Ford v Ferrari

Manuel São Bento 6/23/2021 3:58:31 PM 8.4

I never expected a sports film, let alone one based on a true story, to impress me so damn much. James Mangold offers one of the best, if not the best sports movie ever. With award-worthy performances from both Christian Bale and Matt Damon, Ford v Ferrari (aka Le Mans ‘66) has characters so exceptionally-written and so emotionally compelling that I felt like crying by the end of the film. The races are riveting and entertaining, but it’s the beautiful screenplay that gets me. Definitely, one of the movies of the year! Rating: A+

SierraKiloBravo 6/23/2021 3:58:40 PM 8.4

Click here for a video version of this review: https://youtu.be/IByQpyGV9Lg Despite not being a big fan of track car racing - I’m more of a rally man - the chance to see Matt Damon and Christian Bale lead in a true life story attracted me to _Ford v Ferrari_. It’s a very good movie that tells the tale of the development of Ford’s race program to topple Ferrari as the champions of Le Mans. Here’s the official description: _American car designer Carroll Shelby and the British-born driver Ken Miles work together to battle corporate interference, the laws of physics, and their own personal demons to build a revolutionary race car for Ford Motor Company and take on the dominating race cars of Enzo Ferrari at the 24 Hours of Le Mans in France in 1966._ I’ll say up front that even though Ferrari is mentioned in the title, they don’t really play a huge part in the movie. I was expecting things to bounce between each camp as they tried to one up each other in the race for glory. While Ferrari are here and there throughout, the main battle of the movie is Shelby and Miles trying to get their work done amidst the interference from factions within Ford’s management. It still makes for a great story though, and it’s a movie that takes you on a ride of many highs and lows. From technological failures and success, to corporate shenanigans, to father-son moments, this hits so many beats that it kept us entertained the whole way through. Not only does it hit them, it does them very very well. There were some moments where I was genuinely holding my breath. It’s great stuff. Even from a technical point of view there is a lot to love about this. The cinematography was a stand out for me - some of the sunset shots were stunning, as were the very intense race sequences. I’m sure there’s CGI all through this but it was of such a good quality that it was barely noticeable. Damon and Bale are outstanding and lead from the front, with Bale in particular seeming to inhabit the role and transform, as he so often does. Even all the side characters bring their A game and the end result is a pleasure to watch. This is an excellent film, it’s the whole package and feels like a real film as opposed to much of the cookie cutter movies we get a lot of these days. I thoroughly enjoyed this and highly recommend it.

JPV852 6/23/2021 3:58:34 PM 8.4

Well made sports-racing movie with excellent acting by Damon and Bale (no surprise there) and the racing sequences were great, not to mention the sound design. Kind of was concerned there wouldn't be enough story to fill the nearly 2.5 hour runtime, but this kept me engaged, though the ending was a bit anticlimactic. Still, good work from James Mangold. **4.5/5**