Everything works in this revved-up sports drama
This is, without question, the ne plus ultra of professional car racing movies.
Until now, depending upon one’s age, fans likely would point to 1966’s “Grand Prix,” 1971’s “Le Mans,” 2013’s “Rush” or 2019’s “Ford V Ferrari.”
(Sorry Tom Cruise, but 1990’s “Days of Thunder” sinks beneath its banal plot, stick-figure characters and jaw-droppingly dreadful dialogue.)
This one blows ’em all off the track.
Director Joseph Kosinski, co-scripter Ehren Kruger, cinematographer Claudio Miranda and editors Stephen Mirrione and Patrick J. Smith have done the seemingly impossible, by dropping their film right into the middle of actual Formula 1 racing competitions.
The result is an unparalleled level of authenticity, which grants us edge-of-the-seat viewers an astonishing sense of being there: not merely on the track, in the design facilities and amid the pit crews, but also inside the cars during the heat of racing.
It’s actually better than live-TV coverage of actual Formula 1 events, because Miranda employed state-of-the-art, pan-and-tilt portable cameras capable of providing multiple angles of drivers in the bay — essentially getting bolted into their vehicles, like the steering wheel and other components — and during the height of racing action on straightaways and G-force curves.
But all of this would be mere window-dressing, absent a solid story and relatable characters, played here by an impressively charismatic cast led by the always captivating Brad Pitt. Adept at strong dramatic scenes and graced with a quiet, laid-back calm that was made for a movie camera, Pitt also is blessed with one of cinema’s most radiant smiles.
When it emerges — particularly during unexpected moments, as if Pitt were happily surprised by the appearance of an old friend — the emotional impact is to die for. He truly is the Baby Boomers’ Paul Newman.
Kosinski and Kruger essentially have revisited the formula that worked so well for them in 2022’s “Top Gun: Maverick,” another take on the redemption saga of Old Dog Teaches Young Pup New Tricks, in a highly charged dramatic environment.
And, just as Kosinski put us into a fighter jet’s cockpit like never before, he has done the same here with Formula 1 racing.
Sonny Hayes (Pitt), dubbed “the greatest that never was,” became Formula 1’s most promising phenom of the 1990s, until an accident on the track nearly ended his career. Three decades later, he’s a nomadic racer-for-hire and former gambling junkie who lives in a van, nursing the memory of multiple divorces. He had a chance and blew it, and his aging body is a constant, painful reminder.
Although humbled by his past, Sonny maintains total confidence in his ability and experience, along with a wily sense of how far he can push against the system, in order to gain every possible track advantage.
He’s excellent at what he does, with skills, bluff and strategy impeccably honed over the years; that’s why he’s approached by long-ago driving partner Ruben Cervantes (Javier Bardem). His struggling Formula 1 team, APXGP, is on the verge of collapse, having gone more than two years without earning a single point on the circuit. The board of directors is itchy to sell, and Ruben is desperate; his cocky lead driver, Joshua Pearce (Damson Idris), is talented but raw, and has yet to place in a race.
Miranda frames Sonny’s arrival at APXGP’s London-based test grounds in iconic fashion. Ruben and Pearce are surrounded by their uniformly garbed and sponsor-labeled team when, off in the distance, Sonny ambles up in well-worn street clothes, carrying a stuffed duffel bag, looking like an itinerant carnival roustabout seeking fresh employment.
(This “arrival scene” repeats later, in the story’s third act, under much stronger dramatic conditions.)
Joshua hates him on sight. The young driver is arrogant, cocky and egotistical, but also capable of faux charm: a darling of media interviewers, and well aware that he’s popular click-bait. He views himself as APXGP’s best chance at success, despite (inconvenient detail) never yet having finished a race in the top 10.
But the most pressing problem, which Sonny recognizes immediately, is that Joshua hasn’t the faintest idea how to integrate his driving skill into a team sport. This is the key element of Formula 1 racing, where each team has two drivers, whose combined points determine championships. More crucially, a well-honed pair of drivers can work together on the track, to obtain advantage over a lone leading competitor.
Idris nails his character’s contemptuous, you-can’t-teach-me-anything brashness; he and Pitt verbally spar with combustible persuasiveness. Sonny refuses to be baited or wound up; he responds to Joshua’s snide remarks with the patient, knowing smile of a true Yoda … which, naturally, infuriates the younger man even more.
Sonny also must win the trust of team technical director Kate McKenna (Kerry Condon), who’s responsible for the design and set-up of the team cars, at all times trying to maximize their ability to attack the competition in the track corners.
Here, too, the initial tension is prickly; when things aren’t working — and they don’t, for an agonizing stretch during this film’s first act — the engineers assume the driver isn’t driving the car correctly, whereas the driver feels the engineers haven’t set up the car correctly.
Condon, a feisty Irish actress who earned an Oscar nod for her supporting role in 2022’s “The Banshees of Inisherin,” is perfect here. Sonny’s immediate insistence on design modifications naturally rubs her the wrong way; who the hell is this three-decades-gone newcomer to tell her how to do her job?
Kate also is understandably wary, due to her unusual position as a female team tech director: very rare in what’s still a male-dominated sport.
Unlike Joshua, though, Kate soon recognizes that Sonny’s skills and opinions aren’t all talk. He’s not wild and crazy on the track for the sheer sake of it; he’s actually a wily strategist who’s smarter than he lets on.
Barden is marvelous as the long-suffering Ruben, who soon questions his impulsive decision to bring Sonny back into the game. Unlike the other characters, who squabble about nuts, bolts and behavior, Ruben is passionate about Formula 1 on an emotional level. Barden is this story’s beating heart.
Crucial sidebar characters include Sarah Niles, Joshua’s wise and doting mother, who can display mother tiger ferocity when necessary; Jodie (Callie Cooke), a newbie member of the pit crew, initially too worried about screwing up; Cash (Samson Kayo), Joshua’s glad-handing publicist, and an unfortunate influence on the young racer; and Kaspar Smolinski (Kim Bodnia), the APXGP “principal” responsible for maintaining team spirit while calling the strategic shots.
The frustrated Kaspar also resents Sonny’s intrusive presence, and feels betrayed by Ruben.
Tobias Menzies, finally, has an intriguing role as Peter Banning, the on-the-ground member of APXGP’s board of directors. His look is refined — a suited and booted English gent — but his tech-bro camaraderie with Ruben feels a bit too forced and enthusiastic. The ongoing story never lets us forget that huge amounts of money constantly are at stake.
The stunning racing sequences are complemented by contemplative personal moments. Sonny is laden with quirks; he hones his reflexes by bouncing balls against a wall, one in each hand, and wiles away in-between hours by throwing playing cards at a basket on the far side of his bedroom. He also places a single card in his outfit, prior to each race … but never looks to see which card it is.
We also begin to wonder, as time passes, if Sonny’s frequent post-race, whole-immersive ice baths are less a luxury, and more a necessity.
The drama plays out against a full season of Formula 1 racing’s global events: the world’s largest, loudest and most entertaining traveling circus. All the settings are authentic: Britain’s Silverstone Grand Prix; Hungary’s Hungaroring; Mexico City’s Autodrómo Hermanos Rodríguez; the Las Vegas Strip Circuit; and ultimately climaxing at Abu Dhabi’s Yas Marina Circuit … with many others in between.
Formula 1 fans will appreciate the numerous cameos by driving stars such as seven-time world champion Lewis Hamilton — who served as the film’s primary advisor — along with Max Verstappen, Charles Leclerc, Carlos Sainz and many others, plus popular announcers David Croft and Martin Brundle.
Kosinski and Kruger also make a point of showcasing the complexity of modern-day Formula 1 racing. Everything is calibrated by computers, while second-by-second instructions, comments and warnings flow back and forth between drivers and team monitors. If this sport ever was simply one guy driving a car around a track between 44 and 72 times — a variable based on location, the goal being to travel slightly more than 190 miles — it sure as hell isn’t that way now.
I’ve often groused, of late, about how too many movies are too damn long. That definitely isn’t the case here; Kosinski’s film hits the ground running — er, driving — and never lets up for its thoroughly captivating 155 minutes.
This film has the all-too-rare “sense of wonder” capable of bringing folks back to movie theaters.
Rating: PG-13, for dramatic intensity and occasional profanity
Starring: Brad Pitt, Damson Idris, Javier Bardem, Kerry Condon, Tobias Menzies, Kim Bodnia, Sarah Niles, Callie Cooke, Samson Kayo
Available at: Movie theaters