F1
★★★★
F1 is one of those movies where, every time it comes up in conversation, the response is basically the same: “Yeah, it rules.” And honestly? That tracks. This is the ultimate crowd-pleaser — a sports movie that understands the genre’s greatest hits and plays them with absolute confidence.
There’s nothing wildly shocking here, structurally speaking. If you’ve seen even a handful of sports dramas, you know the beats. But what F1 does so well is execution. It takes familiar tropes — rivalry, redemption, the “old guy still has it” arc — and runs them with precision, momentum and style.
And here’s the thing: I have zero connection to car racing. None. Yet I found this movie completely absorbing. That’s the film’s real superpower. It drops you into a world that’s hugely popular but still pretty opaque to outsiders and somehow manages to speak fluently to insiders and invite newcomers along for the ride. It explains just enough to keep you oriented without ever talking down to you or grinding the story to a halt for exposition.
At the center of it all is Brad Pitt, playing Sonny Hayes, a role that leans hard into his movie-star charisma. He’s charming, cocky, a little insufferable… and completely magnetic. It’s the kind of performance where you’re reminded why he’s been a leading man for decades. The film hinges on his rivalry with JP (Damson Idris), and while the dynamic is familiar, it’s incredibly effective. You root hard for Hayes, even when he’s being a bit of a jerk, because Pitt sells every step of the journey.
A huge part of why the movie works is the direction by Joseph Kosinski, who proves once again that he understands scale, motion and pacing at a visceral level. The race sequences move. The movie knows exactly when to throw you into the chaos and when to pull back for character moments. And yes, it’s nearly three hours long, which sounds excessive, but I never felt like it dragged or wasted time. If anything, the pacing is one of its biggest strengths.
The supporting cast deserves a shout-out too (Javier Bardem, Kerry Condon). Even smaller roles are clearly defined, giving the world texture without ever distracting from the main story. Everyone feels like they belongs here, which only adds to the immersion.
Is it cliché? Absolutely. Is it predictable? Mostly. But these are clichés that work for a reason, and F1 embraces them with confidence instead of apology. The result is a sleek, propulsive, genuinely fun ride.
I’d also heard some debate about the ending going in, and I get where those conversations come from. But for me, the choices made in the final stretch felt right — emotionally honest and perfectly aligned with the characters we’d spent nearly three hours getting to know.
Bottom line: F1 is a ripping good time. You don’t need to love racing, or even understand it, to get swept up in this movie. If it can win over me (and Whitney and Hallie, who know even less about motorsports than I do), it’s doing something very right.
