"Ford v Ferrari": A Pathetic, Facile Joke

"Ford v Ferrari": Movie Review

"Ford v Ferrari" is a pathetic, facile joke, that attempts to embellish the innovative invention of the Ford sports car, and eventual 24 hour race at Le Mans in 1966. Apart from the stellar sound mixing, (sure to win at the Oscars) and frenetically dazzling race car scenes, "Ford v Ferrari" is abysmal.

As Ford corporate strives to recreate their brand image, Caroll Shelby (Matt Damon) and Ken Miles (Christian Bale) look to build and compete in a race car for the ages.

An absence of concrete lucidity, and absolute lack of respect for the real life counterpart, unfortunately leads to a film with a scarcity of insight. It ends up oversimplifying its true story to great fault, making a mockery of its characters.

There are a few exhilarating scenes however, thanks to some pulse pounding races, and a great mix of sound that generates a tangible thrill. But it's the caricatures that make up the car corporations (Tracy Letts, and Josh Lucas) that construct a discernible inauthenticity. And two lackluster acting performances by Bale and Damon are more on the poor direction by James Mangold ("Logan", "Walk The Line"), than their inert inability to bring their characters to life.

Boring, inefficient, and offensively untrue, a few gorgeously shot segments are not enough to compensate for its 152 minutes of incompetency.

1 Star Out Of 4