Brad Pitt is one of my favorites. Like Tom Cruise and George Clooney, he is a quintessential movie star who bleeds cool. He’s the kind of actor you go to the movies for because you want to see him on screen – so much so that sometimes the plot of the film is secondary. In addition to being a good-looking, charismatic guy, Pitt has the ability to play a variety of characters in all types of movies: a young thief who seduces Geena Davis in Thelma & Louise, a hard-drinking fly fisherman who becomes a journalist with a gambling problem in A River Runs Through It, Floyd the stoner in True Romance, the cowboy middle brother in Legends of the Fall, a CIA operative in Spy Game, a professional thief who is always eating in Ocean’s 11, Achilles in Troy, an assassin in Mr. & Mrs. Smith, a person who ages backwards in The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, Oakland Athletics General Manager Billy Beane in Moneyball, Leonardo DiCaprio’s stunt double in Once Upon A Time In Hollywood, and most recently, Sonny Hayes in F1.
Directed by Joseph Kosinski and produced by Jerry Bruckheimer (aka the director and producer of Top Gun: Maverick), F1 once again demonstrates how a 61-year-old movie star can carry a film. Tom Cruise was 59 years old when Top Gun: Maverick was released and it single-handedly saved the post-Covid film industry because it was exactly what Top Gun fans (and the movie-going public in general) wanted and needed – a sequel that was nostalgic, exciting, dramatic, action-packed, and fun. We also wanted a big budget spectacle that made going to the theater (rather than waiting for the streaming option) worth the time and money.
Thirty years later, Pete Mitchell was exactly who we wanted him to be – the renegade rebel who lives in an airplane hangar, aged well, was supposed to be the next big fighter pilot, never lived up to this potential, still carries a lot of emotional baggage, and has a protégé who needs him (whether that person realizes it or not). In F1, Pitt is Sonny Hayes – a renegade rebel who lives in a van, aged well, was supposed to be the next big thing in Formula One racing, never lived up to his potential, and is recruited by a former competitor and friend (Javier Bardem) to come back (also thirty years later) to save his current F1 team from utter failure and inspire the hot shot protégé. Just like Cruise did in 2022, Pitt lights up the screen and saunters through the film with the ease of a high-wattage professional who has been doing this a long time but is still at the top of his game. He is the reason to see this movie. Don’t get me wrong, the race cars are cool (just like the F-18s are cool in Maverick), but the driver and the pilot, respectively, are the ones that make these movies worth seeing.
In terms of background, because big budget blockbusters usually have a years-long backstory, I was not surprised to learn that development for F1 started at the end of 2021. I also found out that filming took place during the 2023 and 2024 Grand Prix World Championships, Pitt’s crew (see what I did there) collaborated with the FIA (the governing body of Formula One), and the racing sequences were filmed based on real races with real F1 teams and drivers – including Lewis Hamilton – who is in the movie. All of this makes sense because in the past I’ve read that Pitt, especially regarding his Plan B production company, doesn’t screw around. Released on June 27, the film has already grossed over $393.4 million worldwide against a $200–300 million budget, becoming the ninth-highest-grossing film of 2025.
Anyone who likes Pitt, enjoys action and snappy dialogue, and thinks glossy race cars are fun will appreciate this film. Clocking in at two-and-a-half hours, F1 is the definition of a summer blockbuster with all the bells and whistles that make the movie-going experience worth it. Pitt doesn’t miss a beat, he and Bardem banter well together, and the supporting cast is believable as a group that is unsure of Hayes at first but then realizes that he wants to bring them together – even if it’s at a breakneck, old-school, rules-be-damned pace. There’s nothing like an OG taking the reins and that is exactly what happens here – both in real life and on the screen.
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