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Immortal Engines

Who knew that a grudge match between wealthy car magnates could motivate such compelling drama? In truth, "Ford v Ferrari" from director James Mangold ("Logan") is so incredibly satisfying due to the miles of heart and humor traversed in the titanic effort to win at one of motorsport's most difficult races with an unproven car. It also happens to be a smartly written, efficiently shot (and edited), and well-acted story that manages to fill its considerable screen time without running out of gas.  (That's my only car pun, I promise.)  Speaking as more of a car appreciator than connoisseur - I drive a Honda and I'm a pretty lazy sports fan - I think that this movie will succeed with gear-heads and passengers alike.

Plot spoiler considerations: let us all agree that "Ford v Ferrari" is in the same general territory as "Apollo 13," in that it covers recent history. It's not hard to know what happens: Ferrari was "inarrestabile!!!" at the 24 Hours of Le Mans endurance race, winning six years in a row from 1960 to 1965. After its own poor showings in 1964 and 1965, Ford entered the race's 1966 running with a still-very-new car, and went on to bring the title home to America four years in a row. On the face of it, that is an amazing story in motorsport, where teams can eat up years and mountains of money just to become proficient, let alone win one of the most challenging races in the world.

"Ford v Ferrari" spends its 152-minute runtime on the figures who contributed most in making that first victory happen: Carroll Shelby (Matt Damon ("Suburbicon"), with an amusing Texas Twang) and Ken Miles (Christian Bale ("Vice") in a spot-on brummy that I have decided is his actually his normal accent).  Damon's Shelby balances the needs of running a team that's facing incredible odds on a short timeline against the weight of the management juggernaut at Ford that can't help but meddle. Bale's Miles is an irascible racer leading the charge in making the unstable and unreliable 1965 GT40 into a viable contender. Bale really inhabits Miles, from touching family connections with wife Mollie and son Peter to gleefully irritating that Ford management juggernaut (he could have better hidden that strong dislike for that shiny brand-new Ford Mustang).  Special nod, by the way, to Josh Lucas who plays Ford exec Leo Beebe as the type of sleazy, conniving, ladder-climber we all love to hate.

The relationship between Shelby and Miles is the heart and soul of this movie, and Damon and Bale have great chemistry together, balanced with a smart dose of friction and external challenges. It doesn't hurt that they are bolstered by strong supporting performances in Caitriona Balfe (Outlander) and Noah Jupe ("A Quiet Place") as Miles' aforementioned wife Mollie and son Peter. Noah Jupe gets a bonus point for not delivering a cloying child performance; he's got a number of great beats with Bale in a touching father-son dynamic.

Mangold, whose credits also include "Walk the Line" and "3:10 to Yuma," again demonstrates his directing talents in effectively bringing the story to screen, despite a few sports-movie clichés and racing-movie tropes sneaking in. Musical montage-check. Arbitrary concerns with performance of car-check. Dramatic crashes-check. That said, I accept that these are part of what makes sports and racing movies work, and in "Ford v Ferrari," they support the story (or are very much a part of the reality of it) and move the narrative. They don't pull you out of your experience to give you an obvious chest-thumping moment. That said, there are some aspects of this film that take a bit of liberty with history in the name of drama, and this may annoy some of the more detail-minded in the audience. But for those who haven't memorized the finer points of the true story, the changes make for good narrative development and a few solid laughs. The film may be long in runtime, but I was surprised and pleased that it neither dragged nor rushed to its denouement.

The racing sequences-and the driving in general-are superb. Mangold and team have effectively recreated the experiences of racing an outdoor track in California, at Daytona in Florida, and at Le Mans in France. The choreography and stunt driving is tight, fast, and exciting. And most importantly, Mangold has staged and shot these scenes-and the film overall-in a way that makes it easy to follow the action. I may not completely believe the story that all the effects work was done in camera - I've played enough modern racing video games to know that a CGI car and track can look staggeringly real. But nothing looks fake on the screen here, and there were several moments where I was irrationally worried about the value of the historic racecars on screen. "Ford v Ferrari" also sounds glorious, with the joyful rumble/scream of the GT40's massive 7.0-liter V8 engines given numerous opportunities to shine. The car spectacle in this film is stunning - it is worth the price of admission for car enthusiasts and appreciators alike.

Marco Beltrami's score and soundtrack do well in providing music-both period rock and score-to suit the film's myriad of emotional situations. Alas, I'm stuck with a partial earworm from "Ford v Ferrari" that is overwhelming my memory of everything else musical from the film. Beware the chickaboom song!

I have a few friends who really enjoy the 24 Hours of Le Mans; they are going to LOVE this film. I have a few friends who are fans of Carroll Shelby or Ken Miles; they are also going to LOVE this film. I have lots of friends who don't really care about any of those things, and they are still going to really enjoy this film, because it gives you a lot to experience and appreciate with great characters, action, and writing.  Even if you don't have 10w40 running through your veins, "Ford v Ferrari" is worth seeing in a theatre with a great big screen and killer sound.