Review: "Ford V Ferrari" Gears Up for a Good Time

Scene from Ford V Ferrari

In recent years, no film has captured American ingenuity quite like director James Mangold's Ford V Ferrari: a true story of the Ford Motor Company's attempt to beat Ferrari in the 24 Hours of Le Mans race. There is that dream of being the best, the fastest, pushing the boundaries of what's capable, and no film has felt as accomplished as this one. To watch Ken Miles (Christian Bale) take a corner while spouting comical Cockney slang like he's in an episode of Wacky Races is to see filmmaking at its most confident. The film almost doesn't need an audience's approval. The editing, sound design, and floating camera angles serve as an incredible feat of style as smooth as the car's paint job. If this isn't the best film in decades about why people get behind the wheel, then it still serves as a drama about the human spirit's desire to compete. No feeling can match the joy of its third act, and thankfully it all zooms along like a finely oiled machine.

Ford V Ferrari isn't just a film about racing. Any film borrowing pages from The Fast and the Furious could do that. What makes Mangold's vision something exciting and almost essential n the gearhead cinema style is that it's a piece of history that adds depth and pathos to its history. It's a story of two men named Carroll Shelby (Matt Damon) and Ken Miles who fight with the corporate overlords at Ford (notably Henry Ford II, played by Tracy Letts) to make a car that could compete in a 24-hour race. It's a trial-and-error film, finding as much joy in watching mechanics pop off the hood and reconstruct the engine from scratch. It makes the moments when the ignition kicks into gear all the more exciting, making one feel the joy of uncertainty. Will the car start up and, most importantly, will it be faster than ever before? The film lives in a world where faster is better, where there's a state of bliss that the normal world cannot give us. It's the adrenaline that consumes Carroll and Ken, and it's only backed by the reality of their gambit. They need to convince Ford to let them build the car they know will win Le Mans. They need to break decades of history and prove once and for all that Americans are capable of competing with Europeans in the world of automotive. As the film suggests, Ferrari will go down as one of the best car manufacturers in history. What will Ford leave behind?

By placing the story within a historical setting, it manages to make car manufacturing into something more than slick racing scenes. It's about the egos of men clashing together to get to that goal. Ford II comes from the capitalist perspective, forever doomed to be in his father's shadow, wanting to play it safe to maintain a legacy. Carroll and Ken are working-class men who spend their lives looking at an engine, turning screws to try and find ways to improve performance. As much as it's about the final product, it's a story of two sides butting heads as Ken does his best to raise a family and Carroll does everything to have any reputation following a career of being undervalued. To watch Carroll and Ken admire a car is to witness something that people who spend hours in a garage will appreciate. It's the sense of playful antagonism as they knock-down each other's bad ideas with humor. They have no way to communicate as individuals beyond cars, and one would do well in picking up a parts guide just to understand their language. While this is set in 1966, it may as well take place last weekend. The experience of people bonding over cars hasn't changed that much in 50 years, and for good reason. There's an emotional endearment in being proud of creating.

Still, the final competition that consumes most of the film's last 40 minutes is the perfect battleground for competition. The audience has seen everyone butt heads for almost two hours trying to build the premium car, facing a critical audience the entire way. With excellent editing, Mangold reflects the weight of the race by putting the audience both in the perspective of Ken as he drives, but also with Carroll as he witnesses Ford II constantly criticizing his approach to racing and the opposing Italian racers in Ferrari as they look for every excuse to knock them down. It creates the sense of America as an underdog, unlikely to win. For once Ford is the Rocky Balboa of racing, and the film is shot so well that the moments leading up to the finale almost make potential defeat feel less of an issue. The film is about bonding over a sense of pride not only as a country but also as creators. By the point that the race starts, the audience assumes everything about the Ford car and is ready to point out the one potential flaw that could throw the race. When doing so at a couple hundred miles per hour, there's nothing more exciting and potentially devastating. History comes to life in ways that few racecar films could ever hope to achieve.

While the score by Marco Beltrami and Buck Sanders is generic fist-pumping drivetime music, it does plenty to compliment what works about the film. When the car's in motion, it feels like every gear is screeching through the speakers, thrusting the audience's heart into full gear. During the Le Mans race, everything has fallen into place and suddenly the magic takes off. There is something thrilling to watching a camera descend from the sky on a car taking a corner so fast, Ken yelling his goofy sayings the whole way. The way the camera cuts to him switching gears and slamming down the pedal all create an intensity that captures what it's like to be in that position. Every shot that Mangold gives the audience serves as one of the best depictions of racing in any film, in part because it chooses to make the 24-hour race feel like an endurance test. It forces the audience to watch Ken take the night laps amid ran and questionable conditions. It makes one nervous, recalling their own driving experience as they worry that Ken could so much as doze off. Given how much empathy the film has built for him prior to this moment, it's a probable twist given his daredevil ways. So much is on the line as creators, investors, and American pride all fight for that number one spot. In some ways, it's the perfect cross-section of the country's ideology on a world stage.

The acting is fine for the most part. Bale hasn't really had a chance to be this much fun in years, making one wonder what a flat-out comedy from him would look like. He gives the film so much energy just by smiling and talking shop with Matt Damon. It proves that there's a charisma to watching great actors do their jobs well. When they're allowed to feel human in those moments, it adds catharsis and humor to every decision they make. Even Tracy Letts as "the villain" is given some levity from his sinister attitude when being driven around the test course, comically underestimating how fast a car can go. So much of the film is about loving the automotive industry that it's hard to not admire how accessible it is, even as Bale walks onto a sales floor and insults the Ford Mustang. Gearheads will love the film while everyone else will form an appreciation and understanding of why they love cars. It isn't just about watching machinery in motion, it's about an economy and reputation, that they created something so powerful that it withstood competition on the world stage. 

Ford V Ferrari is the smartest, sleekest car movie in a long, long time. It doesn't go for flashy imagery and instead embraces the craft in ways that make the race scenes far more exciting. To watch Bale and Damon work together is a thing of beauty, reflecting men who share a bond not often depicted this emotionally on screen. So much of the film is about dedication and not letting others put you down. It almost doesn't care if they win, but that's because of how well everything leading up to the race is. There's a person behind that wheel, and the audience believes in the underdog. There is a desire to make something that will stand the test of time, presenting a more joyful world for those who want to push the sound barrier and see a new world right here on Earth. Those who try will never be able to properly describe what they see, but this film comes the closest to understanding that vision.