F1
Plot
Sonny Hayes is an aging car driver, who is asked by his longtime fried Ruben Cervantes, the CEO of (the fictional) F1 team APXGP to be the ‘second’ driver.
They have been historically last place for years, and the board of directors have given them to the end of the season to fix the issues, or they will sell the team.
With the first spot driver Joshua Pearce, will they be able to do the unthinkable, and lead their team to victory?
Direction
Directed by Joseph Kosinski, whose fast paced, ultra realistic approach to film-making is strong here.
There is terrific use of technical skills, with camera work focusing on both the drivers and their POV at times all within the one cut/shot.
I loved the use of the race-map appearing on the screen at the same time as the action sequences that show the leader-board of where the drivers were. It almost felt like we were watching a real race at times!
Cast
Brad Pitt plays Sonny, and as much as I like him as an actor, I felt he fell a little flat here. There are moments where Sonny is giving a ‘deep and meaningful’ conversation to another character – but it didn’t’ feel at all believable… it was just as if it was Brad Pitt reading the lines on a page.
Damson Idris plays Joshua, whose character arc I quite enjoyed throughout the film. He has moments where he has the usual “doesn’t want to listen to advise” to “almost losing control” to the 180 and becoming the rock for his team when the inevitable leader gets dumped cliche’.
Kerry Condon plays Kate, the technical director of Reuben’s team. Despite being written as a ‘potentially’ strong character, she too has some rather cliche moments, such as falling for the gruff new team member. I loved her natural accent!
Javier Bardem plays Reuben, and despite a few small moments, his role feels as though it really could have been played by Joe Everyman.
Sarah Niles who plays Bernadette, JP’s mother is the best part of the film – and is really believable as the matriarchal person in his life (despite only being 4 years older than Idris in real life.
Breakdown
At 155m this is fairly easy to sit through, and has a strong narrative – with interesting characters and solid performances. Some cliche moments are slightly on the nose , but they don’t overly distract from the overall product. Nominated for four Oscars including Best Picture, Visual Effects, Sound and Film Editing. But where is the Hans Zimmer love!?! As always he delivers an impressive Score.
As much as I like Brad Pitt as an actor, he was – just okay here. There are a few moments where he is supposed to be ‘pouring his heart out’ but it just felt like it was Brad Pitt reading lines. I didn’t really believe his delivery.
Idris is my favourite part of the film, as Joshua goes through the most ups and downs throughout. He is reluctant to accept the ‘new old’ guy – they finally come to agreements, he has his crash which he has a near breakdown, and then he becomes the ‘heart’ of the team when Sonny leaves. It might be slightly cliche at times, but it worked for me.
There are a few other cliche moments that don’t really add much to the overall end result of the film. There is the (not really organic) relationship that occurs between Kate and Sonny. This goes nowhere, neither is punished for breaking the rules. There is also the investor who becomes the antagonist too.
The race action is fun, and you can barely take your eyes ff the screen most of the time. I genuinely gasped a few times (especially in he crash sequences). I loved the race map with the leader-boards that come up from time to time too, it really made you feel like this was a real race.
I really wished I knew more about Formula One going into watching this (I’m a novice at best), but the inclusion of Lewis Hamilton (as himself) was solid – and a given considering he’s an Executive Producer. There are more people within the F1 world who play themselves too.
There is some great races within the film (like in the rain) as well as clever formation tricks, arguments about tires, and even a arc with the film about an audit of their car upgrades (that it doesn’t take a rocket scientist to work out who was to blame).
The Hollywood ending felt.. too Hollywood. I thought it could have been more realistic if they didn’t win in the end (at least come 2nd?)
Overall
Despite some ‘not brilliant’ performances, and some rather cliche moments in the narrative, it is the direction and technical aspects of the film (not to mention that score by Hans Zimmer) that really won me over.
Not necessarily deserving of the Best Picture Oscar Nomination, but the others are well deserving.
4/5
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