It would be nice to say that F1 is an innovative sports movie, that it takes a genre and formula that we’ve seen hundreds of times before and adds something new to it. There are ways to make a compelling film about sports that breaks from the tired tropes we are all so used to by now. I admit, I suspected that director Joseph Kosinski’s massive Formula 1 racing movie might just be the one to try it. It does not. Yet, it might be for the best, because F1 gets the formula right in just about every possible way. It may be predictable, but it is an absolute blast anyway.

Unsurprisingly, the film is about a racecar driver. Specifically, it’s about a washed-up former Formula 1 driver, Sonny Hayes (Brad Pitt). Hayes is clinging to the last bit of racing glory he has in him, driving in any circuit that will have him, when he is given an opportunity to return to F1 and help a struggling racing team. Serving as a mentor for the team’s talented but young ace driver, Joshua Pearce (Damson Idris), Hayes has to use his experience on and off the track to help the team win a race, any race.

It’s hardly a surprise that Pitt is excellent in the role of Hayes. He’s an old-school movie star and this character, oozing charisma and attitude, is so firmly in his wheelhouse that it seems likely it was written with him in mind. The whole cast is pretty great, with some standout performances from Damson Idris and Kerry Condon, who plays the team’s technical director with a chip on her shoulder. However, make no mistake, F1 lives and dies by the performance of its star, and thankfully Pitt is more than up to the challenge.

Behind the camera, Kosinski is brilliant. In his previous film, the spectacular Top Gun: Maverick, Kosinski used clever camera techniques and angles to give the audience the sensation of being the cockpit of a fighter jet going full speed. It was thrilling to watch, and the director wisely uses almost the same dynamic techniques here. During the races, we spend a lot of time in the cars with the actors, immersed in the middle of the action. It makes every turn, every crash, every lap feel intense. If the goal is to get the viewer to understand and empathize with the racers, there’s no better way to do it than by making them one themselves.

It does have to be said, for as much fun as the movie is, it is long. Probably too long. At over 2 ½ hours, the runtime could likely have been trimmed a bit. There are a few scenes that drag the pace of the story to a halt, and I found myself wondering if we couldn’t have just done without them. That said, most of the movie does take place on the track. The human drama outside of the cars rarely overstays its welcome.

While you’ll almost certainly be able to predict every twist and turn that the plot takes, especially if you’ve seen any other sports movies, there is something to be said for navigating familiar roads well. Clichés, after all, are clichés for a reason. F1 may be filled to the brim with them, but it uses them about as well as you could possibly want. Maybe it isn’t reinventing the wheel, but it’s taking it for a heck of a drive.