Forget Brad Pitt, This ‘F1’ Star Has Been the Secret Ingredient to So Many Modern Blockbusters
[ad_1]
No movie in recent memory has felt more comfortable trying not to reinvent the wheel more than F1, the new summer blockbuster racing to the top of the box office. Joseph Kosinski‘s exhilarating motorsport experience starring Brad Pitt relies on familiar tropes, but rather than being a shoddy parody of the typical Jerry Bruckheimer-produced action film of the ’80s and ’90s, F1 is a no-frills, invigorating time at the theater. However, if the movie didn’t feature an impeccable sensory overload in the visual and sound department (seeing this on an IMAX screen is practically required) and breathtaking racing photography, the film’s bare-bones themes and characterization would make this feel especially slight. Luckily, Kosinski is one of the best action directors working today, and the film is lucky to have stellar contributions from Javier Bardem, who has become the most invaluable asset in the cast for any big action movie.
Javier Bardem is the Engine Behind ‘F1’
F1 is sheer spectacle, and that’s okay—just don’t expect intense dramatic pathos and meditative reflections on the meaning of life. Still, considering that Top Gun: Maverick had enough artful sensibilities regarding aging and legacy to receive a Best Picture nomination, some viewers might be disillusioned by the lack of thematic depth in F1‘s narrative, which heavily cribs from the Bruckheimer high-concept structure, down to the gifted but self-destructive protagonists who must overcome all the odds stacked against him. Where Tom Cruise poured his heart and soul into Maverick, carrying the baggage of the original film and his 40-year career, Brad Pitt, playing the past-his-prime driver, Sonny Hayes, is incredibly restrained and taciturn. Pitt is so distant that cynical viewers may interpret his performance as lazy and wholly reliant on his movie star charisma.
Of the cast, including Damson Idris, Kerry Condon, and Tobias Menzies, it is Javier Bardem who leaves the starkest emotional imprint on F1 and saves it from being too thin as a narrative film. Bardem plays Ruben Cervantes, owner of the struggling APXGP F1 Team on the brink of being sold unless they win one of the remaining Grand Prix races on the calendar. He recruits Sonny, his former teammate who is now racing in NASCAR and living in a minivan, to fill the empty spot on the APXGP squad. Ruben acts as Sonny’s conscience, who is hindered by his trauma, gambling addiction, and collapsed personal life. He’s the only person who can speak to him on an emotional level and grapple with his plight.
6:16
Related
Damson Idris, Kerry Condon, and Javier Bardem also discuss the difficulties with filming on the track and the unsung heroes behind the scenes.
During the many races in the film, whenever Kosinski cuts away from inside the cockpit of the vehicles on the track, F1 maintains its propulsive energy through Bardem’s reaction shots, starring at this arena that will determine the fate of his business interests. He is both in awe of Sonny’s preternatural abilities and infuriated by his rogue tactics. In a film (quite literally) driven by the action on the racetrack, Bardem’s performance is always perfectly modulated, lending the story the emotional weight in Ruben’s hospital bedside chat with Sonny and levity whenever the owner reprimands the reckless driver for his shenanigans.
As both the supportive friend archetype and the business avatar of the story, whenever Bardem shines on screen, F1 briefly touches greatness. Ruben interrogating Sonny over his troubled past is reminiscent of Top Gun: Maverick in the intersection of healing past wounds and moving forward. As a former racer, Ruben connects with each driver and mechanic, but now that he’s an executive, he must contend with the collision of sports and commerce, as well as the downtrodden state of his team, which is desperate for relevance. His performance reminds viewers of another Brad Pitt sports drama about a perpetual underdog, Moneyball.
Javier Bardem is the Secret Ingredient to Major Blockbusters
Javier Bardem, the Oscar-winner best known for his terrifying turn in No Country for Old Men, found a viable niche as a supporting player in blockbusters, giving movies like Skyfall and Dune: Part Two an injection of manic energy and immense gravitas. As seismic as the world of Dune is, one of the most memorable and meme-worthy moments comes when Bardem’s Stilgar shouts “Lisan al-Gaib!” Although he is an accomplished leading man in the United States and Spain, Bardem’s versatile presence is in peak mode as a supporting actor. In just one scene in Collateral, he realizes a fully fleshed-out character and enhances Michael Mann‘s poetic undertones of the criminal underworld.
Javier Bardem’s secret ingredient is adding needed spices to blockbusters bereft of exotic tastes and focused solely on spectacle. Although the Daniel Craig James Bond movies were famous for their seriousness, Bardem’s performance as Silva leans heavily into camp while being genuinely scary. F1 is short on humanism, but Bardem’s work, easy to take for granted, prevents the film from being a commercial for the motorsport organization. Bardem is, shall we say, the engine of this noisy and fast-paced summer blockbuster.
F1 is now playing in theaters.
[ad_2]
Source link
