So last night I finally went to see this. Anyone that knows me knows I am a huge fan of F1.
I have been to 5 or 6 races since 2001 and watched almost every race and qualifying since 2000.
I delayed for a while based on skepticism, however I shall now endeavor a straight up review without spoilers.
For spoilers see Wikipedia - F1 (Film). No spoilers.


"It's lights out, and away we go!"
Easy start - to not spoil - the acting. Excellent.

• Javier Bardem plays an excellent team owner. Given that F1 is a largely European his accent was simply mellifluous. He hit every emotion perfectly.
• Brad Pitt plays an aging driver. I was very very skeptical and the opening had me fearful, but he turned it around and by the end I was routing for him and interested to see what would happen and I was pleased with the outcome.
• Damson Idris plays the rookie driver. Played a very good part sometimes overly cocky, as rookies can be. At times I disliked him, or rather his character, but we were supposed to do that, so this too was well done.
• Kerry Condon plays the aerodynamics team lead. Without spoiling all I can saw is A++++. I heard Bernie Collins voice every time she spoke - IYKYK .

Cameos - cannot be overrated, just awesome.

• Not just the people, of which there are many drivers, team bosses and others scattered about the F1 paddock. The tracks and the paddocks and the pits, the pit in and the pit out. All sparkling in authenticity as it was shot on location 2023 and 2024. The cinematography excelled on all points. Enough helo and drone footage intermixed with in-car camera and scenes from the pits were just so very cool. Again, from someone who watched many, many hours of practice, qualifying and a lot of racing, this was greatly appreciated.

Announcers.

• Without doubt - if I had to pick one thing, and that's hard to do, this is it. Having the Sky Sports announcers with Will Buxton in the pits was absolutely great. The first time I heard in a theater setting "It's lights out, and away we go!" It 100% gave me chills.

On to the racing

• Good racing footage, as one might imagine, quite a bit of drama and theatrics this is a theatrical production in case you didn't know that that would almost assuredly incur penalties and likely some points incurred on your F1 Super Licence. They did show a lot how strategy plays into the race and the tire management and how crucial pit stops, over cuts and under cuts can be, even though it was a bit over the top. They make good drama out of ' team orders' and a lot of other F1 unique stuff like DRS, battery energizing and the like. While some have noted it may seem a bit cringeworthy at times, the positives far outweigh the negatives.

Music is great.

• An awesome score from an awesome composer. Reviewers at IMDB are right, it pounds, it lifts, it inspires.

Plot - predictable.

• Not quite a Hallmark Christmas movie, but not far from it. The overall feel of the racing overcame the weakness of plot to dazzle and impress. Don't want to have any spoilers so all I will say is the outcome of the last race is not unexpected.

Summary:

• Acting - *****
• Cinematography - *****
• Plot and Story - ***
• Supporting cast including announcers and tracks - ********
• Musical Score - ****

Overall - *****

Will absolutely watch again. Definitely in Top 10 all time!