By Trudi-Rose Edwards
Formula 1 seems to have something of a resurgence recently. Not that it ever went anywhere of course, but with ‘F1 and a roast’ being the answer to every dating profile’s ‘ideal Sunday’ prompt, the sport has certainly infiltrated the zeitgeist more prominently. It’s no surprise that some of the biggest names in both film and Formula 1 have decided to join forces and create the creatively named F1 for the masses to enjoy.
F1 does seem to cater more towards these fair-weather fans. Big, bold, thrilling and jam-packed with racing royalty cameos and Easter eggs, F1 depicts the sport in the finest, most glamorous, most exciting of lights – a real feat when you remember it’s only ahead of golf in the ‘most boring sports’ rankings.
The story is as paint-by-numbers as you can imagine. Former racing star Sonny Hyde (Brad Pitt, looking like he rolled off the set of Once Upon a Time in Hollywood (no Oscar this time, I’d wager)) is recruited by old friend Ruben Cervantes (Javier Bardem) owner of the – failing – APXGP team. Naturally, Hyde’s cool, unflappable presence rattles APXGP’s rookie star Joshua Pearce (Damson Idris), and – given he’s cool, unflappable and looks like Brad Pitt – piques the interest of technical director Kate McKenna (Kerry Condon).
Cue tension on all fronts.
It’s a simple, run-of-the mill story that asks all the usual, cliche questions – will APXGP ever pick up a point? Can the rookie and old pro ever see eye-to-eye? Will Sonny and Kate resolve the intense sexual tension between them? I won’t spoil anything…I really don’t need to. Whilst the plot is predictable, it’s still pretty serviceable, after all, this kind of storytelling is cliche for a reason – it sells – the same can’t be said of the AWFUL dialogue. It’s so bad it’s funny (funny, not good). From the ‘sick burns’ (“There’s this new guy. He’s old.”) to earth-shattering bombshells (“Hope is not a strategy”) to – my favourite – tactical insights from the commentary team:
“This is not where you want to be…last place”.
The film is peppered with such helpful wisdom for the uninitiated.
I’d love to say the acting helps – we have Oscar winners Pitt and Bardem, and Oscar nominee and BAFTA winner Condon to bring gravitas – but sadly…I can’t. Pitt is good when he’s being smarmy and cocky but all his emotional beats miss the mark; poor Javier Bardem is saddled with so much comic relief that you can’t take him seriously when the chips are down; and whilst Condon is arguably the strongest cast member, the writing does her a disservice in the final act when she is reduced to love interest. Damson Idris’ turn as the rookie Joshua showed promise but his character has virtually no development, going from annoying jerk to slightly less annoying jerk. Another disappointing turn comes from everyone’s favourite contemporary composer Hans Zimmer, whose score is like an audial representation of cheese.
Despite the above, the film is still entertaining. It’s incredibly well made – slick, fast, technically brilliant. Helped no doubt by the fact that much of the footage was shot during actual Grand Prix in order to truly capture the thrills of the circuit. The race scenes are by far the best aspects of the film and each race we see has its own, unique narrative – something that actually manages to showcase the appeal of Formula 1. Tension is built well even if never fully explained (do I understand the difference between hard and soft tyres? No – but am I still shocked by Sonny’s decision to use softs in the rain? Yes.) and including real-world drivers as competitors (Lewis Hamilton is one of the film’s producers and he clearly couldn’t resist giving himself a key role in the final race) adds a (thin) layer of authenticity. Maybe a little too authentic actually, because I don’t think I’ve ever seen so much product placement in a movie (Pirelli and DHL probably have a shot at Best Supporting Actor this year) and I’m not fully convinced that Verstappen, Lando, LeClerc et al. would be chilling and high-fiving their rivals before a race. If you can suspend your disbelief though, the buzz and vibe of a Grand Prix really does come alive on the screen.
I’m not sure what F1 is trying to be, who its intended audience is? For the uninitiated, a lot of the jargon will fly over heads and the cameos and in-jokes will be wasted. Meanwhile Formula 1 die-hards will probably find it too simplistic, too unrealistic, too…Hollywood. Ironically, the film pokes fun at APXGP board member Peter Banning (Tobias Menzies) for admitting to binge watching Netflix’s Drive to Survive – (what a loser, what a phoney) and yet…F1 itself offers less insight into the sport than anything in Drive to Survive.
There’s no point in taking F1 seriously, don’t expect to learn anything of the history of the sport, don’t expect any depth. It’s an entry level, popcorn-selling, melodrama interspersed with a sensory overloading amount of thrilling race sequences – it’s nonsense and it’s fun.
Photos: Courtesy Warner Bros. Pictures / Apple Original Films and by Scott Garfield
F1: The Movie is on at UK cinemas now