Smell the money, feel the corners in Brad Pitt’s ‘F1’
Joseph Kosinski’s four-wheeled blockbuster cost Apple over $300 million, and it looks it. But the heart and soul in this slick entertainment are harder to find.
Keeping it real: Actor Brad Pitt filming on location before the British Formula One Grand Prix race at Silverstone racetrack in 2023. AP
Cinema’s sustainable advantages over streaming content remain its willingness to put big money on the screen and its ability to shake an audience – literally and metaphorically.
F1, which cost Apple a reported $300 million, does both with some elan but doesn’t touch our hearts. Not that it matters; as soon as the movie begins with Led Zeppelin thundering and Brad Pitt ambling in doing his best Steve McQueen, you realise this movie is all money. That, of course, can buy you lots of things – and they’re all on screen – but it can’t guarantee happiness. Yet somehow, flaws and all, this big chunk of blockbuster moviemaking will leave most satisfied.
