Ron’s Review

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Surprisingly entertaining film! The story is nothing to write home about and the characters are ridiculously cliche. Saw the ending coming from a mile away. But that’s not what this movie is focused on. It’s a fun, speedy sports film that’ll ensure your eyes are glued to the screen.

Absolutely loved the racing scenes. They felt like watching F1 races live. A couple of early ones missed the pacing but the film soon caught on and the racing scenes became exhilarating. The editing here is excellent. The way the film cuts from the two main drivers, to the crew and the audience, and the race at large, coupled with the commentary, it feels realistic.

Music by Hans Zimmer is amazing. I’m looking forward to listening to it.

I had a great time.

Mon’s Review

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I can’t believe I’m saying this, but this film was a lot of fun. I used to love watching Formula One racing, and only stopped because it wasn’t readily available to watch. This film captured the highs and lows and shocking twists of racing.

The biggest thing that didn’t work in the film, and the reason for its lower rating, is the character work. The characters make no sense. Sonny is an amalgamation of real racers with the addition of cliche characterization. He is imminently punchable in the first act. He then becomes the persecuted one before turning into a hero. The problem is, the message of the film is that the British team is useless and needs an American to fix their problems. Worse, the young, Black driver who’s undoubtedly fought much harder to get where he is, is constantly being shown up as the bad guy. Joshua is the antagonist because he has to be, not because the story makes any sense.

Truth is, if any sportsperson was to follow Sonny’s method, they’d alienate their entire team and bring their sport into disrepute. Not to mention, make their game nigh unwatchable. It doesn’t even work in a film setting. Really wish the writing had sorted those bits out, because the film was really enjoyable to watch.

The fact that the actors were racing, that the film was shot during actual racing and a real pit was made, made the entire experience feel real. Not surprising since the film is directed by the Ton Gun: Maverick director.

If you can ignore the character arcs, this is stupendous to watch.