Hot stuff: Damson Idris and Brad Pitt in ‘F1’.
F1 **** (156 minutes) M
Movie movie.
That wondrous Old Hollywood term – denoting any film that unashamedly embraces crowd-pleasing aesthetics – encapsulates everything that’s great about F1 – The Movie.
Yes, it’s a formula film about Formula One, but – yeah, so? As is always the case, it’s not the constituents of the recipe that matters but how well they’re all blended together, then served up. Here it’s with equal parts love and fun.
Old Hat is cool provided the haberdasher is on point and director Joseph Kosinski – fresh from helming the Tom Cruise mega-hit Top Gun: Maverick – certainly is as he beats the ever-reliable drum of Old School vs New School with a superb sureness of touch, delivering a hugely entertaining yarn and stacks of on-track thrills, most of which involve stacks.
Again leaning into his vintage with style and his signature insouciance, Brad Pitt plays Sonny Hayes, a freelance race driver living in his van who is recruited by old racing buddy Ruben Cervantes (Javier Bardem) to join his ailing racing team and mentor arrogant young hotshot driver Joshua Pearce (Damson Idris).
Despite the plush headquarters, this outfit is a joke in the racing world with a near-impossible mission on the international F1 circuit. Also, Sonny’s had a bumpy road through the decades since his career-crushing on-track crash and his pal’s job offer presents an opportunity for some reputational repair.
So, we’ve got old-timer clashing with young gun and a whopping big underdog story with some redemption elements thrown in for good measure – all set in an exciting world of fast cars and superb action cinematography, aided no end by an array of flawless visual effects.
That’s some package.
In the face of all the cliches and tropes gloriously strewn across the polished, streamlined narrative, the film offers an especially engaging central theme wherein an old-school, old-world lone wolf finds a place in a team.
Indeed, F1 does a great job deconstructing and demystifying the movie archetype of the raffish, rule-breaking loner who does it his own way, getting under the fingernails of Sonny’s character who, contrary to his admittedly attractive aura, is exposed as a hot mess rather than some noble hero figure.
To wit: in the press conference scene Sonny is confronted by tough questions from a smarmy reporter who knows the details about his chequered life. Brief as it is punchy, it’s easily the best character moment in the film. Gold.
Romance, of course, is force-injected into the story as Sonny’s philandering reputation finds purchase with Kate McKenna (Kerry Condon), the team’s tech director intent on redesigning the team’s cars so that they don’t suck so much.
The track sequences are premium and the international setting in the F1 world is full of colour and delicious detail about corporate deals and rankings. It feels authentic and looks exhilarating.
Performances are strong throughout, with Brad Pitt sparking beautifully with Damson Idris and Javier Bardem, who provides very strong support. It need be stressed how gracefully these older guys are leaning into their age. Terrific stuff.
Fan of racing car films will rank F1 as easily one of the best alongside such classics as Winning, Le Mans, Grand Prix, Rush, Ford v Ferrari and – yes – Days of Thunder.
There is a big chuckle at the very end of the credits that says “This film contains product placement” (or something like), as if we needed reminding how big a part product placement plays in the racing world. So, no bother.
As for the 2.5 hour running time, fear not. The film is so well-paced and sleekly directed you won’t feel the length. It whizzes by. And this from a Jurassic journo who always complains about films these days being too long by 20-30 minutes.
A real crowd pleaser for grown-ups. Can’t wait to see it again.
M3GAN 2.0 ***1/2 (120 minutes) M
There’s plenty of value add in M3gan 2.0, a sprightly, promptly produced sequel to the 2022 hit about a high-end robot doll what goes nuts.
Humour and action is ratcheted up, the spook factor is dialled down and M3gan (again played by Amie Donald and voiced by Jenna Davis), having created much havoc in her debut outing, is now eager to make up for past misdeeds by controlling her destructive impulses by becoming a morally aware android.
With her creator Gemma (Allison Williams) and Gemma’s traumatized niece Cady (Violet McGraw) along for another ride, M3gan is reanimated to help battle Amelia (Ivanna Sakhno), a super-powerful, super-intelligent, super-sexy robot who is – you guessed it – seeking to control the world by locating an ancient motherboard hidden in the fortified bowels of a corporation famous for making photocopiers. (Whew.)
Early on there’s a smattering of mandatory warnings about the dangers of out-of-control AI, largely unnecessary given how it’s been almost a century since Fritz Lang’s 1927 cinema-altering masterpiece Metropolis introduced us to robophobia (along with the enduring idea of dangerous femme droids).
Once these cautions are out of the way we see M3gan strive to make herself useful to the humans she once terrified by resuming a physical form and transforming into a pretty impressive kick-ass action figure.
Slickly fashioned by original Kiwi director Gerard Johnstone, the scale and scope is broader, with elaborate set pieces delivering a lot of hands-on combat, along with a good number of gags amidst the niftily choreographed mayhem.
Another new-century example of a B-movie premise with A-grade production values, M3gan 2.0 is sturdily built to satisfy fans and set them up for the inevitable sequel where we will presumably see our lovely cyber-heroine evolve ever closer to being human.