WHAT A FILM!
There, I’ve nailed my colours to the mast.
So no surprises, then, that this review is going to be a hymn of praise for an absolutely smashing film.
And before I begin, apologies to everyone in the IMAX Laser cinema in Bangkok’s Icon Siam yesterday afternoon. Hope I didn’t gasp and shout too loudly at the first major crash scene…(no worries if you haven’t yet seen F1, I’m not going to plot-spoil…) but it was dramatic, you have to admit.
There were also sections where I almost hid my eyes, hoping that another crash wouldn’t ensue
I am a bit of a FI petrolhead, and so this film was right up my alley.
Amazing cinematography.
Very slick, aesthetic shots of the cars.
Brad Pitt.
Lewis Hamilton.
Silverstone.
Monza.
Ed Sheeran track.
The UK looking lovely and summery and almost old-fashioned with the pretty pub by a river.
The cast is first class – Brad Pitt and Damson Idris as initially ill-matched team-mates in a last desperate throw of the dice by the failing team Formula 1 team APXGP to salvage their name. And avoid financial ruin.
Brad Pitt’s character, Sonny Hayes, hasn’t raced F1 in 30 years and Joshua Pearce (Damson Idris) is a rather cocky young Brit, ready to mock Sonny in order to keep his place in the team.
Javier Bardem as the boss of the underdog team is a good, compassionate man, whom we want to succeed. Kerry Condon is lovely and oh-so-likeable as the first-ever technical director of an F1 team. I love her motivation for needing her team to win, by the way – a disbelieving professor in her first year at uni.
Tobias Menzies is perfect.
Actually, having praised these actors, it’s actually invidious to pick out any one person from this great team, in a film about how team work does (eventually) make the dream work. The cast is perfect.
I love the fact that so much of the film involves real footage of F1 races, and those pit-stop scenes are every bit as thrilling as the action out on the track. Plus, it’s great fun spotting famous F1 faces, as the real-life heroes of the track make cameo appearances.
The crowds, the glamour, the sheer adrenaline of F1 is perfectly captured. Of course, for those of us who only get to watch F1 as a spectator, there are lots of thrilling and fascinating behind-the-scenes stuff. I obviously know that there are huge teams and huge technology behind this sport, but actually seeing how it all fits together is fascinating.
F1 is exciting, dramatic, the filming is stupendous, and the ending is clever. And not predictable.
LOVED IT!
