{"id":31534,"date":"2025-06-25T19:03:33","date_gmt":"2025-06-26T02:03:33","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.cinemastance.com\/?p=31534"},"modified":"2025-06-25T19:03:33","modified_gmt":"2025-06-26T02:03:33","slug":"f1-the-movie-features-incredible-racing-but-a-familiar-plot","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/?p=31534","title":{"rendered":"F1\u00ae THE MOVIE Features Incredible Racing, But a Familiar Plot"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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Running Time: 156 minutes<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This feature from Warner Bros.\nopens exclusively at theaters and on IMAX screens on June 27th<\/sup>.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

For most racing fans, Formula\nOne\u00ae is considered the best in the world. The vehicles are faster than in any\nother motorsport, and each Grand Prix takes place on a unique circuit in\ndifferent countries around the globe. Naturally, it has inspired a few film\nnarratives over the years, as well as biopics and several documentaries. F1\u00ae\nThe Movie<\/em> is the newest attempt by filmmakers to create a fictional tale\ncapturing the thrills and drama of the competition. When the cameras are\nzipping around with the drivers, it easily captures that excitement, but the\nstoryline isn\u2019t as unique or memorable.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Sonny Hayes (Brad Pitt) was once\na promising driver, but his wild streak caused his career to come to a literal\ncrashing halt. Years later, the loner now spends his time as a racer-for-hire,\nappearing on random circuits in various leagues, often creating chaos on the\ntrack. After his latest competition, he is approached by old friend Ruben\nCervantes (Javier Bardem), a former driver turned F1\u00ae team owner.\nUnfortunately, his group is hundreds of millions of dollars in debt, without\neven one top ten finish. Their lead driver and rookie, Joshua \u201cNoah\u201d Pearce\n(Damson Idris), has been struggling. Hayes is asked to race alongside him and\nhelp the team improve. Naturally, Hayes and Pearce butt heads immediately. The\nnew arrival also irks some crew members, including technical director Kate\nMcKenna (Kerry Condon). But as he offers suggestions on how to improve the\nspeed of their cars, the two grow closer.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As you might have guessed, the\nracing and drama around the track is exceptionally captured. There are some\ngreat camera set-ups, with one placed on a helmet during a race, and others on\nthe sides of the cars as they hurtle around the track at top speed. You really\nget a sense of the high speeds and it is exhilarating to watch. Additionally,\nviewers see some of the devious tricks used during competitions. Hayes knows\nthese rules down to the letter, and frequently uses them to help his partner.\nThis includes clipping other cars to get debris on the track and allow Pearce\nto catch up with the leaders. His methods are far from ethical, but it is\ninteresting to watch and witness this strategy being used.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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The banter between Hayes and\nPearce and their rivalry is also interesting. While they\u2019re both on the same\nteam, there is a major rivalry. The younger man wants to prove himself on the\ntrack, resenting and rebuking the blunt advice of the other driver. Hayes has a\ntemper as well, getting incensed at Pearce when the methods that, frankly, he\nuses on others are employed against him by his teammate. There\u2019s some\ninteresting and entertaining drama as the two slowly develop mutual respect.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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While the racecourse drama is\nconsistently good, the drama off the track is more generic. Condon is fine in\nher role as a tech advisor and car designer, but the romance subplot isn\u2019t\nnecessary. And when Hayes opens up and talks about what makes him want to race,\nthe explanation isn\u2019t anything unexpected. Paraphrasing, he goes on about the\nfeeling of clarity and freedom traveling at high speeds with no one in front of\nyou. Yes, the rationale may make sense, but it might have been more interesting\nto go deeper into his psyche and explore other, muddier motivations. There is\nalso an investor in the team who is hoping for failure to benefit himself. The\ncharacter feels like he has been written in simply to provide the film with a\nvillain, and is overly exaggerated.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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F1\u00ae The Movie<\/em> is\nbeautifully shot and edited. And the bickering between team members and\ncompetitors (which includes several amusing cameos from real racers), is\nequally exciting to watch. But the personal journey of Hayes and subplots off\nthe track aren\u2019t as convincing or effective. In the end, the movie does make it\nto the podium, but there\u2019s enough drag here and there over the running time to\nprevent it from truly excelling.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Running Time: 156 minutes This feature from Warner Bros. opens exclusively at theaters and on IMAX screens on June 27th. For most racing fans, Formula One\u00ae is considered the best in the world. The vehicles are faster than in any other motorsport, and each Grand Prix takes place on a unique circuit in different countries […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":31538,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[216,1651,3391,3889,5086,6251,7244,7245,7246,7247,7248,7763,7764,10449,16577,23989],"class_list":["post-31534","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-movie-reviews","tag-216","tag-apple-original-films","tag-brad-pitt","tag-car-racing","tag-damson-idris","tag-drama","tag-f1","tag-f1-the-movie","tag-f1-the-movie-film-review","tag-f1-the-movie-movie-review","tag-f1-the-movie-review","tag-formula-1","tag-formula-one","tag-javier-bardem","tag-racing","tag-warner-bros"],"blocksy_meta":{"styles_descriptor":{"styles":{"desktop":"","tablet":"","mobile":""},"google_fonts":[],"version":8}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/31534","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/6"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=31534"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/31534\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=31534"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=31534"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=31534"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}