MOVIE REVIEW: Ford V Ferrari
(Daughter Of Hallownest - Christopher Larkin)
I keep trying to come up with a catchy way to introduce this movie review and I keep coming back to the same sentiment in my head time and time again: Unless you're a bonkers car nut, or you really want to see Matt Damon not get stranded in space again, the appeal of this movie is going to be somewhat limited.
Movies like 'Ford V Ferrari' are tough to sell. The marketing ghouls can talk about how this is a human interest piece all they want, but the fact of the matter is that the movie is pretty much just vintage car porn.
It's a movie about a rivalry between two car companies, and there are only so many different ways you can make that interesting. Box office returns for films like 'Rush' 'Love The Beast' and 'Driven' are proof enough of that. Words like 'modest' are used to describe such returns because these movies don't have the kind of universal appeal of a movie starring the God Of Hammers. It's not helped at all when you have a movie named after car companies rather than something attractive and abstract, but that clearly didn't help the movies I listed above either.
I would go into the story and the A/V effects. Unless you're one of those folks I listed above, you won't care. That's just the truth of it. If you -are- a bonkers car nut, you simply must see this film. It tells, in a somewhat accurate fashion, the story of one of the greatest rivalries in motorsport history, and manages to do so in a rather entertaining way. It's also probably a rental.
HERE THERE BE SPOILERS
For those of you who have seen the movie, there were a few things that stood out to me:
- Josh Lucas has been a huge dick in every movie I've seen him in. I've never seen a movie where he wasn't a dick. This makes his casting in this movie as Beebe a good one, but when you have someone who is that much of a douche, you want to see him get his comeuppance, and he never does. That's just unsatisfying storytelling.
- If you're going to so blatantly trot out Chekov's Gun -- Chekov's Car Door in this case -- at least use it in a meaningful way and not as an afterthought. What a waste.
- The movie itself was entertaining enough, but they could probably have done without the million close-ups of Christian Bale's face and feet while he was driving. That's the problem with all of the movies like this. You have to try and put people in driver's seat with Bale and there's just no good way to do that.
- If you think about it, Ford -- both the company and the man -- are painted with a pretty dark brush in this movie. Deservedly or otherwise, it makes it really hard to root for them. Shelby and Miles aren't exactly shrouded in glory either. They're both obsessed with their callings to the detriment of themselves and their loved ones. Shelby is half racer, half con-artist. Miles can't keep his mouth in check long enough to hold down a stable job and provide for his family, and when he finally -does- get a shot at something, he lies to his wife about it. A wife, I might add, who is shown to be clearly sympathetic to who he is and what his drives are. The deception was pointless.
- If the engine note of the prototype that Ken Miles gets into during his last scene is authentic, I'm a big damn lawn gnome.
I keep trying to come up with a catchy way to introduce this movie review and I keep coming back to the same sentiment in my head time and time again: Unless you're a bonkers car nut, or you really want to see Matt Damon not get stranded in space again, the appeal of this movie is going to be somewhat limited.
Movies like 'Ford V Ferrari' are tough to sell. The marketing ghouls can talk about how this is a human interest piece all they want, but the fact of the matter is that the movie is pretty much just vintage car porn.
It's a movie about a rivalry between two car companies, and there are only so many different ways you can make that interesting. Box office returns for films like 'Rush' 'Love The Beast' and 'Driven' are proof enough of that. Words like 'modest' are used to describe such returns because these movies don't have the kind of universal appeal of a movie starring the God Of Hammers. It's not helped at all when you have a movie named after car companies rather than something attractive and abstract, but that clearly didn't help the movies I listed above either.
I would go into the story and the A/V effects. Unless you're one of those folks I listed above, you won't care. That's just the truth of it. If you -are- a bonkers car nut, you simply must see this film. It tells, in a somewhat accurate fashion, the story of one of the greatest rivalries in motorsport history, and manages to do so in a rather entertaining way. It's also probably a rental.
HERE THERE BE SPOILERS
For those of you who have seen the movie, there were a few things that stood out to me:
- Josh Lucas has been a huge dick in every movie I've seen him in. I've never seen a movie where he wasn't a dick. This makes his casting in this movie as Beebe a good one, but when you have someone who is that much of a douche, you want to see him get his comeuppance, and he never does. That's just unsatisfying storytelling.
- If you're going to so blatantly trot out Chekov's Gun -- Chekov's Car Door in this case -- at least use it in a meaningful way and not as an afterthought. What a waste.
- The movie itself was entertaining enough, but they could probably have done without the million close-ups of Christian Bale's face and feet while he was driving. That's the problem with all of the movies like this. You have to try and put people in driver's seat with Bale and there's just no good way to do that.
- If you think about it, Ford -- both the company and the man -- are painted with a pretty dark brush in this movie. Deservedly or otherwise, it makes it really hard to root for them. Shelby and Miles aren't exactly shrouded in glory either. They're both obsessed with their callings to the detriment of themselves and their loved ones. Shelby is half racer, half con-artist. Miles can't keep his mouth in check long enough to hold down a stable job and provide for his family, and when he finally -does- get a shot at something, he lies to his wife about it. A wife, I might add, who is shown to be clearly sympathetic to who he is and what his drives are. The deception was pointless.
- If the engine note of the prototype that Ken Miles gets into during his last scene is authentic, I'm a big damn lawn gnome.
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