July 1, 2025 – High tech, high finance, high drama, and really loud engines dominate this movie about the world of Formula One racing. It is entertaining enough, thanks to a fine performance by Brad Pitt, who plays a world weary car racing junkie.

I couldn't quite get into the romance, corporate intrigue and personal conflicts that pad this 2.5 hour car racing movie. The sports movie formula is so tired and so predictable, that it just about sinks under its own weight, but it has just enough going for it to be entertaining as a big summer action movie. If you really want to see a good movie about formula one racing though, watch “Rush” (2013). That is a much better movie.

Brad Pitt plays an itinerant race car driver Sonny Hayes, who was badly injured when he last drove Formula One cars decades ago. After years away from racing, he came back to drive in NASCAR and other racing circuits. Although he has been recruited to join various racing teams, he prefers not to join any team for more than one season. He lives like a nomad.

Hayes is coaxed back into Formula One by an old friend, Ruben Cervantes (played by Javier Bardem of “Dune.” It turns out that Hayes wasn't Cervantes first choice, or his second, to replace an injured driver on his APXGP racing team. Cervantes is deep and debt and there is corporate intrigue on his board of directors to try and force him out of the company.

At any rate, Cervantes, Hayes, his number one driver, rookie Joshua Pearce (played by Damson Idris of “Megan Leavey”) and the racing crew, including technical director Kate McKenna (played by Kerry Condon of “The Banshees of Inisherin”) all desperately want to win races, despite their poor showing so far.

The movie's impressive visuals include a look behind the racing curtain showing a very high level of technology used to prepare the cars and drivers for the next race. There are also some scenes in the movie about how a driver might intentionally cause certain driving mishaps to slow the race down and allow a teammate to catch up with the field. That seems like it ought to be against the rules, but it is an entertaining strategy.

The sub plot involving corporate intrigue doesn't make sense to me. At first it seemed to be about sabotage, then it seemed to be about an offer to reward a driver for winning races even though he was hired to lose races, or something like that. Then there is a rivalry between two drivers, obnoxious media people, pushy talent managers, a romance between team members, and a driver's mother who threatens another driver for no reason. It seems like a lot of filler that adds an extra hour to a 90-minute plot.

The high powered racing scenes in the movie are well crafted by the practical effects and special effects people who worked on the film. The acting is very good, especially by Brad Pitt, who is the beating heart of this movie. He and Tom Cruise might be the only movie stars working today who could make a success out of this movie. Pitt plays this role the way that Steve McQueen would have played it. Pitt is also aided by director Joseph Kosinski (“Top Gun: Maverick”) who gets the most out of his actors and the high-powered racing scenes. This movie rates a C+.

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