Brad Pitt shines as he takes the wheel in the thrilling world of ‘F1’

THE F1 movie is here to send audiences to a blissful era when the movies were loud, their stars were hot and the male main-character energy was flowing with exhilarating abandon.

- ANN HORNADAY

From its opening scene — a credits montage featuring Brad Pitt, producer Jerry Bruckheimer and Led Zeppelins’ Whole Lotta Love - F1 settles into a supremely confident, viscerally entertaining groove: an old-school, still-handsome movie star; sexy race-cars; roaring crowds; vintage Zep; fireworks ~ F1 has it all, and that's just in the first 10 minutes.

What follows in F1, true to its title, may be formula. But it’s one that works, even when the constant vrooms, tricky turns and explanatory dialogue threaten to become tediously repetitive.

The movie is directed by Joseph Kosinski from a script by Ehren Kruger - the same team that brought us the irresistibly nostalgic Top Gun: Maverick a few years ago.

Kosinski and Kruger co-wrote F1’s story, in which Pitt's Sonny Hayes, who, after a promising early career in Formula One racing, has been busted down to driving one-off competitions for hire, returns to the circuit for one last chance at the championship.

Its a plot as old as the horseless carriage but in F1, it’s fuel-injected by an exceptionally appealing cast: Sure, we've all witnessed the old crime boss/ close friend/comrade in arms asking the protagonist to come back for one last job. But when it’s Javier Bardem doing the asking, with Pitt as his skeptical foil, even the hoariest scene in Final Draft’s user manual becomes a playfully pleasurable seduction.

Bardem plays Ruben, who was Sonny’s teammate when a traumatic crash sent them in different directions: Ruben now owns a struggling team that needs to get points on the board, or else he'll be forced to sell.