Technically dazzling with a dull script

Rating: 4/10 (30 October 2019)

Technically dazzling and well-acted film, but the script is a dull thud. Scenes are often contrived, sometimes exasperingly so, such as when Ken Miles (Christian Bale) explaiins the details of the Le Mans circuit to his son (Noah Jupe), or Carroll Shelby (Matt Damon) demonstrates the need for a first-rate driver to Henry Ford II (excellent Tracy Letts). Come on, writers! Couldn't you do better than this?
Very much a boy's adventure pic with a slight seasoning of 'vulnerable man' stuff thrown in as a sop to 21st century sensibilities. In the only female role of any consequence, Caitriona Balfe is strong and supportive, but, for all the difference her character makes to the story, she might just as well not be there.
In the manner of all films about motor racing (e.g. GRAND PRIX, John Frankenheimer's 1966 movie), the race footage is what it's all about, and some of FORD v FERRARI's is genuinely thrilling. The story that surrounds it, interesting though it is, inevitably seems tame by comparison.