Ford v Ferrari
Movie Rating 9.5 out of 10
Family Rating Mild swearing, Adult themes but if your children are into car racing they will love it
Cast Matt Damon (Bourne Identity, The Martian) Christian Bale (Vice, Batman movies) Catriona Balfe (Outlander) Ray Mckinnon (The Blind Side)
I am not a racing car fan. When Bathurst is on I will flick across every now and again and maybe watch the last half hour if it is close. I will only check the Formula 1 results to see how Daniel Riccardo is going. So when the car racing movie, Ford v Ferrari, was released with a running time of 2.5 hours I questioned whether it would hold my interest. Much like the Le Mans 24 hour car race that this story is based on, the length of the movie draws you to the exciting and heart-wrenching end.
Ford v Ferrari, is the best serious buddy movie since Shawshank Redemption. (No Dumb and Dumber does not count). It is based on the true story of how the Ford motor company takes on the brilliance of Ferrari to capture the coveted Le Mans 24 hour race title back in 1966. The characters of Carroll Shelby (Matt Damon) and Ken Miles (Christian Bale) are likable from the start and the relationship they develop, with all its challenges, creates a team to rival Redford and Newman from the early ’70s.
There are really two battles going on during the film. The movies’ name explains the battle for international race car supremacy between the massive Ford empire and the family-run Ferrari who had ruled the racetrack up until this time. The line from the movie ‘ Ford produces more cars in a day than Ferrari build in a year’ best differentiates the philosophy of these rivals. However, there is an even more telling struggle as independent-minded Shelby and Miles bash heads against the corporate-minded Ford executives.
The race scenes are genuinely amazing as you experience not only the speed but also the dangerous conditions in which these drivers made their living, and sometimes their death. These cars were reaching speeds of 300km per hour but had no roll cages and drivers had only just begun to wear flame-retardant suits. The basic safety barriers were bales of hay and the crowds virtually positioned themselves along the edge of this street circuit. The Le Mans 24 hour is literally a race that goes for 24 hours where the driving responsibilities are shared by two drivers to each vehicle.
Ken Miles was a British born racer that moved to America and developed a working relationship with Carroll Shelby. Shelby was famous for being the first American to win Le Mans and later as the designer of the Cobra and Mustang. These two shared a special love of cars which saw them come up with designs that made the Ford cars competitive with the Ferrari. Their friendship is affected when Shelby is pressured to yield to the Ford bosses and is only rekindled when he takes back control of the car’s development and reinstates Miles to the team.
All of this is basic to the story but does not explain while the movie is so wonderful. Christian Bale is just an amazing actor when he has the opportunity to embrace a character such as last year when he played Dick Cheney. From his first scene, he establishes himself as this strong-willed Englishman with a passion for racing and his family. Like many people I talk to Matt Damon could appear in a corporate instructional video and I would still pay to see it. Together they portray a turbulent friendship that is tempered by amazing respect and brotherly love for each other. There are some very good supporting characters that add to the quality of the story. Catriona Balfe as Ken’s wife Mollie and Ray Mckinnon as Shelby’s mechanic have a pivotal role in some of the character development of Miles and Shelby.
As this story was new to me it was exciting to share the experience of the characters not knowing the outcome. Watching the running of a car race in the middle of the film I actually wanted to cheer out loud with the actors when success was achieved. The strength of this story though is in the amazing chemistry between Bale and Damon and I hope that this will not be the last movie they appear in together.