F1 The Movie – Saturday 5th July 2025

Unlike the vast majority of people, I didn’t enjoy this film; there were too many basic storytelling mistakes to look past.

Fundamentally, there was no antagonist. The teammates start off as rivals but quickly overcome that, so the main obstacle ends up being their inability to win races due to their own incompetence, as well as the team’s, but they’re all trying really hard! That’s not exactly a compelling story.

Also, the protagonist takes a back seat in his own story, so it becomes more of an ensemble film. The problem is, as an audience, we’re not as interested in any of the other characters! Whenever the spotlight was shone on those supporting characters, it diminished the film. In a film this long, one basic edit should have been reducing the screen-time for those characters.

Let's face it; there are only two movie stars in this film: Brad Pitt and Javier Bardem. With all due respect, none of the other actors had any of the weight or charisma to compete with them for our attention. So if you’re going to tell an ensemble story, be sure to cast heavy-weight actors that command the screen and can compete with the stars!

Consequently, when Brad Pitt’s character allows the other characters to take charge, as the actor allows the other actors to steal the screen; it’s thoroughly disappointing, because, frankly, who the hell are they?? I wanna see Brad Pitt, not these people I’ve never heard of!

The film starts off with one story; getting Brad’s character back into F1, with all his demons and past traumas, and then transitions into a different story, about him getting his teammate to win races, which as an audience member I’m not at all interested in, because the teammate has done nothing to earn my desire for him to win!

Brad’s character is the underdog, not him. Even the final race is anti-climactic, because (spoiler) the only reason Brad’s character wins, is because his teammate fumbled!
It’s SO unsatisfying!

Then there’s the usual box-ticking that plagues modern cinema, which distracts from fully being able to immerse oneself in the story. The film goes to great pains to show that there are plenty of black people and plenty of women in F1, from the top to the bottom. Great! But what about Indians and Chinese?
Oh, that’s right, despite us being the majority of the world’s population, “diversity” and “inclusivity” doesn’t include us, and never has! I mean, if you’re going to the trouble of ticking boxes, go all the fcuking way!

Visually, I was unimpressed too. The film had that greyish tone of all Apple products; not much colour, too much polish and a complete lack of any flair! There was no dynamism in the shots, even though the subject completely lends itself to that. Tony Scott would have eaten this up! Also, the racing commentator’s basically dictating the story during the races was so annoying! Whatever happened to ‘show, don’t tell’??

A thoroughly disappointing experience, especially given the positive audience reaction, which is just as depressing, as audiences no longer seem to know what constitutes a good film! Consequently, Hollywood will happily keep serving up this slop!

Rush is by far a superior racing movie, and Ford vs Ferrari tops them both!