The Freaking Film Fanatic with Nathan Unck
F1® The Movie Rated: PG-13 for racing action and brief strong language.
About 25 years ago, I was living in Michigan. The place I lived also had Michigan International Speedway. The town was small and quiet, but when NASCAR Weekend hit, there were hundreds of thousands of people came to either watch the races inside the track, or tailgating outside while watching the race on TV. I didn't know much about NASCAR racing, so I took to magazines, newspapers and the internet to learn how to watch a race besides watching the cars go fast in an oval. It was really exciting, but I have never really learned how Formula 1 racing works.
While F1® The Movie is all about Formula 1 racing, it has a pretty good story around the exciting racing action. The making of this film was crazy. They were posting tiny cameras all over and inside the racecar. The racing action in this film, especially when seen in IMAX with a killer sound system, is flat out exhilarating. These cars go up to over two hundred miles an hour, and you feel that you are in the car going that fast with the racers. On top of the visuals, the sound editing of what is happening inside and out of the car, as well as some awesome rock music, that make you feel the force of the races.
The races are neat, but the film goes the extra mile to show you what the teams are like behind the scenes in Formula 1 racing. Every company that has an F1 team has two drivers. They score points determined by their placements at the end of the race, and both drivers combine their scores to give the final score for the companies. There is the pit crew, where if you are changing tires and other parts of the car in a pit stop, and you aren't finished within three seconds, it's a huge mistake that can cost racers the race.
There are also eight people who are divided up by four and four who sit in front of four big monitors, and each screen as hundreds of sensors that are in the car, and they know very second if something in the car is broken, or the tires need changing, or whatever the case may be, so each car has that four person monitor throughout the whole race. We even get to see how F1 cars are built, tested and even driving simulators where the racers can practice on all of the courses throughout the season to memorize every little turn. This movie is awesome, and I haven't even approached the plot yet.
This film is directed by Joseph Kosinski, who previously directed Top Gun: Maverick, and it totally shows. This director knows how to direct incredible action scenes with a decent story that helps hold up the rest of the time they aren't racing. Speaking of time, this movie clocks in at two hours and thirty-five minutes, so make your own pit stop before the movie starts because you won't want to miss a second of the film
The story is simple. It's not going to win awards for best screenplay or anything like that, but the story is told effectively and it's good that the actors in this film are good enough to keep the story interesting when the cars aren't racing.
It stars a 61-year-old Brad Pitt, as a washed-up old racer that still has the, pardon the pun, drive to race, whether it's NASCAR or F1, but needs to be talked into by a friend who works for a company that has a team. When he arrives, he meets a new rookie driver who is conceded and thinks that because Brad Pitt's character is an old guy who has nothing to teach him, so they bump heads quite a bit, but it is fun. The movie also has some really funny moments. There is even a shortly told romantic subplot between Brad Pitt and one of the F1 car builders and race computer analysis. The story is predictable, but it doesn't matter when the races are so full of adrenalin and fun.
The only thing I didn't care for was the language was a tad strong. PG-13 rated movies are allowed two "F" words, any more would find a movie an R rating, but they do use their two uses, but they don't add to the film at all and I think it might make parents think twice about taking their kids to the movies, or even watching it at home. The movie is too good to have gratuitous language that might alienate people who see it.
All in all, I had a great time at the movies with this one. I wholeheartedly recommend this one, and it's a blast to see in IMAX if you are able to afford it, but if not, a theater will still have a bigger screen and a big sound system to pump you up for the ride.
F1® The Movie is rated PG-13 for racing action and brief strong language.
