F1: The Movie
F1: The Movie
After a nasty incident almost ended his career, Sonny Hayes has retired from Formula One and now races a Porsche, but when an opportunity comes from the owner of a struggling team, Sonny makes a return to Formula One racing, alongside a hot new rookie teammate, but soon realises that he can't take the road to redemption on his own.
vangh1 reviewedJuly 29, 2025
A psychological delve into the type of people that become the best of the best in an exciting field is always fun to watch, and I especially appreciate it when the realm at play is one I don't have any meaningful knowledge of or interest in because the fact that a great movie can get me to care for 2 hours when I otherwise couldn't care less is always impressive.
This movie really toed the line for me between "plucky underdog who does what it takes, no matter what it takes" versus "unapologetic piece of shit who spits in the face of the spirit of competition while citing said spirit of competition as their inspiration." I'm still not sure how I feel about which side they landed on in the end.
I hate, hate, hated the romantic subplot. It felt super shoe horned in, absolutely took away from Kate's character, and the supposed emotional growth it lends to Sonny could have worked as well with a character that wasn't the first female lead engineer in F1. Bad, very bad.
I loved this one editing moment in the last race, I think they used it twice, it's a close up on either Sonny or JP, then their hand gripping the steering wheel obscures their face, and when manuevering reveals the face again, it's the other driver. Really effective way of showing how in tune they've become with each other. Indistinguishable, interchangeable, one and the same.