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Along the way, we have quite revealing
snapshots of the drivers. Some are arrogant,
others more humble. One is mourning a friend’s
death on the track, another feels overshadowed
by his more successful racing father. They’re all
struggling with the demands of electric race
cars. “It’s like playing chess at 200 kph.” one
driver says.
Many of the drivers — including Britain’s Sam
Bird, France’s Jean-Eric Vergne and Brazil’s
Nelson Piquet Jr. — are seeking redemption
after falling out of favor or never getting to race
at the gas-powered bigger brother Formula One.
Co-directors Fisher Stevens and Malcolm
Venville fill the film with many of these
snapshots but they don’t connect them into
a single coherent arc or pare them down to a
single rivalry.
The film — which streams Thursday on Hulu —
then makes maddening detours into the nuts
and bolts of making electric racing cars, a look
at Formula One gods like Ayrton Senna and an
overly gauzy portrait of Alejandro Agag, the
head of Formula E, who says things like: “The
revolution is coming. It’s just a matter of time.”
Agag, a charismatic Formula One veteran and
a former Spanish politician, is a cigar-smoking
race fan who admits creating a green Formula
One was more a business decision than the
product of an environmental activist, which is a
little deflating.
Enter uber-cool green guy DiCaprio, in
sunglasses he never removes. He asks questions
about how batteries stay cool and gets a lesson
on environmental race fuel Aquafuel — even
tasting it. DiCaprio seems to try to pull the film
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