Popcorn Perspectives with Danny Minton
Week of June 23, 2025
F1 The Movie
Rated PG-13 for strong language and action
Rotten Tomatoes Score: 88%
In Theaters
From Jerry Bruckheimer and Top Gun Maverick director Joseph Kosinski, comes this action-packed race car flick starring Brad Pitt as a former F1 driver whose career ended in the 90’s after an accident that nearly left him dead. But he never stopped racing, keeping himself challenged in any other category of car racing that would allow him behind the wheel. When his former F1 teammate (Javier Bardem) gives him the chance to get behind the wheel on a losing F1 team, he decides to jump back in, if only to try to help his former teammate and possibly fulfill his own adrenaline needs. But in order to truly succeed, he must also find a way to help develop the career of his new teammate, a hotshot young driver who lacks the experience and skills to get his team on the podium. I, like most Americans, know virtually nothing about F1 racing, other than what I have seen in maybe a few other movies. That being said, if the movie is effective at anything – it is darn good at explaining how the sport works and gaining attention towards it. But it is fortunately much more than that. From the starting moments to the last, it is a big, bombastic, loud, over-the-top drama that you can’t take your eyes off of. Kosinski has a style that makes you care about the racing as much, or even more, than you care about what is happening off the track. One of the ways he does this is by giving you relevant narration, via an announcer, during the long, extended racing sequences. Of course the announcer is only talking about the team we are there to see, as he is 100% concerned about what is most important to the story. Also, to simplify things to a great degree, there is no competitor on the track that is brought to attention. All you get is Sonny Hayes (Pitt in a perfect role for him), Joshua Pearce (relative newcomer Damson Idris) and the members of their team. While most films rely on an adversary or some kind of villain, this film just tries to push the fact that they are in last place as the ominous bad guy. Is it the best way to present a narrative? Probably not, but it is effective and simple. I consider myself very intelligent (and humble), but this simplicity helps tremendously when you are trying to concentrate on a story while learning an entirely new sport. By the end, you are cheering like you know what is actually going on, and it ends up being entirely satisfying. B+