‘F1’ First Reactions: Brad Pitt’s Racing Epic Is an ‘Old School Summer Blockbuster’ That’s ‘So Freaking Good’

Brad Pitt‘s summer tentpole “F1” has been unveiled to members of the film press, and the first reactions are praising the racing thriller as “action-packed” with strong visuals.

Variety’s senior artisans editor Jazz Tangcay highlighted the “flawless” craft of the film, with its sound, score and cinematography.

Variety’s chief awards editor Clayton Davis also had high praise for the lensing, shouting out DP Claudio Miranda, who earned a BAFTA nomination for his work on director Joseph Kosinski‘s last feature “Top Gun: Maverick.”

The Nerdist and Breakroom contributor Maude Garrett called the movie “so freaking good” and hypothesized if she would’ve liked it even more if she were even a fan of F1 racing in the first place.

Pitt headlines “F1” as Sonny Hayes, a retired Formula One driver who suffered a terrible crash in his past. He’s convinced to come out of retirement and train a rookie prodigy, played by Damson Idris, for the Apex Grand Prix race. Kosinski, who directed Tom Cruise in the high-flying blockbuster “Top Gun: Maverick,” helmed the film with producer Jerry Bruckheimer and real-life Formula One superstar Lewis Hamilton. The supporting cast includes Javier Bardem and Kerry Condon.

During a virtual press conference earlier this year, Kosinski discussed the making of the film, explaining that he became a fan of Formula 1 racing after discovering Netflix’s “Drive to Survive” series during the COVID pandemic.

“I loved how the first season of the show focused on the last place teams, the underdogs, rather than the Ferrari, the Mercedes, the Red Bull, the teams that you see at the front of the pack,” he said. “I thought that there was an interesting story to be told about an underdog team trying — not to win the championship — but just trying to win one race against these titans of the sport.”

Kosinski and his actors traveled the F1 circuit over the course of a year in order to film at the real races. He explained: “We get these 10 or 15 minute slots where we’d have to have Brad and Damson ready in the cars, warmed up with hot tires ready to go, and as soon as practice ended, they would pull out onto the track. We’d have 24, 30 cameras ready, rolling, and I’d have to shoot these scenes in these very short, intense, high-speed windows. But the crowd you’re seeing was really there in the stands. I don’t think the crowd realized that Brad Pitt was in the car that was in front of them.”

“F1” opens in theaters June 27 from Apple and Warner Bros. See more reactions below.