On Screen: “F1: The Movie”
F1: The Movie
If you’re into Formula One racing and follow the Grand Prix global circuit, rush to see “F1: The Movie,” following in the tire tracks of “Ford vs Ferrari,” “Rush,” “Gran Turismo,” “Senna” and “Days of Thunder.”
If — on the other hand — you’re not quite sure about motorsports and/or have problems deciphering British accents without subtitles, you might want to wait until this high-octane thriller is streaming on Apple TV+.
The adrenaline-fueled story revolves around the comeback of veteran driver Sonny Hayes (Brad Pitt). After winning a Florida endurance race — “24 Hours of Daytona” — he’s off to Ensenada in his beat-up camper van to chase another victory.
That’s where Sonny’s cornered by his pal Ruben Cervantes (Javier Bardem), who begs him to be second driver to British hotshot rookie Joshua Pearce (Damson Idris), so that his struggling APXGP team can win a Formula One race and Ruben can keep his job.
Art first, Sonny’s not sure; he’s still recovering from the catastrophic crash in Spain that torpedoed his career 30 years ago and sent him into a gambling tailspin.
Predictably, obsessive Sonny joins Ruben’s team and, unsurprisingly, he’s not willing to be second to brash, swaggering Joshua. Check one cliché after another.
Milling around the plot’s periphery are Joshua’s protective mother (Sarah Niles) and APX’s lead designer (Kerry Condon), balancing power with high-tech precision as the first and only woman to hold this prestigious engineering post.
Scripted by Ehren Kruger and directed by Joseph Kosinski with an eye on authenticity, the film’s most exciting racing sequences were shot by Claudio Miranda during the actual 2023 and 2024 Grand Prix and deftly edited by Stephen Mirrione, punctuated by Hans Zimmer’s score.
“Slow is smooth, and smooth is fast,” Sonny strategizes. But there’s no way to hide the ridiculous amount of product brand placement that’s rampant in auto racing.
FYI: Brad Pitt was paid $30 million, his career-biggest salary — and Mercedes built the car driven by the fictional APXGP team.
On the Granger Gauge of 1 to 10, “F1: The Movie” screeches in with a propulsive 7, playing in theaters.
Susan Granger is a product of Hollywood. Her natural father, S. Sylvan Simon, was a director and producer at M.G.M. and Columbia Pictures. Her adoptive father, Armand Deutsch, produced movies at M.G.M.
As a child, Susan appeared in movies with Abbott & Costello, Red Skelton, Lucille Ball, Margaret O’Brien, and Lassie. She attended Mills College in California, studying journalism with Pierre Salinger, and graduated from the University of Pennsylvania with highest honors in journalism.