Film Review: Ford v Ferrari

Spending $100 million on an adult-oriented release is always a bit of a risky proposition. Budgets in that range are usually reserved for four-quadrant blockbusters that appeal to all comers, not a film requiring a call to a babysitter. This is especially true of films that make most of their money in the US and not in international markets.

The budget of Ford v Ferrari, a film where the hero is good ol’ American ingenuity and the cars distinctly do not talk, sits right under the $100 million mark. It’s a sweet spot for a period piece about the construction of the Ford GT 40, the only American car to ever win the 24 Hours of Le Mans auto race. Luckily for viewers, the film makes the absolute most out of every penny.

Mangold and co-screenwriters John-Henry Butterworth and Jason Keller don’t try to reinvent the sports flick with their script. There are very clear heroes (Bale’s Ken Miles, Damon’s Carroll Shelby and an underutilized Jon Bernthal as Lee Iaccoca) and villains (Ferrari, Josh Lucas’ cartoonish to a fault Leo Beebe). The act one failure, training sequence and ultimate victory (of a kind) are here as well. However, the performances and craftsmanship on display elevate the film above bog-standard sports film fare.

The performances here are almost perfectly cast. Damon and Bale play Shelby and Miles as a completely symbiotic tandem; Miles has a “difficult,” my-way-or-the-highway attitude backed up by his skill. Shelby is just as talented but more willing to play along with the company to accomplish their shared goals. Tracy Letts and Josh Lucas play Henry Ford II and a pretty-boy Ford higher-up with a churlish nastiness that might make a viewer recoil in disgust. Some other performances, such as the aforementioned Bernthal or Caitriona Balfe as Miles’ wife Mollie, get left by the wayside but make the most of the screen time they receive.

Ford’s technical aspects are just as good as the performances. The sound design, in particular, is incredible; viewers are completely immersed in the driving sequences, hearing and feeling every gear shift. It makes the danger inherent in 1960s racing feel real and helps viewers care about the characters inside the cars. The multiple crashes at the beginning of the final race are all the more spectacular for it.

Michael McCusker’s editing also stands out. It’s pedestrian but incredibly efficient. Viewers never lose track of where they are in a scene or characters’ relationships with one another, quite a feat when dealing with such a frenetic subject.

The movie is a little long at 152 minutes. It rarely drags, but several sequences are ultimately unnecessary for the broader plot. If the film were cut just a little bit tighter, it would have been an even more enjoyable experience.

Ford v Ferrari is not the sports movie to watch if you’re looking for something that reinvents the genre. Instead, Mangold and his collaborators opted to elevate the already movie-like source material with stellar performances and movie making.

Final score: 7.8/10