Ford v Ferrari (Le Mans '66)

LE MANS '66 - 20th Century Fox

James Mangold's Ford v Ferrari, or Le Mans '66 as specific audiences have come to know it, is a furious and ferociously intense romp of an adrenaline-fuelled adventure, boasting a captivating story and two compelling performances from Christian Bale and Matt Damon as Ken Miles and Carroll Shelby, respectively.

At just over one-hundred-and-fifty-minutes, Mangold with a trio of editors — Andrew Buckland, Michael McCusker and Dirk Westervelt — craft an enthralling epic with delightfully thrilling pacing that zooms on without a hitch of a problem. No stone is left unturned in this expansive historical story that chronicles the rise of such a magnificent achievement conquering Le Mans — chartering the humble beginning to the odds-defying monumental pressure the characters have placed on themselves.

It is a true epic of its kind that builds and builds in an organic and appealing approach. The story itself evolves in a way that is natural and human, showing both the teams victories and defeats in all their emotional moments and spirit. In essence, the audience builds this machine in real-time and strives for the very same success the team is aiming for with the set of characters in the story. When the heat turns up, they begin to sweat in the intensity of anticipation.

It is gloriously intense throughout with exhilarating cinematography from Phedon Papamichael, who touches upon an incredibly rich sentiment with the photography present. It is up close and personal to a degree of utter majestic prowess that is inescapable for the audience to avoid. The gravitas and crispness of the races are gritty and gloriously injected with the ideal entertainment value and thankfully are never overplayed for the pleasure of the audience. They have to wait for these sequences but the reap is always worth the reward throughout.

The sound design is equally extraordinary. The intensity of each situation Miles is in is sumptuous to behold and never feels repetitive. It is always its very own trial that the character may not come back from and with that, there is not a second here that feels out of place or inconvenient to where the film is building towards. Even in the bravado of the visuals, the intimacy of story and character is still active, with Bale and Damon giving terrific performances in their respective roles.

It is almost a straight swap for their usual flavours in that Bale takes the intense backseat here with a charismatic and comedic portrayal and Damon ramps up the emotional intensity and range. This swap of sorts is a welcome turn from the two actors that showcases the respective talents of each performer. Bale, in particular, showcases something very distinctively different from what audiences have come to expect from the Academy Award-winning actor and the results are terrific.

Charismatic, engaging and all-encompassing as Ken Miles, Bale doesn't have one scene that he is not the automatic standout. In each sequence he is not present, the film demands his performance to be brought back on screen and thus while the film isn't dependent on his performance, it is undeniably the central aspect that moves everything along.

Damon is equally as persuasive with a performance that grows in both intensity and appetite as the film progresses. As the tension ramps up, so does the strength and depths of Damon's character who begins to fight a war on multiple fronts both physically and psychologically. The last act specifically ramps up the tension to an eleven and with that, Damon perhaps gives one of the most subtly glorious emotional studies of a character the viewer will see all year.

However, aside from the visual bravado and conviction, Ford v Ferrari sadly undercuts and underwhelms with the films more significant emotional beats. Specific plot points towards the film’s second and third act in which emotions run on an all-time high are both misguided and lacking, with poor and basic writing provided from trio Jez Butterworth, John-Henry Butterworth and Jason Keller. To say said sequences of emotional sentimentality and opportunity for the film to reflect and breathe are swept under the rug would be an understatement. Without Bale and Damon here to convey such engaging performances, it is clear that the film would undoubtedly struggle to instigate engagement without their talents to elevate and heighten the experience.

Ford v Ferrari (Le Mans ‘66) is released November 15th, 2019.