[rating=8.00]
Sports make for tricky cinema. Done right and even the familiar storylines can lead to a kind of narrative satisfaction that so few movies these days can aspire. The problem of course is that they’re hard to do right. So many sports movies languish in a purgatory of half-baked ideas, sappy sentimentalism, and poor character development. Satisfying as they might sometimes be, the potential for failure runs high.
The bad here significantly outweighs the good. For every classic sports film there exists a large handful of films best left forgotten. That line can be difficult to walk. Partly because all sports films follow generally the same path and partly because the temptation towards sap is extremely high, great sports movies can be hard to find.
Ford v Ferrari is a great sports movie.
Director James Mangold, in his first since 2017’s Logan, turns his visionary eye towards the racing world in his latest film, which wraps its sports drama inside a layer of corporate politics before cooking the whole dish in a delicious sauce of interpersonal conflict. The result is one of the best sports movies in years and one of the greatest car racing movies I’ve ever seen.
Mangold tells the story of Ford’s attempts to dethrone Ferrari in the famed French endurance race, Le Mans. It’s a story ripe for the cinematic picking and Mangold does so beautifully here. Matt Damon stars as Carroll Shelby, former racer turned car designer, who is hired by the Ford company to develop a new car that can stand a chance against Ferrari’s racing dominance. To do so he recruits the cantankerous auto repairman and racer Ken Miles to help both design and drive the car across the finish line.
The film is every bit the corporate drama as it is the sports epic, with Shelby and Miles both subjected to the bizarre requests of Henry Ford II (Tracy Letts) and his lackeys. This adds a dose of narrative complexity to the sports story which, frankly, on its own is kind of cookie cutter in its presentation. Adding this additional layer to the story gives Ford v Ferrari a different kind of heft from other sports dramas and takes this film across the finish line with plenty of time to spare.
Where the film really shines, however, is in its performances. Bale, of course, is always magnetic, so it’s no surprise that his Miles is an irresistible curmudgeon. He, as ever, wholly embodies his role and brings the famed drive back to life in the most stunning way. Damon, meanwhile, not only holds his own against the Bale, but often surpasses him. He brings Shelby’s Texas drawl and Texan ideal to the silver screen and serves as a perfect counterpart to Bale’s rowdy performance.
At two and a half hours, Ford v Ferrari does occasionally drag but those moments feel small compared to the film as a whole. The racing scenes are among the best ever filmed and Mangold truly captures the thrill and excitement of the sport in ways that so few have ever managed. The sound design is impeccable; whenever one of Shelby’s beastly engines revved up, the theater shook as if we were in the cars ourselves and the screeching of tires and sounds of repairs bring you as close to the racing action as you could ever dream.
Ford v Ferrari kicks of this winter’s movie fare with an absorbing display of sports movies at their best. Far more than a film about a bunch of gearheads turning left for hours on end, Mangold and company captures the thrill and drama and humanity of this misunderstood sport, bringing it to the big screen for must see action.
Ford v Ferrari is now playing in theaters everywhere.
