Top 5 Movie Of The Year

Rating: 9/10 (26 November 2019)

I just got out of Le Mans '66 (Ford V Ferrari)
I'll admit, right off, I do not like racing movies for two reasons 1, I have no interest in motor racing and 2, the movies always have the same problem, boredom (the cars go round and round) and predictability (the hero wins) but i'd heard good things about this one and it's James Mangold (Copland, Logan, Walk The Line) so I went to see it.
First off, it is not really about the company of Ford versus the company of Ferrari, maybe that's why it is called Le Mans '66 in the UK. Carol Shelby (Damon) is hired to create a car to win Le Mans '66 by Ford, he insists on having Ken Miles (Bale) help him and be the driver. The suits at Ford do not want Miles driving and attempt to drop or undermine him every chance they get, as Shelby and Mild try to design said car in 90 days en route to Le Man's '66. So really it's Shelby & Miles versus the suits of Ford, whilst Ford wants to beat Ferrari.
I loved the performances, Bale and Damon are both great, Bale just steals every scene, he is the heart of the movie, you root for him, he is the underdog, because Ford don't want him as the face of the company!! You never root for Ford, truthfully, I never cared about the Ford V Ferrari thing at all. I just wanted Bale and Damon to succeed. Despite being nasty to the Americans at the beginning, at least Enzo Ferrari cared about what he was doing and the sport of motor racing and he had some honour. Henry Ford didn't care about the car or the sport. He just wanted to turn around decking sales and was mad at Ferrari over an insult.
I think I enjoyed it so much as it didn't really focus on the racing aspect, if you are expecting a racing movie, you will be disappointed. It focused more on the making of the car and the various relationships. You don't need to know about racing to enjoy this movie, it's about the characters.
Everyone knocks it out of the park!! Not just the main actors the supporting actors too, Josh Lucas is in this and of course he is a d*ck, isn't he always!! I mean I really hated him, I couldn't wait to see him get knocked out!! Ray McKinnon is great too, every time he was on screen, I was trying to place him, an IMDB search reveals he was Bradley in A Perfect World.
If I had one complaint, and it's only minor it's Jon Bernthal, he is great, it is his idea for Ford to enter the world of racing, he chose and is Damon's biggest supporter and then he just disappears or is relegated to the background or if he is in shot not speaking , he is an important part of the first half of the movie then he doesn't speak for the second!!
Top 5 movie of the year for me.