For a Film About Speed, This Was a Snoozefest

Rating: Null/10 (5 March 2020)

"Ford v Ferrari" is a film about speed. And yet somehow, the filmmakers seem clueless about pacing and holding an audience's attention. With a run time of 2 hours and 32 minutes, the film seemed interminable due to the long, padded scenes stuffed between the race car sequences.
The main problem with the film was in the character developments, which were one-dimensional and lifeless. A chorus of executives at the Ford Motor Company were an indistinguishable set of cookie-cutters. Incredibly, the visionary Lee Iococca blended in with the others, and it was never explained to viewers the genius of Iococca in the development of one of Ford's all-time best products, the Mustang. The one-note authoritarian dimension of Henry Ford II wore thin after his first scene, where he berates assembly line works and dismisses them for the day.
The two principal race car drivers were also a sorry lot. Matt Damon dials in his performance of Carroll Shelby, a washed-up driver with a bum sticker, who is the liaison between the Ford executives and the world of the speedway. Christian Bale plays the role of driver Ken Miles as a down-on-his-luck schlub with an attitude. The maudlin scenes between Miles and his kid were a pathetic showcase of parenting, wherein the values taught to the little boy are that being a reckless hothead in life somehow pays off.
The sappy dialogue of Miles and his long-suffering wife and the smarmy banter of the Ford executives bog the film down. Even the racing scenes were not as good as those crafted for "The Art of Racing in the Rain." From start to finish, "Ford v Ferrari" is a snoozefest and one of the most overrated films of 2019.