F1
F1 was a tough movie for me to rate. On the one hand, the racing sequences are INCREDIBLE. And coupled with the fact that the ZEJ team made the correct decision of seeing it in MX4D, those sequences felt like a top tier Disney World ride. On the other hand, the story, dialogue, and acting was poor. This is the worst Brad Pitt performance I’ve seen, and that’s coming from a Brad Pitt superfan. Javier Bardem was a little off in this too, though, so I blame directing/editing more than anything. Clearly Joseph Kosinski (shoutout to a Marshalltown, Iowa native!) can properly deliver on action, having seen Only the Brave and Top Gun: Maverick from his filmography, but this felt like maybe it was a bit rushed. If you can still find a showtime with this in DBOX or MX4D, I do recommend it, but otherwise this is probably just for the racing and action fans out there.
-Z
MX4D was the way to go for F1! I found the racing scenes INCREDIBLY fun and well done, making up for some of the lackluster writing and plot. While I agree with Z’s take that Brad Pitt was not quite at the top of his acting game here, he is still a must-watch actor for me - he just continues to make you enthusiastically trust in his unconventional schemes and plans! I’m also quite interested in the world of F1 now - as someone who knew nothing about it going into this movie, I think they did a great job giving us a (seemingly) realistic look at it.
-E
Can the racing scenes alone make a movie elite? Probably not, but they can make a mediocre story into a memorable movie. Z, E, and myself saw this film in 4D which also may have skewed the rating a bit, but objectively the racing scenes were incredible. The story was something to be desired, and definitely expected a bit more out of Brad Pitt, but it was not as bad as Z is most likely going to say. A really fun film that I think fits perfectly into the ‘Summer Blockbuster’ category that I think we have been missing for awhile. Now I am all into F1 and making my way through Drive to Survive. Find some time and watch this one!
-J
