By Mohammad Kamran Jawaid Tony Scott
At any given moment, one expects Sonny Hayes (Brad Pitt) to say that he 鈥渇eels the need, the need for speed.鈥 The thing is, he doesn鈥檛 need to.
The line from Top Gun, a Jerry Bruckheimer produced film, could be easily mistaken from Days of Thunder, also a Bruckheimer film starring Tom Cruise as a reckless NASCAR racer. Both movies were directed by Tony Scott, the 鈥渋t鈥 action-director of the 鈥80s/鈥90s era.
This Brad Pitt film鈥檚 actual star is the current generation鈥檚 鈥渋t鈥 director Joseph Kosinski, who recently directed the Top Gun sequel for Bruckheimer, and now directs F1, the spiritual successor to Days of Thunder 鈥 so technically, he鈥檚 unknowingly retracing Scott鈥檚 steps, though with his own brand of direction.
Nothing鈥檚 really new in screenwriter Ehren Kruger (The Ring) and Kosinski鈥檚 story. However, the screenplay shines through with a clean, minimal, uncluttered approach. These are Kosinski鈥檚 trademark storytelling mechanics, and they stand in stark contrast to the way Bruckheimer鈥檚 films used to look, and were edited, in the era of Tony Scott, and later Michael Bay (The Rock, Bad Boys, Armageddon). The style gives the routine a modern, fresh feel.
F1 starring Brad Pitt reminds us why simple films sometimes make for excellent blockbuster cinema
Sonny Hayes, in a nutshell, is a has-been racing prodigy who semi-retired after a brutal accident, and then, after years of cerebration, takes on any job 鈥 from driving cabs (which the film tells, but doesn鈥檛 show) to winning 24-hour Dakota races.
Sonny, mature 鈥 though not really, as we learn in the film 鈥 is still a devil at the race track, and he gets picked up by his old racing days鈥 friend Ruben (Javier Bardem), who now heads a brand new team that is making its way into Formula One races. His new group also has a rookie hot-shot, Joshua (Damon Idris) who becomes a rival, and a good-looking technical director (Kerry Condon), who you know will become Sonny鈥檚 romantic interest.
The rivalry between Joshua and Sonny is one of the pegs of the story, but it is never given an out-and-out confrontation. The beauty of the screenplay is how it makes the mundane and seen-it-all-before novel with little story nudges here and there. Things get (pardon the bad pun) 鈥榝ast and furious鈥 quickly, but then settle down just enough for us to not get speed-sick. The races are excellent, but not over-the-top.
Actually, other than the obvious big-budget of the production 鈥 a Bruckheimer stamp 鈥 nothing is over-the-top.
F1 is well made eye-candy; one held firmly in place by the classic-era charm and magnetism from Pitt and Bardem. The bromance and allure these two have reminds one why an actor鈥檚 鈥渇ilm star aura鈥 is an important but lost factor in today鈥檚 movies.
Hans Zimmer鈥檚 score lands the emotion at just the right cues to make us feel why film stars such as Pitt still outshine new generation actors鈥 and why, sometimes, simple films make for excellent, blockbuster cinema.
Released by HKC, Warner Bros and Apple Original Films, F1 is rated PG for a few brief scenes of romance
Published in Dawn, ICON, July 6th, 2025