Ford v Ferrari (M)
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4 stars
A supremely well-balanced combination of corporate rivalry, on-track competitiveness and human drama, Ford v Ferrari is one of the most entertaining films of the year, even if you have no interest in motor racing.
Much of the appeal of the movie comes from Christian Bale's nuanced performance as Ken Miles, the British driver and mechanic who joins forces with American racing legend and car designer Carroll Shelby (Matt Damon) to help Ford "kick Ferrari's ass".
There's a scene early the movie where senior representatives from Ford are dispatched to Italy by Henry Ford II to try and buy Ferrari from its founder Enzio Ferrari, known as "Il Commandatore." It's Ford's way of muscling into serious motor racing in the 1960s - dominated by the Italians - but when Ferrari discovers that the deal would mean a loss of control of his racing team, he tells the Americans to go back to their ugly factory and continue making their ugly cars.
He also tells them to remind their boss that his name is Henry Ford the second. It's one of the best sequences of the film and sets up the reason why Ford then decides to beat Ferrari on the track with his own cars. With no real doubt about the outcome, it's the narrative journey that provides the reward, the drama focused on Ford's ambition to win the famous 24 Hours of Le Mans race in France in 1966, won by a Ferrari in each of the previous six years.
Director James Mangold crafts the story as a rousing crowd-pleaser, careful to avoid making the cars and the race track the focus of the action.
While the gritty working-class Englishman Miles tinkers and tests the new cars, Shelby has to manage the corporate politics. Ferrari may be their rival, but the real enemy comes from within, in the form of Ford's Head of Marketing Leo Beebe (Josh Lucas). A smooth-talking suit, he takes an instant dislike to the Englishman and uses his right-hand man status in the Ford corporation - and some underhand corporate tactics - to undermine Miles' role on the team. Miles doesn't do himself any favours with his American bosses, constantly pushing against authority. He's much more at home under the bonnet of a car, working out how to make things lighter and faster, than stuck in a boardroom with the corporate plan.
To provide the human touch to the storytelling is Miles' family, wife Pollie (Catriona Balfe) and young son Peter (Noah Jupe) watching the dangerous racing on black and white television sets and worrying about the risks of crashing and burning.
Director James Mangold (Girl, Interrupted, Walk the Line, Logan) crafts the story as a rousing crowd-pleaser, careful to avoid making the cars and the race track the focus of the action. It's all about the many relationships in play, and when it's time to start the engines, Mangold chooses to shoot close on the drivers' faces to put the viewer right in the action.
Ken Miles conveniently chats to his car as he pushes the limits of the technology, never sure when the torque and the speed will overheat the engine or the brakes. He's a complex character, part dreamer who can poetically talk to his son about the idea of a perfect lap, and part grease-monkey, endlessly tweaking every moving part. He's also positioned as the quirky outsider, "The Flying Limey" who can win the admiration of the Americans one moment and provoke their ire the next.
Matt Damon has less work to do with Shelby: he's the sturdy, affable leader of the team around whom a superb supporting cast shine as they take turns being duplicitous, stunned or exasperated. Tracy Letts is inspired as Henry Ford II, oozing a frightening mix of inherited power and personal ego, but it's Bale who provides the beating heart of this good old-fashioned adventure of men and their machines.