AKA: F1: The Movie

F1 2025 Movie

From the very first minutes, F1 makes it clear that it wants to grab you with the roar of the engines. Starting with Daytona, accompanied by that classic Florida radio station, is a brilliant touch that instantly pulls you into the racing world. Joseph Kosinski proves once again that he knows how to capture speed and danger. Just like in Top Gun: Maverick, he turns the races into an unforgettable visual spectacle. The camera hugs the track, the tires, and the drivers, creating a sense of vertigo rarely seen on screen. It’s not just technique: there’s storytelling in every overtake and every turn. Brad Pitt carries the film with magnetic presence. His character, a veteran with more wrinkles than illusions, works because the actor embraces age instead of hiding it. Watching him behind the wheel conveys both experience and risk. The supporting cast delivers, though it’s clear the film is built around him. The plot isn’t groundbreaking. Familiar tropes are everywhere—from the aging racer to the inevitable rivalries. Yet, the execution, with spectacular staging and relentless rhythm, keeps it all engaging. What matters here is the emotion, the tension of each race, and the adrenaline that spreads to the audience. What stands out is how the film balances spectacle with personal epic. It’s not just cars circling a track: it conveys the sacrifice, solitude, and fleeting glory of the sport. This is big-screen cinema, designed to be felt with booming sound and sheer scale. In the end, F1 doesn’t reinvent the genre, but it raises it to rare heights. It’s a film made to be enjoyed, with sequences that glue you to your seat and with Brad Pitt proving why he’s still a star. A movie that floors the accelerator from the start and never lets up.

Firstly, the younger version of Brad Pitt’s character looked unconvincing. It’s surprising that for a film lasting over two hours they can de-age characters, but they didn’t bother to de-age him properly for the brief moment we see young Sonny Hayes. At times, the race commentary feels like it’s aimed at people with no knowledge of F1, which breaks the immersion. Real commentators wouldn’t explain things that way. Brad mentioned in interviews that this was something they were trying to balance and I get that it's not easy to cater towards the newcomers and F1 enthusiasts. Still, the idea of a lesser team being able to challenge the front-runners adds an exciting “what if” element to the sport. If only F1 worked like that in real life. I appreciated some of the script choices, like showing the FIA seemingly targeting a smaller team which felt grounded. It would’ve been great to hear more lines from the actual F1 drivers, though, rather than just seeing them in passing. Overall, while it does fall into some of the usual sports movie clichés, there are enough fresh twists, engaging moments, emotion, and solid racing scenes to make it worth a watch.