Sunday, January 25, 2026

2026 Academy Awards Best Picture Nominee - F1: The Movie


    In case you aren't aware of the definition of a Formula 1 race car: It's an open wheel, single-seater car built under strict rules (the "formula), to be the pinnacle of speed and aerodynamics, etc. They are also expensive, with a 2026 budget cap of about $215 million. That's why the drivers and cars are just COVERED with sponsor logos.

    This was a fun, mesmerizing movie that really drops the viewer into the driver's seat of a race car going nearly 200 mph, and that's really saying something, because I have no interest in racing whatsoever. I don't exactly hate it, but I can't imagine being a fan, either. I can see wanting to be a race car driver, but I can't imagine anything more boring than watching cars make multiple laps around a track. My husband liked the movie better than I did, but he's an excellent driver, and well, I'm not.

    But Hollywood is pretty good at making things that I'd never be interested in real life, cool, exciting, and interesting on the silver screen. I hate boxing, but I love Rocky. I dislike horse racing, but loved Seabiscuit and The Black Stallion. I'm not interested in planes except for how they can get me where I want to go, but I enjoyed Top Gun. F1 is like that. Mesmerizing, fun, and exciting, but a little thin on story. 

    This movie is the grown-up version of Pixar's Cars - the old, wily racer has stuff to teach the young, cocky driver, but in this case they are teaming up to win an F1 race.  F1 isn't as character-driven as I like in an Oscar nominee, but it did a great job of developing characters with some really excellent visual motifs and just the right kind of repetition, of showing us stuff, and sometimes telling a story or two. It had a lot of heart, showing us the hopes and dreams -- and sometimes failures -- of two amazingly talented racers.

    The racing sequences and the visuals are thrilling - and very realistic. The filmmakers filmed each race at each of the real-life races - they set up a fake pit/booth between the real Ferrari and Mercedes areas, and filmed the pit scenes while the actual race was underway.  The fake race cars were real, driven by the lead actors in real life, and had many bespoke cameras mounted on the cars.  The sound design effectively supported the story, though the race scenes were auditorily overwhelming -- not just loud, but chaotic.  My only real gripe is that the quiet scenes were too quiet, and the racing scenes were too loud.  I'd leave the sound as it was for the racing scenes, but raise the volume of the quiet dialogue scenes.

    I also hate the title, which is kind of stupid. "F1" by itself would have been OK (if unimaginative), but they tacked "The Movie" on the end, just in case the audience forgets that it's not: The Game, The Car, The Driver, The Race, or The Comic Book.  There have been many other F1 racing movies, and the title doesn't set this one apart from them, so why bother? Personally, I think a great title would have been The Greatest That Never Was (a not-so-nice nickname given to Brad Pitt's character). It's clever, and it's got some wonderful irony going for it. Or maybe The Never Was if we are going for a pithier title.

    I enjoyed the movie, and I do recommend it (well, if you might enjoy thrilling, very dangerous first-person racing in cars that drive really, really fast), but this is movie-candy, and is probably not meaty enough to win (not unless the other nominees just suck, which I doubt).  



(Pithy Reviews; and Rankings* out of 10 nominees):

  • F1: The Movie (Mesmerizing Top Gun for Formula 1 Fans; Cathy: 1, Chris 1)
Not yet watched:
* Rankings can change.

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