THB #721: F1: The Movie (spoiler-free)

a still photo really doesn’t express the film… but the graphics sure are pretty

F1 is the best major release of the first half of 2025.

I don’t know how great a compliment this is. I won’t fight with anyone who wants to argue that Sinners is better… or that they had a better time at A Minecraft Movie.

But F1 is classic HOLLYWOOD cinema, driving the audience from start to finish, 2 hours and 50 minutes later with a relentless beat and just a few side elements to distract. You can fight it if you want to. You can be enraged that it isn’t some kind of political statement about F1. You can prefer a lot more naval gazing than you get from Brad Pitt, who is highly reminiscent of young Robert Redford (as ever) and the 1980s version of Harrison Ford, but really goes back in this film to the tradition of John Wayne. He is even described in the film:

“When you look in the mirror, you see this rough and tumble old school cowboy. Doesn’t take orders. Goes his own way, huh? A lone wolf.”

This is, by the way, the best screenplay of Ehren Kruger’s career, though I suspect a lot was stripped out by Pitt and others along the way. Bardem can still deliver more with a glance than most actors can with a 2 page speech. But Bardem also delivers Kruger’s dialogue with a deft touch. As does Kerry Condon.

And here is a little secret…

I don’t give a flying fuck about F1 racing. I am not any particular kind of fan. I don’t care about the politics. It always seems like an insane waste of money that somehow creates more money than it can spend, which is quite a feat.

But as I did with Ron Howard’s Rush and just this week, watching Frankenheimer’s 1966 Grand Prix on TCM - which makes parts of F1 seem almost like a direct remake - I am happy to take that ride. And to make sure I wasn’t crazy, I went back to see it a second time… and liked it even better.