“It’s not about the money.”
In Joseph Kosinski’s “F1,” retired and semi-disgraced racecar driver Sonny Hayes (Brad Pitt) repeats this line often – usually in reference to questions about why he feels the need to cram himself into a metal box and drive in circles at speeds of over 200 mph.
So, what is it about then? For Sonny, it’s about that feeling you get when you drive, the one that makes you feel like you’re flying. The movie itself – a bang-up, invigorating summer blockbuster – tries to give us that same feeling. For the most part, it excels, particularly when it comes to Kosinski’s ability to tell a story within an action sequence.
But the film would also like you to believe that it’s about teamwork, and finding middle ground, and coming together to achieve a common goal – and that’s where “F1” butts up against its star and his persona in rather interesting ways.
Sonny used to be a hotshot Formula 1 driver, but a devastating crash knocked him out of the game early and without remorse. Decades later, he’s living on the fringes, driving whenever and wherever he can (he even worked as a New York City taxi driver for a stint), but never sticking around for the glory. When his old racing-buddy-turned-F1-team-owner Ruben (Javier Bardem) asks him to come out of retirement to mentor young driver Joshua Pearce (Damson Idris), Sonny reluctantly agrees and immediately butts heads with the young hotshot.
One of Kosinski’s greatest strengths as a filmmaker is his storytelling ability within the confines of a single action sequence. I am not a huge Formula 1 fan, so I don’t know too much about the ins and outs of real F1 racing (however, much like the scheming board member played by Tobias Menzies in this film, I did binge all of “Formula 1: Drive to Survive”).
My sister, a huge F1 fan, told me that as far as the racing in the movie goes, it’s at the level of F1 for beginners (she also loved the film, for what that’s worth). It might not be as complex or in depth as some huge fans of the sport might expect, but its simplicity works to its benefit in terms of story. Particularly in the first few races, Kosinski crafts a complete arc front to back. An F1 novice might not know exactly what’s happening on a technical level, but the goal and the emotional core – whether it’s intensity, humor, or anger – is made crystal clear.
The racing of it all is so impressive, those emotional beats so clear, that the rest of the film’s emotional arc is a little muddied in comparison. But, it’s easy to forgive some of that muddiness simply because the performances in “F1” are effortlessly entertaining. Pitt is an alright actor (he can be great), but he’s got the screen presence of a thousand suns, and that’s on full display here. The chemistry ripples off from there – Bardem’s slick, barely concealed owner’s anxiety plays to great effect against Pitt’s charm, and as Kate, the team’s technical director, Kerry Condon is flat out delightful. Idris does wonderfully with perhaps the most underwritten part in the bunch, able to wring out Joshua’s inner depth through carefully considered expression.
Outside of its racing, “F1” is still entertaining, but has trouble deciding what it actually wants to be about. There’s the story of two clashing drivers who must learn to come together for the betterment of a team. And then there’s the story of an aging star with a dark past trying to rediscover the thing that made him love racing in the first place.
Pitt has taken on this archetype (charming, complicated past) to varying degrees over the last few years, most notably with “Once Upon a Time … in Hollywood,” which won him an Oscar. It reads as an interesting parallel to his real life, and “F1” is certainly in conversation with Pitt’s very public troubles, and certainly comes down with a point of view – a scene where a member of the press pushes Sonny about his messy divorces and his past gambling addiction feels rather pointed.
This appears to be something Kosinski is very interested in – “Top Gun: Maverick” follows a similar structure, taking a complicated movie star and breaking down his persona. The structure works a little better in “Top Gun: Maverick,” not because Tom Cruise is more compelling than Pitt, but because “Top Gun: Maverick” doesn’t rush through the resolution of that character’s most important relationship.
The first half of “F1” focuses primarily on the tension between Sonny and Joshua, paying close attention to the similarities that prime them to detest each other so very much. It’s a tale as old as time – In Joshua, Sonny sees the cocky young jerk he used to be, and he refuses to see past that. Joshua is using that peacock mentality to mask a real insecurity about how he is perceived, and can’t quite come to grips with Sonny’s ease.
This is a tried and true set up, and Pitt and Idris have the necessary chemistry at trading barbs to make it work. But, in the latter half of the film, Joshua’s story falls slightly to the wayside, the film rushing through the resolution between the two men in a way that’s not particularly satisfying, preferring to shift almost solely to Pitt. There’s still a focus on the importance of coming together in the story itself, but on a cinematic level the film becomes much more about one man’s journey.
It’s not a bad ending – the final race is such a rush, I’d be hard pressed to call it anything less than brilliant – but emotionally, you can feel the movie leaving its most interesting relationship in the dust.