Liked it more the second time around. Mostly a masterclass in polish. There isn’t a single frame of this that isn’t ridiculously smoothed over; there are no hard edges to this at all. Even the audio is perfect; this is one of the few films I’ve seen where it feels like the LFE shifts in response to where vehicles move along the screen.
But the flip side of all this polish is that there is no life to it. It’s the equivalent of a two and a half hour commercial for F1, which means the movie is mostly an exercise in style. It’s a fun exercise, but that’s all there is to it.
I understand the attraction directors have to racing movies. The conflict is obvious. The directorial challenges are clear. If you wanted to spend $100 million (or more), you could make a difficult film like The Revenant or you could make something extremely fun to shoot, like F1. I can see the appeal of the latter.
But it’s hard to offer something new in a crowded genre. The only thing F1 brings to the table is its sheer level of polish. That’s valuable, but it makes it a tough pick for movie night compared to Ford V Ferrari, Rush, and a myriad of other classics.