Ignore the Americanised factual inaccuracies, this is still a bostin' racing film...

Rating: 10/10 (26 March 2020)

The Shelby mythology is well fed with this film, but to be fair, Ol' Shel himself was always quick to praise Ken Miles, so it's nice to see film that recognises the input from a truly international band of racers & hot-rodders.
Matt Damon is great as Carroll Shelby, but then Damon is great almost always.... To the casual filmgoer, his wheelin'n'dealin' business style, his brashness and his confidence are well portrayed, but you can appreciate to his performance easier if you've seen interviews with Shelby himself.
Christian Bale & Catriona Balfe are brilliant as the Miles'. They deliver the accent & lingo brilliantly (I was born in the same town) and I loved Bale's inclusion of the Brummie phrase "going round the Wrekin", that shows real depth of research into the character, even if it is wasted on the vast majority of viewers... In a racing car, Bale really makes you believe that he's grabbing that Cobra / GT40 and wringing out Every Last Drop of performance (watch the DVD extra's to see how it was done, well worth it!) as well as fulfilling his role as development driver by constantly thinking of new ways to go fast. You get the sense that he was immersed in the jargon, not just reading it from a page... He Understands.
The crew went to extra-ordinary lengths to recreate the period venues, not, thankfully, all CGI for which this film is all the better. The sight of all of those Cobra's, GT40's etc is enough to have one going weak at the knees (as well as the achingly gorgeous Panhard on a trailer when 'Miles' first gets to Le Mans), even if it obvious that the Superformance etc. cars are the ones running bigger wheels and low-profile tyres. A nice touch, possibly as a nod to Ken Miles' Midlands background, is the Mini (Austin, not BMW) sitting outside his garage.
The Ford politicking is central to the theme and, for dramatic tension is exaggerated somewhat. You can imagine Henry Ford II acting in that imperious manner, but any film needs a true villain and Leo Beebe (quite harshly in many opinions) carries that particular torch through to the films end.
Just like Steve McQueen's Magnum Opus, 'Le Mans', the hero doesn't win through in the end, coming second. Like many sporting controversies, there is opinion, denial, conjecture & opposing sides about the manufactured finish.
Interestingly though, the film has the cars finishing in a perfect line abreast, whereas in real life, Bruce McLaren sped up slightly at the end also, unlike the film, Shelby was also instrumental, with Beebe, in orchestrating the 'dead heat' although once the French officials had wreaked their havoc, he always went on record as having bitterly regretted denying Miles the 66 'Triple Crown'.
It's a bittersweet epilogue where Miles is killed, I guess the films intention was to show how much of a racer he was and, even after getting shafted by Ford, was still intent on making their car faster & better...
In summary, ignore the historical stuff, you've got Wikipedia for that. Simply turn up the volume and enjoy the best motor racing film since 'Le Mans'. Only with more dialogue. And plot.