F1 (2025) Dir: Joseph Kosinski

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As a diehard Formula One fan since I was about eight years old, the prospect of a big budget Hollywood film depicting racing's fastest and most glamourous discipline both excited and worried me greatly. It was directed Joseph Kosinski, who also made the highly acclaimed 'Top Gun: Maverick', which was very encouraging from a visual perspective. This definitely felt like a film I had to see at the cinema.

I was fairly assured that the visuals would be up to spec, at the very least. I knew that the actors filmed their driving scenes in F2 cars fitted out to look like F1 cars, which meant that the driving scenes could look as authentic as possible, and, for the most part, those driving scenes looked and felt very good. I do have to moan about some continuity issues, however. There were moments where cars would be right behind a car one second, and metres back the next. There was also the seemingly neverending issue of sound design, in that, the engine sounds did not match up to the point of a track that the cars were driving, in regards to acceleration and breaking. It isn't the kind of thing a casual cinema goer or race fan would notice or care about, but it's always bugged me in car films.

What irritated me most of all, however, was the writing. It was abysmal. The impression I got was that the writer Ehren Kruger's knowledge of F1 was tantamount to someone who watched 'Drive To Survive' once and thought they knew the sport. I realise that maybe my love for the real motorsport means that I may be "too close" to it to enjoy such a glaring popcorn flick, but for a film so determined on a surface level to be authentic, it did a very poor job of it. Even the chosen team name of 'Apx GP' felt extremely lazy.

My issues didn't end there; I thought the romantic arc was both forced and unnecessary, ultimately diminishing the female character's role to a schoolgirl with a crush, which sucked, honestly. The vast majority of the story felt so cheesy that I worried for any lactose intolerant people in the audience. This is without talking about the exhausting runtime, which I really began to feel by the end of it. All this is not to say that the film had no entertainment value - I liked the racing, for what it was, the cameos were amusing, and I thought the basic structure of the narrative served its purpose.

Brad Pitt once again played the same arrogant and unlikeable kind of character that he seems to love to portray. Perhaps it's just me, but I'm personally kind of over these kinds of men in films. Of course, it doesn't help that I'm really not a big fan of Pitt's anymore, on or off the screen. By contrast, I enjoyed the acting of Damson Idris significantly more. He felt very authentic, and had good chemistry with everyone he interacted with, especially the duo of Sarah Niles and Samson Kayo, who gave enjoyable performances in their own rights too.

Javier Bardem's character and performance was probably my favourite aspect of the entire film. He had a charm and a natural suave to him that was very easy to watch. He honestly felt like the most authentic character in the film, aside from Idris. Kerry Condon acted well, but, as I referenced earlier, her character's writing really limited her. I think she made the most of her situation, but I personally felt that her character didn't need a romantic storyline at all. There were a couple of cast members who deserved a mention, albeit despite mixed performances; Kim Bodnia and Will Merrick had their moments, but I really didn't like Tobias Menzies, whose acting and character felt very forced.

Overall, I'm afraid to say that this wasn't for me, which makes me very sad to say. This film is likely great for the casual audience member, as the general audience reception attests. For me, however, it just wasn't what I hoped it would be. It had a very primitive, and very Americanised vision of what F1 is as a sport, and no amount of fun real-life driver cameos, or indeed an excellent Hans Zimmer soundtrack, could save that. I wanted so badly to like this film a lot more, but it failed to meet my vision of what it could have been. I will say, to finish this review, that I know I am in the minority of opinions on this, and I can, to an extent, understand why.