Watched the new Schumacher ‘94 documentary on Netflix. Underwhelmed. And also, a bit surprisingly, a bit whelmed bothered.
Was never a big fan of Schumi, plus Benetton were massive cheats. They got caught a couple times; they got away with a lot more I’m sure. Hated Schumacher’s later dominance with Ferrari, too. (Nothing personal, obviously, and the skiing accident a few years after his second retirement was and remains quite tragic.)
I thought I had gotten over caring about a lot of that in the decades since, but this “documentary” brought back a few negative feelings. And 1994 was such a traumatic year in F1. Senna was, is, and forever will be my absolute favorite.
More so than most such documentaries, this one feels overwhelming sycophantic and apologetic about Schumacher’s dirty deeds that season (and by extension, in later seasons), and they play the victim angle a lot. There are a few cool shots from (what appear to be) behind-the-scenes archival footage, and that bit of nostalgia with cars, drivers, etc. was pretty cool, but the production feels over the top in general, with jarring and poorly done AI-generated sequences, sound design all over the place (especially engine sounds not lining up with the visuals), and a lot of Drive-To-Surive-style voiceovers. I guess that’s the audience they’re targeting, though DTS is mostly fun and this one wasn’t.
But maybe I’m just biased. (Obviously I’m biased.)
Speaking of which, just as Senna was the GOAT, SENNA is the GOAT of F1 movies, documentary or otherwise. Watch it, if you haven’t. Watch it again, if, like me, you’ve seen it countless times.