Ford v Ferrari (2019) Review

https://youtu.be/zyYgDtY2AMY?is=YWk0HBYk7LCZQUjr

THE FOLLOWING REVIEW CONTAINS SPOILERS OF THE DISCUSSED FILM. READERS DISCRETION IS ADVISED.

Sometimes, glory is taken many shapes or form that people won’t always understand.


PLOT


2019’s Ford v Ferrari begins in 1963 following the Ford Motor Company wanting to boost sales. Vice President Lee Iacocca proposes to Henry Ford II (Tracy Letts) to purchase Ferrari, but it backfires as owner Enzo Ferrari (Remo Girone) uses the offer to secure a deal with Fiat and allow to retain ownership of Scuderia. Disrespected, Ford vows to beat Ferrari in a race at the annual 24hour Le Mans Race they are undefeated at. Iacocca reaches out to Carroll Shelby for the task, a retired driver who won the event back in ‘59 and now owns Shelby American. Shelby would recruit English racer Ken Miles to build the vehicle, but he leaves a bad impression to Ford’s senior executive VP Leo Beebe, criticizing their latest Mustang. Shelby later shows Ken a prototype GT40 MK1 and the latter does point out all its flaws, only for Leo to deem him a liability. Reluctantly, Shelby excludes him from the Le Mans and reluctantly takes two other drivers, Phil Hill & Bruce McLaren (Derek Hill & James Tyler Paulson), who ultimately lose to Ford. When Ken listens to the race on the radio, he quickly deduces his flaws happening as he feared. Shelby is almost fired for losing the Le Mans, but he saves it by pointing out the reliability problems before it still instilled fear in Ferrari. Hearing this does Henry allow Shelby to work on a MKII and Ken is brought back to help get it right. Overtime, with the assist of Phil Remington & Charlie Agapiou (Jack McMullen), they discover it’s allowed to replace whole brakes mid race. By the time Beebe takes over the racing division in ‘66, he still wants Ken out of racing. That changes when Shelby locks him in the office and gives Henry a personal test drive to let Miles race Le Mans. Miles earns his spot after winning 24 Hours of Daytona. The race would take place at Daytona International Speedway and he pulls off the victory by pushing beyond the 7000 RPM unlike Beebe’s second GT40 supported by NASCAR with more pit stops. The day of Le Mans, Ken has a faulty door on the first lap but when it gets later fixed by Shelby and the crew, he starts setting lap records that help him catch up to Lorenzo Bandini on a Ferrari 330 P3. Once Shelby swaps brakes, he’s able to duel with Bandini long enough until his car breaks down. With three Fords at the lead that include Hill and McClaren, Beebe pitches for Miles to finish the race with them for an epic three car photo finish that’ll impress the press. With Henry onboard, Shelby breaks the news to Ken but tells him it is up to him on how he wants to end it. After setting more lap records, he chooses to comply and finish the race with his teammates. This would surprise his wife Mollie and his son Peter because they knew it would’ve been his only chance to claim such a victory. Technicalities would bother Shelby & Phil since Ken would take second place due to McClaren still traveling farther overall. Ken doesn’t take it personal because after seeing Enzo tip his hat in respect to him, he’s more grateful to race. Ken would sadly never get to race again because two months later, he would die in a crash training for Riverside International Raceway. Six months later, Shelby would try visiting Mollie to express his condolences, but can’t push himself to do it until seeing Peter. He expresses how much of a friend Ken was to him that he gives him a wrench his dad threw at him. As Shelby drives away, the film ends in an epilogue revealing Ken got inducted in the Motorsport Hall of Fame and the former lived on to become one of the most celebrated car designers in history; The Ford GT40 won the Le Mans from 1966-69 and remains the only American car to ever win said race.


THOUGHTS


There are a lot of racing movies that come and go in the sports sub genre, yet each time one is made, you’re quite hooked once the camera is rolling and it’s no exception here. Director James Mangold doesn’t straight up go for immersive-ness, because he aims to craft this biopic into a tale of pride & perseverance. The editing and sounds effects are indeed a strong point in sparking the exhilaration you expect in the sport and you love every bit of it. Add this with on point cinematography by Phedon Papamichael, you would never dare to look away from each race sequence. Each time I see this movie and each time I think about it, it is able to take things full circle in teaching viewers true greatness will always come from passion & integrity instead of bureaucracy. If you let your ego get the best of you, you’ll never get to appreciate the work you’ve made. This is the dynamic between Carroll & Ken who are given great chemistry by actors Matt Damon & Christian Bale. They were polar opposites to their time as the former knew how to balance being a people pleaser while still passionate, whereas the latter had his passion shown by being fierce with how he felt on getting it done. These two may have not ever scuffled over their views as the movie hilariously suggests, but it’s clear they shared the goal in being the absolute best. Considering Ken pursued his dream so late having joined the British army in WWII, it makes sense why he would bring a commanding force to make every second count to get the work right and since Shelby won Le Mans before, he knows where he’s coming from even if it drove everyone crazy. There may not be any actual evidence of him having a test drive with Henry Ford II, but it does prove how much he trusted Ken in getting the job done. While it was neat to see Ray McKinnon portray Remington as a  resourceful right hand man that’s just as level headed, I also enjoyed Caitronia Balfe who portrayed Mollie as a true equal to Ken because while openly worried for her husband, she respectively chose to be patient in trusting the process of what success that would be crafted. If she didn’t trust him, Peter wouldn’t be such a curious son of the sport as shown by the young Noah Jupe. There’s also respect to give that Jon Bernthal presents Iacocca as a pragmatic visionary, but Josh Lucas was very on point making Beebe the biggest douche of the whole movie who couldn’t get over Ken being the first to be brutally honest of the brand he’s working for. Whether or not he really was stuck up as the movie suggests, it sure does drive the plot as necessary. It was tough to see Ken lose personal glory that he deserved, but he sucked it up because he felt he was done being rebellious and was just grateful for the opportunities that brought him where he wanted to be. Enzo was no there at Le Mans to show respect as the film suggests, but it reflects Ken’s content before the end of his life. Seeing him die doing what he loves is tragic and bittersweet because it’s hard to deny he wouldn’t have it any other way even if he didn’t anticipate it either. The fact Ken is willing to give the wrench to Peter shows how much he really meant to him after all the ups & downs they shared and that put me to tears because it was a fine example that friendship can still come from unexpected places. As Shelby & the Miles family got to live on, there is no doubt they will look back knowing no racer can top the legacy Ken left in their hearts and that is what racing is all about sometimes. In short, Ford v Ferrari is an ideal Best Picture nominee for inspiring viewers to keep chasing your dreams even when it seems like it’s harder than necessary. If racing is your favorite kind of sports movie, check this out.