Review of Ford v Ferrari (2019) by Bkorras — 23 Nov 2019

I'm going to look back at 2019 fondly for supplying so many great movies like Once Upon A Time In Hollywood, Joker, Doctor Sleep, and now, Ford v Ferrari. I loved the hell out of this movie. My all-time favourite actor, Christian Bale, brings his A-game to this movie.

Oscar nomination is incoming. Matt Damon also brings his A-game; this is probably the best I've seen from him. Bale and Damon's chemistry is fantastic too; I wouldn't mind seeing them work again in another movie.

Jon Bernthal, Caitriona Balfe, Tracy Letts, Josh Lucas and Noah Jupe round out the cast and are brilliant in their roles. The movie is written well too. The writers portrayed the friendship between Ken Miles (Christian Bale) and Caroll Shelby (Matt Damon) well.

They also brilliantly captured the family dynamics involved with racecar drivers, a frighteningly dangerous sport, in that era in particular. They even captured the politics involved in working for a giant like Ford excellently, bringing tension and also humour to the story.

One scene involving Enzo Ferrari, giving his opinion about the Ford team is a highlight, so too the responding scene involving Henry Ford II. I can't praise the film enough on the technical front. The score by Marco Beltrami and Sanders captures the intensity of the races perfectly.

The cinematography is gorgeous from start to finish. The directing is f'n fantastic, masterful even, James Mangold take a bow. What a movie he put together. The race scenes were freaking amazing. In particular, the Le Mans sequence.

I was on the edge of my seat the entire time, and I sincerely believe it should go down as one of the best sequences in film, period. There is a bit in that sequence that should earn Bale an Oscar nod on its own.

I can't recommend this movie enough. It's one of the best of 2019, a year that seems to keep on giving.