right inside the car so that you feel you are a part of the action. It has a similar shooting style to Top Gun Maverik. You can tell everything is practically shot instead of having the racing be CGI. The movie reminds me a lot of Gran Turismo and Ford Vs Ferrari except without the issues I had with those films. Brad Pitt is at the top of his game in this film. He just has this effortless charm to him that makes you and all of the other characters not help but like him. I liked how his character is into racing just for the love of racing and not having any interest in the money. I liked the racing sequences in the movie. They all added that next level of excitement with each one doing something a little bit different with how the race turns out. The races at the end are particularly exciting and leave you on the edge of your seat until the very end of the movie. I appreciated how this movie goes slightly against the typical race movie formula. There are some aspects of the film that are tropes of racing movies but there are also a lot of parts where I thought things were going to go in a more predictable way and then they go in a different direction. I like that the movie does this so the story doesn't feel totally formulaic. Finally, I like how this movie is a big-budget blockbuster that is an original story. We don't get enough original stories these days and you can tell the money was spent in the right places because the visuals look fantastic. I have heard this movie described as the dad movie of the year and I can see why that would be the case.

Overall, this is just a really fun classic blockbuster that goes just enough against the typical formula and has such amazing visuals. It is a pretty safe movie but is an excellent one nonetheless. This is probably my favorite movie of the year so far.

Score: 9/10 Grade: A- Recommendation: This is a must see film