F1
“…and through goes hamilton!”
this is just brad pitt’s self-insert brocedes fic and you can’t convince me otherwise.
as a racing fan who followed the 2023 & 2024 F1 seasons—and, coincidentally, the production of this film (since they shot during actual grands prix)—i’ve been putting off watching this for the longest time knowing i’d be in for disappointment. lo and behold, i was by the cinema with a bunch of free time, so i finally gave in with low expectations.
it’s clear that the intent was to appeal to the masses and replicate the success of drive to survive, which has been a major factor in F1’s recent rise in popularity. and at that, it succeeds, despite taking a self-indulgent approach. so congrats on that, at the very least!
however, this isn’t exactly representative of the sport. it felt like a lousy concoction of the most sensationalized personalities and moments in F1 (e.g. joshua’s crash reminiscent of grosjean’s in bahrain 2020, the reporter who infamously drags out his interviews… i could go on and on) so much so that i found myself counting references more than focusing on the rather bland narrative itself. even ayrton senna’s passing was written into sonny’s traumatic backstory, which felt INCREDIBLY disrespectful (hoping they at least got permission for that).
don’t even get me started on the shameful portrayal of women in motorsport. the first female technical director is reduced to a love interest who crosses professional boundaries. the girl mechanic is shown to be so anxious that it disrupts team strategy. i know actress simone ashley was cut out from the film for some reason, but honestly, if they had shifted the focus to the WAGs, that would’ve been my last straw.
anyway, maybe i am being too nitpicky! how can you expect a film to properly represent a marginalized sector when it doesn’t even accurately depict F1—the one thing it’s about—anyway? an old-timer with insufficient superlicense points somehow sneaks his way from backmarker to the top step of formula one. unfortunately, a couple heart-racing scenes, absolutely banging sound design, and a star-studded soundtrack weren’t enough to redeem this film for me.