'Ford v Ferrari' Review—An Entertaining Blast

FUN FACT! I actually watched this film last July at a super early test screening in New York City and I wrote a review for it then, but decided not to publish it because the review was not good enough for mortal eyes.

That's why I rewatched the film today and I'm gonna give reviewing this film another shot.

Here we go!

Ford v Ferrari is a sports drama written by Jez and John-Henry Butterworth and Jason Keller and directed by James Mangold.

The film tells the true story of Carroll Shelby (portrayed by Matt Damon) who enlists the help of racecar driver Ken Miles (portrayed by Christian Bale) to build a Ford racecar that can beat a Ferrari at the 1966 24 Hours of Le Mans race.

Once again, I saw this movie months ago, and I loved it. It was one of my favorites of the year, and I knew that it had the potential to win a few Oscars. Watching it again, this movie actually moved up a few spaces in my movie ranking for 2019.

This film had a bit of a complex job, as it needed to tell a true story, have some good drama, and have enough racing sequences to win the crowd over while being entertaining as a whole. Luckily, the film accomplishes all of that.

I loved the story that this film told. It is, of course, based on a true story and the way it's told is incredibly fun to watch. The film's script does a good job of balancing out the drama with the action, and it remains consistently interesting throughout.

And the characters in the film are a large part of what makes the film so entertaining. Ken Miles and Carroll Shelby have a very fun dynamic with each other, and you can really buy into their friendship through the screen along with their mutual passion for racing.

Bale stepped into this role right after portraying Dick Cheney in last year's film, Vice, having to lose all the weight he gained for that role, and he steps into this character so seamlessly. He's very funny and charismatic in this movie, and he completely disappears behind the role of Ken Miles, making acting seem quite effortless for him.

On the other hand, Damon is more reserved in his approach to Shelby, playing him very maturely while also occasionally butting heads with Miles. His Southern accent was very natural and despite having already seen Damon in many other roles, I could have sworn that it was his real accent because of how well he sells it.

The two have very unique chemistry together and everyone else in the film does a very convincing job in their supporting roles.

For me, the biggest highlight of the film was the action. I'm not a car guy, but I am an adrenaline junkie, and the racing sequences in this film are outstanding. They're extremely well-directed by James Mangold, who has proven in films such as Logan that he is more than capable of helming action.

And this film contains multiple action sequences from actual races to test runs, and they are all incredibly thrilling and fun to watch, with the best one being the final act of this film, which is set up perfectly and is massively entertaining with great sound design and cinematography.

But the film balances these scenes out with a lot of drama for those who are less fond of big action sequences, and the drama in this film is also very well-written without ever feeling unrealistic or hammy in their approach.

Throughout the film, Miles is shown to be difficult to work with, due to his eccentric personality. However, we also spend a lot of the film with his personal life, and his relationship with his wife and son, and this endears the audience to him.

I personally love when a film spends time developing its characters so that we get the chance to care about them when the action starts and when the film gets dramatic (Terminator: Dark Fate, take notes), and this film does a great job of showing the relationships Miles has with people.

And even though this is a drama, the film has a very high entertainment value. There are some surprisingly funny scenes in the film, and the dialogue scenes where people discuss the right business plan for the future of Ford are consistently engaging.

Furthermore, a large amount of the character development is given to us through the racing, which is a choice that I loved. We learn about Shelby and Miles by seeing how good they are at racing, and the film does a great overall job of giving the audience exposition in very entertaining ways.

In terms of my issues with the film, the runtime is 2 hours and 32 minutes, and even though it didn't drag for me, there are certain scenes which I feel could have been cut.

The first act has a scene where Enzo Ferrari tells something to a Ford employee, and the next scene is the Ford employee relaying the same message to the CEO, and it didn't feel necessary to have two scenes with essentially the same dialogue.

And I would have nixed the final two scenes of the film, because while they aren't bad scenes, I personally felt like they were unnecessary and the film could have ended with a scene before them.

But those are all my issues with the film. Overall, I had a blast watching this film. It's very entertaining, the dialogue scenes are interesting, the action sequences are thrilling, and Bale and Damon give some very good performances.

I'm gonna give 'Ford v Ferrari' a 9/10 (A).

Well, this was a way better review than the first one I wrote.

Anyways, watch this movie. I highly recommend it, it's in my top ten of the year, and I'd recommend seeing this film in Dolby as well. I saw it at the 34th street AMC in New York, and I think that's my favorite Dolby theater.

Thank you for reading.