A CAR RACE FOR THE AGES...!

Rating: 10/10 (10 December 2019)

James Mangold's (Logan/3:10 to Yuma remake) latest is a fun tale of the rivalry between the Ford car company & Ferrari on who's vehicle would win the infamous 24 hour LeMans race back in the 1960's. Ford enlisted Carrol Shelby, played by Matt Damon, to solve their dilemma which in turn caused Shelby to recruit his best friend/enemy Ken Myles (returning Yuma star Christian Bale) as his driver. Both mavericks in their own fields, Shelby the car maker/seller & Myles the perfectionist racer used their combined talents (& embattled histories) to take on the illustrious task of dethroning the mighty Italian carmaker (who at that point in history made beautiful cars but was in debt). Easy job, you think? You'd be wrong since Ford's underlings & marketing gurus may have had the right ideas on how to make a car look pretty (the '64 launch of their immortal Mustang is featured) but their know how on what made a engine tick properly was lost on them which fuels the constant fire between Ford & Shelby who wanted final say so on the men to race their cars (Miles was pegged as a problematic lone wolf) while Shelby knew he had the right man for the job. Never taking the Cliffs' notes approach to the material but savvy enough to make the car jargon fun & inclusive, this film fires on every cylinder (forgive my car punniage!) staying entertaining & even riveting when we know from history who wins the race. All the actors are in fine mettle including Jon Bernthal, Josh Lucas, Ray McKinnon, Caitriona Balfe (from Starz's Outlander) & a special mention to Tracy Letts (playwright of Osage County) for his hilarious portrayal of Henry Ford II.