Fasten your seat belt and get ready for an old-school crowd pleaser. Thanks to superb performances from Matt Damon and Christian Bale, ‘Ford v Ferrari’ takes the checkered flag. You don’t have to be a gearhead to admire this car racing movie. It’s highly entertaining that manages to avoid the pitfalls of CGI. The driving action sequences are magnificent. Director James Mangold (Logan) tells an underdog story about American ingenuity and what it takes to be a winner against all odds. ‘Ford v Ferrari’ is one of those movies Hollywood unfortunately shies away from but it is definitely worth the ride.
Set in the early 1960s, the Ford Motor Company’s sales are in the toilet. To appeal to the younger generation, the execs come up with a plan to buy out Ferrari. It backfires and CEO Henry Ford II (Tracy Letts) wants revenge by beating Enzo Ferrari’s (Remo Girome) Italian car company at Le Mans. This is where Carroll Shelby (Damon) enters the story. He is famous for being the last American to win the celebrated event. Due to having heart problems, he is sidelined from ever racing again. Ford VP Lee Iaocca (Jon Bernthal) recruits him to design and build a race car that can beat Ferrari.
Shelby knows one guy that has the talent to get him to the finish line. His eccentric British friend Ken Miles (Bale) is an amazing racer but is difficult to work with for most people. The relationship between the two men is respectful and comical. They both understand the thrill of becoming one with your race car when it hits 7000 rpm. They also know what it feels like when your buddy hits you with a loaf of Wonder Bread. They are dealing with a huge corporation that is in the business of selling cars. The Ford marketing execs led by Josh Lucas fight tooth and nail with Shelby against the idea of Miles as their driver at Le Mans. He’s not a team player and might say the wrong thing in front of the media.
It doesn’t take long to realize Miles is the right man for the job. When the story moves to the race track, the film is nothing less than exhilarating. Mangold hugs the track with his camera and you feel like you are in the driver’s seat along with Miles. You get the sense of how dangerous it was to drive these cars over 200 miles per hour. A nice touch to the film is the support Mile’s gets from his lovely wife Mollie (Caitriona Balfe) and his dutiful son Peter (Noah Jupe). Bale is wonderful in the role and the relationship with his family adds a heartwarming side to his eccentric personality. He loves to race but he does it to put food on the table for his family.
The chemistry between Bale and Damon is what makes ‘Ford v Ferrari’ work so well. It’s similar to how ‘Once Upon a Time in Hollywood’ works due to the performances of Leonardo DiCaprio and Brad Pitt. If you enjoyed Bale driving the Batmobile in ‘The Dark Knight,’ you’ll enjoy watching him behind the wheel of the Ford GT40. This is the only car designed and built in the United States to win at Le Mans. The movie is retro cool and reminds us that if you follow your passion and stay loyal to your friends, you can achieve greatness. ‘Ford v Ferrari’ is an entertaining thrill ride.
