Ford v Ferrari (James Mangold)

[TGM]

Ford v Ferrari

Director: James Mangold

imdb

[Peng]

Might rate this higher if I haven't already seen and kinda loved Rush, which, despite being hokier script-wise, feels tighter and has a gripping, more unpredictable sports genre hook in being about two equal opponents instead of defeating the so-to-speak Goliath. Still, Mangold remains the ultimate sturdy old-school craftsman (#TeamYumaRemake), Bale and Damon gives great banter, Bale injects this story with the unpredictable energy it needs to be consistently engaging, and the 2.5-hour grand ol' time flies by. 7.5/10

[Dukefrukem]

I had to look on Letterboxd to see if I liked Rush or not. I did watch it as it turns out, but I didn't write anything about it; Gave it a generic 3 star rating and I can't remember anything about it. Completely forgettable, which is fitting for a Ron Howard film I suppose.

This film however DOES have memorable characters driven by Christian Bale's performance. Matt Damon plays a character no different than any other character he's ever played. So this is a fine boilerplate "biopic"esk film, but what really irritates me about these kinds of films is the faux villain played by Josh Lucas.

Lucas plays a Ford exec who, for the sake of the script, has an ax to grind against the driver representing his own company, played by Bale. Everything about it is phony and is there to create some manufactured tension outside of the REAL antagonist of the film... the Ferrari. This adds an additional 30 minutes of ending scenes to allow Bale's character to "win" and Lucas to feel defeated.

This is the kind of shit that irritates the fuck outta me. This is nominated for best picture? This?

[TGM]

Its best picture nomination is rather odd.

[Irish]

I had to look on Letterboxd to see if I liked Rush or not. I did watch it as it turns out, but I didn't write anything about it; Gave it a generic 3 star rating and I can't remember anything about it. Completely forgettable, which is fitting for a Ron Howard film I suppose.

This film however DOES have memorable characters driven by Christian Bale's performance. Matt Damon plays a character no different than any other character he's ever played. So this is a fine boilerplate "biopic"esk film, but what really irritates me about these kinds of films is the faux villain played by Josh Lucas.

Lucas plays a Ford exec who, for the sake of the script, has an ax to grind against the driver representing his own company, played by Bale. Everything about it is phony and is there to create some manufactured tension outside of the REAL antagonist of the film... the Ferrari. This adds an additional 30 minutes of ending scenes to allow Bale's character to "win" and Lucas to feel defeated.

This is the kind of shit that irritates the fuck outta me. This is nominated for best picture? This?

I agree wholeheartedly but I can kinda understand its nomination because it's a solid studio picture & never attempts to be anything other than a solid studio picture. ("Green Book" won on that basis, I think.)

A few things surprised me:

- The film does such a poor job of explaining that LeMans is an endurance race won on time and distance traveled (and not at the finish line) that I found the ending confusing.

- The dialogue pumps the idea that Bale's character is this super-genius mechanic and driver but the action doesn't bear that out. Bale nearly loses the qualifying match to other Ford racers and at LeMans, 2 others are right behind him on time. So he wasn't as absolutely clutch and necessary as Damon's character makes him out to be. And a closing credits title card tells us that Ford won LeMans for like 3-4 years afterwards, so why push the idea that Bale was this super aesthete and once-in-a-generation athlete?

- Damon's character is totally useless. He makes a big show about how his entire job is to run interference with the suits, but when push comes to shove he doesn't do it. Like, he tells Bale about the marketing plan to have them all cross the finish at the same time. A good middle manager would have never said a word.

- Agree on Lucas' character and I was a little insulted by it. Oh noes the evil marketing exec! But if Damon and Bale were professionals, and frankly adults in the world, they would have recognized immediately the publicity stunt for what it was and found a way to work within that framework. Plenty of great artists and creators and designers do.

[Grouchy]

This is just like the very definition of good Hollywood product. Forgettable for the most part, but technically savvy and competent in every way. I agree that the evil executive played by Lucas was a cheaf screenwriting gimmick to add artificial excitement to the ending... yet it worked for me. MVP is obviously Bale - I think it might be one of his greatest, most charismatic performances.

EDIT: According to the Ken Miles Wikipedia, though, Leo Beebee was a real Ford exec and he did order Shelby to tell Miles to slow down for the photo opportunity.