Le Mans '66

Rating: 6/10 (22 January 2020)

Ford v Ferrari sees Christian Bale channeling his inner Nigel Mansell. He plays the racer Ken Mills, a war hero from Sutton Coldfield who became a maverick race driver for the fledgeling Ford racing team.
Mills is recruited by former racer turned car designer Carroll Shelby (Matt Damon) who has been hired by the Ford Motor Company to turn around the company's fortunes by making their cars look hip. To do this they are going to knock Ferrari off their perch and win the Le Mans 24 hours race.
Of course it is odd to see Ford, a corporate Goliath to be cast as the underdog here. The racing division is championed by Lee Iacocca (Jon Bernthal) but the fly in the ointment is Leo Beebe (Josh Lucas) a square peg in a round hole.
In their sights is Ferrari, who themselves are struggling financially and have the temerity to object to being bought out by Ford. In retaliation Ford develop a racing car at a super speed with Miles testing it.
Ford v Ferrari is an enjoyable if overlong melodrama, the Le Mans race scenes are done very well. I did find the portrayal of Beebe as the token villain to be facile. He was there to give the film unnecessary tension.
The best performance is from Bale who leaves Damon behind.