Everyone knows about the infamous car companies such as Ford and Ferrari, but not a lot of people know what happened in the late 1960s at the 24 Hours of Le Mans. The 24 Hours of Le Mans is an endurance race where drivers, representing different international companies, have to race around a circuit for 24 hours as cars are put to the test against themselves. American automotive designer and British veteran Carrol Shelby and race car driver Ken Miles decided to take part in a corporate battle working with Ford against Ferrari. Ford was looking for a new business plan so they tried to buy Ferrari after they went bankrupt, but failed as they refuse to go along with the contract and then challenges them personally at Le Mans after insulting Henry Ford II, one of the founders and CEO of Ford.
The movie was based on a true story and it was spot on in every way. The movie takes the story back to the 1960s where World War II ended and veterans, like Ken, live their lives to the fullest. Ken has a wife and children and is working as a mechanic who is going to go bankrupt until Carroll, his sponsor, finds the opportunity of a lifetime with Ford that changes both of their lives. Carroll needs Ken since he is known as one of the best drivers in the world even after Ken’s retirement because of both his skill and understanding of a race car. Together they create the Ford Gt40, which was one of the first race cars Ford has ever built in a year as it was tested during the race and was never fully finished until 1969. The movie spent most of the time showing how they built it together, to soon race Enzo Ferrari at Le Mans. Ford Gt40 is the name because of the requirements to compete is 40 inches tall.
During the production of the car, Ken Miles was underestimated by Ford officials and executives, who see him as unstable and unfit to make them look good. Only Carroll, Henry Ford, and the mechanics that work with them didn’t underestimate him. Ken would race the car and see if there were any flaws with the vehicle and could judge any car on performance and even the driver’s skill. His methods were reckless since he likes to go 7,000 rpm, revolutions per minute, which is a measurement of how fast any machine is operating at a given time. Back in the ’60s, going this fast meant the car could break or explode at any given moment and the brakes need to be able to handle the pressure.
The movie overall is fantastic with its adult humor at times and how the actors played their roles with it. It is rated PG-13 considering the humor uses many swear words. It was a sad story to play on, but they tried to give pure entertainment with the interactions of Ken Miles, played by Christian Bale, and Carroll Shelby, played by Matt Damon. I highly recommend this movie to the students since it’s a very good movie with comedy, action, and the overall story the movie was based on.
Christian Bale did an amazing job playing as someone who is rambunctious throughout the movie. Matt Damon did a fantastic job playing the role of someone who has lost his nerve and becomes stressed most of the time. Credits to Phedon Papamichael, the cinematographer of the movie, for the beautiful shots that they did during each race that took place as everything looks realistic. The movie uses many special effects with the cars during each race, as a car would be rammed, flipped, or blown up and it looked real.
The movie gives a vibe that makes the audience laugh when a character would make any kind of joke, then it gives a sad tone foreshadowing that the plot will take a turn for the worse. The movie is definitely a 9/10 and the only problem with it is just how long the movie really is since it is two and a half hours long, but they needed every minute to give the true story to lead on to something important to think about in the end. So far in the opening weekend, it has a 92% Rotten Tomatoes score and made $31 million.
Ford v. Ferrari is worth watching from tremendous settings, great soundtrack, and a great performance from Christian Bale and Matt Damon.
