Will Satisfy Both Racing Enthusiasts & Casual Filmgoers

Rating: Null/10 (19 November 2019)

From the director of Logan comes a full-throttled, high-octane & adrenaline-fuelled sports drama that recounts the rivalry between Ford & Ferrari for the dominance at Le Mans endurance race in 1966. Ford v Ferrari (also known as Le Mans '66) is no doubt stylishly filmed & furiously paced but it also travels a rather safe route for the most part and isn't as memorable as its genre's finest offerings.
Directed by James Mangold, the film centres its plot on Carroll Shelby & Ken Miles while rivalry between two big corporations plays second fiddle to their stories. The racing segments are plentiful and are shot with kinetic flair. But the attempt to make the drama all macho & cool does not always deliver the best results as it dilutes the seriousness the film was aiming for, and appears as if it's trying too hard to grab our attention.
Nevertheless, the relation between man & machine is captured with purity, and that bonding remains intact from start to finish. Instead of two corporations battling it out for supremacy in endurance racing, the story derives its conflict from disagreements that arise within Ford's racing crew & corporate executives. This element does keep the interest alive but the dramatic portions do not pack the same grip & punch that the racing scenes do.
Matt Damon & Christian Bale are brilliant in their respective roles of Shelby & Miles, both individually & when sharing screen together. Damon is focused in his rendition while Bale embodies his role in ways only he can, thus adding another terrific input to his résumé. Overall, Ford v Ferrari is a competently crafted & technically polished biopic that narrates the real-life events with gusto and is fun, thrilling & entertaining enough to satisfy both racing enthusiasts & casual filmgoers. Certainly worth a shot.