F1 | Film Review

Written By Ian Maisel

When the Checkered Flag Never Quite Drops

Brad Pitt straps into the driver’s seat in F1, a $200+ million Apple Original directed by Top Gun: Maverick helmer Joseph Kosinski and co-written by Ehren Kruger. The film looks as slick as a freshly waxed Mac Studio display, yet its style and horsepower never crank the storytelling into the same gear.

The premise has promise: a roguish veteran racer lured out of semi-obscurity to rescue his best friend’s bottom-dwelling team. Add Javier Bardem as the old pal, a photogenic pit-crew genius ingenue who doubles as Brad’s love interest, and a cocky twenty-something teammate who keeps asking if the AARP offers a racing discount. Unfortunately, the screenplay never finds a full lap of character development. Everyone enters the grid exactly who they leave it.

Visually the movie hums. Cameras glide through engineering labs where rows of Apple Studio Displays sit prettier than most of the supporting cast. Every cockpit shot feels hand-polished in 4K. The overhead cinematography is pure racing-game candy, and Hans Zimmer pastes classic-rock guitar licks over the opening fifteen minutes of Brad’s small-time victory in Daytona.

The problem arrives in the cutting room: every race is diced into overhead drones, visor cams, monitor readouts, and frantic command-center reaction shots. When all the cars share the same matte black silhouette, the action becomes a high-speed inkblot. The editors patch in exposition every few seconds: “He’s on the soft tires!” “DRS in two corners!” But unless you’re a Formula One junkie or an MIT grad, good luck following what’s actually happening.

Because the races lack visual clarity, the story leans on audio cues that shout stakes instead of showing them. Pitt does his laid-back charisma routine and lands a few one-liners, but his story has no emotional stakes. The would-be emotional beats such as the resentful protégé, the pioneering female race car designer, and a surprise reveal in the third act arrive like pit-stop tire changes, quick and perfunctory without affecting the drive.

That said, if you crave to see sci-fi shiny racing gear, thunderous engines, and two-plus hours of Formula One dashboard graphics, the package might rev your engine. Pitt still looks magnificent at 61, the Apple-fueled production design is immaculate, and the soundtrack could sell out a vinyl pressing.

But there's not much here to hang onto. Cool vibe, gorgeous frame, zero traction. Skip it.

Ian Maisel

When I was in high school I worked as a movie theater projectionist, acted in my school plays, and published a series of autobiographical comic books that I sold at music and bookstores. I’ve always loved entertainment, and at Brown University I double majored in Visual Arts and Modern European History because the history teachers told the best stories.

My career began at an artificial intelligence startup company where I worked as a graphic designer and animator creating 3D avatars for virtual personalities. I used a program called Poser that was kind of like a Barbie Dream House for cartoons. My comic illustrations were published in the international edition of Time magazine.

In 2006, I completed a graduate Certificate of Publishing and Communications at Harvard University, where I studied creative writing, acting, and media production. I auditioned for the student theater and was cast in a high-brow Chekhov play and a low-brow undergraduate comedy where I played a California high school guitarist like Keanu Reeves in Bill and Ted’s Excellent Adventure.

At Boston College I continued developing my career as a graphic designer and went on to work as an animator at a Jewish nonprofit. In 2008 I left Boston to chase the California dream. I got a job in San Francisco as a litigation graphics specialist for intellectual property attorneys, and I worked on some high-stakes legal trials where I barely slept for a week!

After five years I transitioned into the corporate world and worked as a contract presentation designer at Visa and Bare Minerals. I enjoyed collaborating with senior executives to bring their ideas to life through graphic storytelling and large-scale event presentations. One of my highlights was getting to opportunity to produce an in-house interview with the supermodel Christy Turlington!

In 2017 I took on my first Senior Designer role at Alexandria Real Estate, where I designed high-end investor presentations and art directed photoshoots for major tech companies including Facebook, Google, and Pinterest. The following year I flew out to LA to study video production, and went on to create a digital signage content management system for Alexandria’s 60+ high-tech office buildings across the country.

In 2020 I expanded my focus into social media by producing a video advertising campaign that launched a Visa executive’s speaking career by generating 30,000 social media engagements in five months. Since then I’ve continued designing creative presentations, producing videos, and writing social media campaigns for a wide range of brands including the University of San Francisco and Meta. I love working with high-performance creative teams on exciting projects and enjoy utilizing my creative background to work at the intersection of design, entertainment, and culture.

https://www.ianmaisel.com
Next

Materialists | Film Review