F1: The Movie: A Racing Film in Need of Stronger Parts (4K)

The Film:

When it comes to sports films, the single biggest issue that filmmakers face is finding a way to make it be about more than just the sport. If they make a film that's merely about a person or team trying to win their game/event, then they're going to end up with a rather dull final product simply due to the fact that that's not nearly enough substance to make it compelling or engaging for an audience.

With Joseph Kosinski's "F1: The Movie," the requirement is no different, with the challenge being how to make a movie about people driving fast cars on a closed track interesting enough to keep the viewer's attention, because if there isn't something more to it than that, it's doomed to fail pretty quickly. Will Kosinski and screenwriter Ehren Kruger be able to meet the challenge and give us a racing movie that tries a little harder than simply featuring cars driving in a circle?

The film starts by introducing us to Sonny Hayes (Brad Pitt), a racer-for-hire whose career ended back in the '90s after a crash at the Spanish Grand Prix. After helping to win the 24 Hours of Daytona, he is approached by his former teammate Ruben Cervantes (Javier Bardem), who now owns a struggling F1 team and wants him to be their second driver, further explaining that unless the team can win one of nine remaining races, it will be sold. Sonny reluctantly joins up and meets the team, including their cocky first driver Joshua Pearce (Damson Idris) and technical director Kate McKenna (Kerry Condon), who designs the cars. Sonny and Joshua immediately butt heads, but the former really knows his stuff and tries to give them every advantage he can think of. Can he possibly help turn this team around and get them the victory that they so desperately need?

As mentioned, the filmmakers behind "F1: The Movie" certainly had quite the Herculean task on their hands. How does one take a sport like auto racing and turn it into a compelling film that doesn't merely show scene after scene of cars driving around a track? Well, the primary thing that such a film would need is a human element, richly-developed characters that the audience can sympathize & get engaged with. Such a thing is exactly what any sports movie needs to lift it beyond the simplicity of its topic and give it an emotional edge that viewers can truly get into.

Unfortunately, this is where Kosinski and his team run into a number of problems. Instead of a deeply-engaging and rich, emotional human element, the filmmakers have opted to insert several cliches that make it rather difficult to get involved in the story they're trying to tell. We have the older racer who was once thought to be the next big thing, only to have their career brought to a halt by an accident, and a younger, arrogant driver, who naturally doesn't get along with him. On top of all of that, we have a very basic story that has them needing to win just one race to stay afloat, leading to an equally basic progression that has them doing better and better, cooperating more and more along the way, until... well, let's just say that you don't need to think too hard to figure out how it ends.

That said, it's a very well-made film. The driving scenes are impeccably done, and there are fine performances all around, but it really just ends up making you wish that they had put more effort into the film's much more important elements, the ones that would actually make you care about the team's rather desperate situation. Obviously racing fans might be able to enjoy it anyway simply due to the adrenaline rush that those scenes provide, but anyone looking for more than that, as in something that they can connect with on an emotional or human level, will likely be disappointed that they didn't try a little harder in that respect. If they had put as much effort into that as they did into the racing scenes, one can only imagine what they could've accomplished. As it is, "F1: The Movie" is sadly a rather forgettable endeavor, one that ultimately needed much stronger parts to get it running properly.

Video/Audio:

"F1: The Movie" comes to 4K in a 2.39:1, 2160p Ultra High Definition transfer of excellent quality. The picture is beautifully sharp & clear throughout the entire 155-minute duration, perfectly highlighting all of the hard work that went into the intense racing sequences. Likewise, the Dolby Atmos-TrueHD audio track is marvelous, giving you all of the dialogue, sound effects, and Hans Zimmer's score in outstanding quality. Overall, Warner Bros. has done a wonderful job in both departments for the film's 4K debut.

Special Features:

Inside the F1: The Movie Table Read (5 Minutes)

The Anatomy of a Crash (6 Minutes)

Getting Up to Speed (5 Minutes)

APXGP Innovations (5 Minutes)

Making It to Silverstone (5 Minutes)

Lewis Hamilton: Producer (5 Minutes)

APXGP Sets and Locations Around the World (9 Minutes)

APXGP and F1: How It Was Filmed (6 Minutes)

Sound of Speed (5 Minutes)

The film comes with a fantastic selection of extras, consisting of about 50 minutes of featurettes that primarily delve into the making of the film, including how they filmed some of the races, a crash, and much more. Definitely plenty of great material here for anyone looking to go deeper into how the film was brought to life.

Conclusion:

Joseph Kosinski's "F1: The Movie" is a well-made racing film, featuring impeccable driving scenes and fine performances all around, but which is sadly lacking in its human element, instead replacing it with several cliches that make it much more difficult to get engaged with the characters or their desperate situation, ultimately turning the entire endeavor into just another forgettable sports outing.

Score: 3/5

Now available on 4K.

Follow me on Twitter @BeckFilmCritic.