Formula One is one of the most celebrated sports in the world. It’s no wonder, as it is stylish, it is loud, and more than anything else, it is fast, speaking directly to many of our primal human instincts.

And so it may seem like a no-brainer to put up a movie set in that world, with its enormous, worldwide, and fanatical audience. I have no doubt that making a sizable profit was a strong motivation during production, but this film is more than that; there was undeniably a lot of respect for the sport itself and the people who participate in it.

Brad Pitt plays Sonny Hayes, an old has-been of an F1 driver who was forced out of a promising career three decades prior due to a racing accident. Hayes is brought back into the driver’s seat by his longtime friend and fellow driver Ruben Cervantes (Javier Bardem). Ruben’s team, APX, desperately needs a win to stay afloat. Just one win, one finish in the top spot, will keep his team racing, and out of the hands of the company board, who have plans of selling the racing division off.

Sonny isn’t your typical underdog. He’s confident, dedicated, and a risk-taker, and still very, very good at what he loves, which is getting behind the wheel of anything with four wheels and going fast.

Damson Idris plays Joshua Pearce, APX’s rising star. Pearce is in many ways Sonny’s opposite. He’s young, arrogant, and immature, and while he loves the sport as well, he leans way too much into the celebrity side of it all. This leads to a study in contrasts, a clash of personalities, with Sonny’s experience and over-aggressiveness the box thinking on one side, and Joshua’s youthfulness, arrogance, and raw talent on the other.

If that set-up makes you think that the story is predictable, then pop a bottle of champagne and pour it all over yourself because you’re right. The plot is very formulaic, a classic underdog story with a poignant message about second chances. You can see the story in broad strokes long before the story beats come in. It doesn’t break new ground, but it is also very fun to watch, and that isn’t a bad thing. Character development isn’t the reason you watch a movie about F1.

Why do you come to a movie about Formula 1? For the speed, of course. To experience, at least a fraction of the energy, the danger, and excitement of going a couple of hundred miles per hour.

For the ladies who aren’t into cars at all, you go to see Brad Pitt. While watching, one of the first things that came to mind to describe the movie was “premium.” There is something in the way everything was put together, from the script to the visuals and sound, that makes it feel more thought out and better put together than most, in the same way, you might say a Mont Blanc pen differs from a typical ballpoint pen or a bespoke suit compares to one off the rack, the movie just felt, premium.

The camera work on the film is amazing, with shots that put you into the driver’s seat, letting you feel each high-speed turn and smell the rubber while shooting down the track at straightaways. Director Joseph Kosinski is no stranger to high-speed photography, harnessing his experience with the light cycles from Tron: Legacy and all the dogfighting shots in Top Gun: Maverick to bring immersion to theatergoers in F1.

The music by Hans Zimmer is electric, perfectly reflecting the allure of F1, that balance of danger and style, of exhilaration and elegance.

Perhaps “premium” isn’t too odd a term to describe a blockbuster movie made by Apple Studios. I suppose you could say they make their movies just as they make their iPhones.

F1 The Movie is in that first-place pedestal as one of the most thrilling summer blockbusters. Do yourself a favor and see it in IMAX. Well worth the ticket.