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| Matt Damon and Christian Bale in Ford v Ferrari |
They don't make 'em like they used to do, except when they do, and with Ford v Ferrari they did. This story about spunky underdogs taking on the big boys of the racing world could have been made in the 1930s by Raoul Walsh or Henry Hathaway or any capable action movie director. The difference then would have been that the bad guys would just have been crooks and cheats, whereas in Ford v Ferrari they are bureaucrats, corporate suits stifling innovation and initiative. Even though the title suggests an international rivalry, the key conflict pits "real" racers like Carroll Shelby (Matt Damon) and Ken Miles (Christian Bale) against the bean-counters and marketing M.B.A.s like Leo Beebe (Josh Lucas), sucking up to the boss, Henry Ford II (Tracy Letts). Granted, there is an international rivalry at work, with the Ford Motor Co. trying to recapture some of its old eminence by taking on Ferrari, the Italian auto manufacturer that has for years dominated the prestigious 24-hour road race at Le Mans. What spurs this rivalry is a loss of face by Ford after being finessed out of the acquisition of Ferrari and then being insulted by Enzo Ferrari (Remo Girone) himself. Shelby and Miles have not always been on the best of terms -- Miles once threw a wrench at Shelby, and the two have a fistfight in mid-film -- but they get sucked into the Ford vs. Ferrari competition because they both love auto racing and are tempted by the opportunity to build the world's greatest race car. Naturally, it all ends in triumph, but not in the way an old-fashioned movie would: The bureaucrats manage to tarnish their victory. The movie doesn't quite avoid the old clichés: Miles has the usual cute kid and loving wife, with Catriona Balfe taking on the latter role, an updated version of June Allyson dutifully supporting James Stewart in all those 1950s movies. Still, Balfe plays it well, particularly in the scene in which she drives the family station wagon the way her husband drives his race cars, scaring some sense into him. The leads, too, are fine. Damon gives Shelby substance, a taciturn cunning, when he's dealing with the volatile Miles or with the stodgy suits. Bale's Miles has a lean and hungry look that suggests his unpredictability, but he manages to make the character human in his scenes with Balfe and Noah Jupe as their son, Peter. One other difference from the old movies: A director like Walsh or Hathaway would have brought the film in at a tidy 90 minutes or so. James Mangold lets Ford v Ferrari sprawl over 152 minutes, with some inevitable sagging in between the snazzily edited racing scenes.
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