Review - Ford v Ferrari (2019)

Directed by: James Mangold
Written by: Jez Butterworth, John-Henry Butterworth, Jason Keller
Starring: Matt Damon, Christian Bale
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There's a reason the "Classic Underdog Story" is a Classic.

Carroll Shelby (Damon) and Ken Miles (Bale) are two men who don't want to change. Shelby's a former racer whose hypertension means his early retirement in to sales and management. Miles is an extraordinarily talented racer who self-describes as "difficult" with people and whose financial trouble means that he has to give up his passion. Fortunately for them, when Ford needs people to build and race a car that can beat Ferrari at the 1966 24 Hours of Le Man endurance race, Shelby's clout gets them both noticed and quickly working with a blank check to do what they do best and hope that it's enough. The story also layers in colourful human drama, as every corporate suit with an opinion tries to force the men to compromise their work; they may be good men with a passion for racing, but they are unambiguously working for bad men who want to sell cars, caring more about corporate imagery.

For the most part, the story is exactly as expected at every turn; each twist and turn a staple of the sort of story this movie is trying to tell, from the perfectly timed complications with the vehicle, to the moments when Miles' aforementioned "difficulty" creates problems for him with the suits, while Shelby tries to balance appeasing them and working with Miles' pure racing ideals. Thankfully, this movie is also fantastically put together, so it gets away with playing each and every story beat as it does because it knows why these stories work and why they're worth telling, and it makes the few moments that aren't expected (such as Miles' wife being just as mad as he is in the best way) feel earned and meaningful, like the they couldn't quite fit in to the molds of the tropes so they were left  in because they were genuine. The human drama both on and off the track is so thoroughly well told that it hardly matters if you can see each turn a mile off, and a lot of that has to do with the performances.

Damon is a perfect fit for Shelby, giving a very human performance as he navigates the his own morals through the amorality of the corporate world, and he's just cheeky enough to not be a total straight man. Bale is a bit more animated than Damon, offering a small but noticeable contrast that's reminiscent of some of his best work, a single-minded person expressed through his eccentricities and the bonds he shares with the people he loves: the best scenes are his, from his introduction to quiet moments with his son, to the sheer elation he shares with only himself in the car as he tries to navigate and understand his own emotions. Other characters are one-note but effectively performed, particularly Josh Lucas as Leo Beebe, a smarmy executive who acts as a constant thorn in the sides of Shelby and Miles. the embodiment of the corporate pressure our heroes face, one dimensional but too infuriating to be forgotten.

What's really memorable about the film, between all the human drama that propels the story, is the racing. There's an immersion to it, the way the engines roar electrifies the body and the camera's constant weaving between cars as it tracks Miles' every step towards victory glue the eyes to the screen, searching as Miles does for each opening, feeling the heart skip a beat as the brakes screech as he tears around each corner or dodges another pile up. It's incredibly well directed action, and more importantly it ties back in to the investment in Miles as a character, these scenes not just banking on the stakes it sets up but also allowing us a few moments to understand a man who seems to have trouble understanding himself.

The Short Version: It's as excellently crafted as it is comfortable, telling a familiar story of men triumphing in the face of the impossible, backed by understated performances, incredibly immersive racing sequences, and an incredibly wholesome bond between men who can't change. It's the perfect movie to take your dad to see.

Rating: 8/10