The old auto-racing chestnut has been done before. Many many
many times. And it will be done again. But I seriously doubt it will
ever again be done better, or even this well. Not what you
expected from an old cynic like me? Well, credit where credit is
due.

The action scenes are, as you might expect from Joseph Kosinski,
the guy who directed Top Gun: Maverick, state of the art, you-are-
there and totally believable. The between-races melodrama —
about a veteran race driver (Brad Pitt) coming out of retirement
to mentor a talented young rookie (Damson Idris) on an
underdog racing team — is surprisingly coherent and no dopier
than it needs to be. Javier Bardem is effective as the team leader,
and Kerry Condon nails it as the car-designing love interest.

But let’s be honest; the film succeeds mostly on Pitt’s breezy
charm. His character is not above wink-wink skullduggery and
making creative use of the sport’s myriad rules and regulations to
gain an often decisive second or two on the track.

Movies like this can, literally, go around in circles and quickly
grow dull. Kosinski brilliantly prevents this from happening. It
runs two and a half hours with never a dull moment. An instant
classic. The movie had me at the opening race; a stroke of genius
was backing up the sequence’s vroom-vroom with Led Zeppelin’s
Whole Lotta Love. Magic!

Big screen, please. For the sound. (155 min)