Bale and Damon ignite 'Ford vs. Ferrari'
Christian Bale has a tendency to disappear into his roles. He’s gone from Batman to balding (“American Hustle”) to Moses (“Exodus: Gods and Kings”) to Dick freaking Cheney (“Vice”), and he’s been compelling and convincing in all of them.
It shouldn’t be a surprise, then, to see him deliver another captivating disappearing act playing professional racer Ken Miles in James Mangold’s fact-based racing drama, “Ford v Ferrari.” He’s paired with Matt Damon as famed auto designer/engineer Carroll Shelby, and the friendship and working dynamic between the two characters becomes the most entertaining aspect of a movie that’s also brimming with thrilling race sequences.
Although Ferrari factors into the setup of the movie, “Ford v Ferrari” focuses more on the efforts of Ford engineers, led by Shelby, and their attempt to build a race car that can beat the Ferrari racing team in the 1966 24 Hours of Le Mans race in France.
Shelby recruits his friend, Miles, a talented-but-cantankerous British racer and WWII veteran, to anchor the Ford team, much to the disapproval of the company’s marketing team (personified mostly by an especially smug performance by Josh Lucas). Ford exec Lee Iaccoca (Jon Bernthal) hopes a zippy car will help the company appeal to a new generation, while CEO Henry Ford II (Tracy Letts) blusters about like a man-child.
While Lett’s performance of Grumpy Mr. Ford does provide a few comical moments, “Ford v Ferrari” works best as Shelby, Miles and the engineering team push to get more speed and endurance out of their machine. The film contains plenty of car jargon for the motorheads, but Mangold also knows how to utilize visceral race sequences to keep the uninitiated just as involved.
Bale’s performance as Miles is the key to the film’s emotional pulse, believably playing a guy who’s probably only comfortable in life when driving 200 mph. His on-track rants, though a bit tough to decipher given the thick British accent, add a playful dynamic to the race scenes.
In contrast, Damon isn’t the type of actor to disappear in roles. Damon’s best work often leans on the comfort and familiarity he brings to the screen, and his Carrol Shelby has a movie-star charisma that plays especially well against Bale’s more introverted Miles. Even still, “Ford v Ferrari” does require some dramatic heavy-lifting from Damon, and he proves more than up to the task when it counts.
The true story of “Ford v Ferrari” provides plenty to fill this two-and-a-half-hour runtime, with the Le Mans race taking up much of the final 30 minutes. Unfortunately, some of the conflict between the engineers and marketing folks at Ford feels heavy-handed, and Lucas’ villain-skewing role constantly teeters into unbelievable and lazy caricature.
The real folks at Ford might also take issue with the way Mangold and Letts portray Ford as a constant barrier to true invention and creativity. Exaggerated or not, the contrast it creates between the corporate suits and the “artists” at Le Mans provides “Ford v Ferrari” with a compelling thematic argument for celebrating innovation and human achievement over financial reward. That humanity is best exemplified in Bale and Damon’s soulful tributes to their real-life counterparts.
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Tyler Wilson can be reached a twilson@cdapress.com. He is the co-host of Old Millennials Remember Movies, available everywhere you find podcasts and at OldMillennialsRemember.com.