Movie Breakdown: Ford V Ferrari

Pre-Screening Ramble:

Ford v Ferrari appears to have all the right parts – a rock solid director in James Mangold (Logan, Walk The Line, Cop Land), great leads in Matt Damon & Christian Bale, and a true story involving a foreign opponent and race cars.  Let’s go.

Post-Screening Ramble:

I enjoyed the heck out of Ford v Ferrari.  Matt Damon’s Carroll Shelby is a smarmy cowboy who loves racing, and Christian Bale’s Ken Miles is an even smarmier Englishmen who also loves racing, and together they’re the heart and soul of this film, which follows the development of Ford’s famous GT40 and its entry into the 24 Hours of Le Mans.  Not familiar with said car or race?  That’s fine, because director James Mangold has put together a very engaging movie that’s really more about the ups and downs of Shelby and Miles’ relationship.  And sure, there’s plenty of race car lingo that gets thrown around and the Le Mans gets heavily painted as the challenge of all challenges, but again, it’s the work put in and the sacrifices made by the two men that drives (ha) Ford v Ferrari.  Expect to want to cheer a lot and don’t be surprised if your eyes well up a few times.

Ford v Ferrari is one of the best films of 2019.  I do think it’s a bit too long and occasionally it’s overly dramatic, but it’s well crafted, features great characters and there’s a lot of fantastic racing scenes.  Definitely see it in a theater.

One Last Thought:

This film is titled Le Mans ’66 overseas, and because that’s way cooler and far more accurate, it irks me that it’s called Ford v Ferrari here.  And sure, I get it, tickets have to be sold and that’s two huge, instantly-notable brands leading the way, plus the average American tends to not even be a Le Mans amateur, but it’s just such a lame, corporate-y name.