Ford v Ferrari (2019) review

As its title suggests, Ford v Ferrari delves into the heated rivalry between two of the most prominent manufacturers in the automobile industry. On one side, you have the Ford Motor Company, whose founder Henry Ford invented the first ‘affordable’ automobile, the Model T, and revolutionized the process of assembly-line production for his company’s line of cars. On the other side, there’s Enzo Ferrari and his prestigious brand of Italian sports cars that quickly became a staple of auto racing, especially in the 1960s when it won the annual race event known as the 24 Hours of Le Mans in Le Mans, France for six straight years. Ford v Ferrari specifically focuses on the former’s attempt to finally beat Ferrari at this historic event, which it ultimately managed to accomplish in 1966. It is the latest directorial effort from director James Mangold, who has had a considerably lengthy career in the industry with hits such as the 2005 Johnny Cash biopic Walk the Line and his 2007 remake of 3:10 to Yuma. In recent years, however, Mangold has also become known for his major contributions to the superhero genre through the two films that he made with Hugh Jackman starring in his iconic role as the legendary X-Men member Wolverine. The first of these was 2013’s The Wolverine, which fared a lot better with critics and audiences than Wolverine’s first solo outing in 2009, X-Men Origins: Wolverine, and was then followed by 2017’s Logan, which gave Jackman’s version of the character the emotionally satisfying send-off that he damn well deserved. And with Ford v Ferrari, James Mangold ends up having yet another hit on his hands thanks to a finely tuned racing biopic that fully benefits from its dynamite cast, thrilling racing sequences, and all-around sharp direction.

It is 1963 and the Ford Motor Company, as led by Henry Ford’s grandson Henry Ford II (Tracy Letts), is dealing with a severe decline in car sales. To fix this problem, Ford’s Vice President Lee Iacocca (Jon Bernthal) proposes that the company should start getting into racing to properly appeal to the current generation of potential car owners, which they can achieve through a deal with Ferrari, who has also been struggling financially. However, when Iacocca proposes this deal to company founder Enzo Ferrari (Remo Girone), the legendary entrepreneur refuses, takes a deal with Fiat instead, and vehemently blasts Ford for “building ugly little cars in ugly factories”. Fueled by this criticism, Henry Ford II launches the company’s new racing division and proclaims that they will defeat Ferrari at the 24 Hours of Le Mans. To accomplish this, Ford hires Carroll Shelby (Matt Damon), who had previously won the 24 Hours of Le Mans in 1959 before being forced to retire due to a heart condition, to run the division and build what ends up becoming the GT40. In turn, Shelby enlists the help of his long-time friend Ken Miles (Christian Bale) with the promise that Miles will be part of the company’s drivers at Le Mans. However, Ford executive Leo Beebe (Josh Lucas) strongly opposes the idea since Miles’ hot-headed nature doesn’t gel with the company’s usual image. Shelby persists, however, since he knows that Miles is quite possibly the only driver that can seriously pose a threat to Ferrari’s success.

Given the nature of this film’s plot, it goes without saying that Ford v Ferrari features some incredible racing sequences. Every single one of them benefits from excellent cinematography and they flawlessly recreate the pure kinetic energy that stems from a day at the racetrack (and yes, they were all done for real). However, this energetic spirit isn’t just limited to the racing sequences. While Ford v Ferrari does boast a hefty 2-½ hour runtime, its strong pacing and impeccably tight editing from James Mangold’s go-to editor Michael McCusker and up-and-coming editor Andrew Buckland (who has also worked on a few of Mangold’s previous films) means that there’s never a dull moment. A lot of this is also thanks to how Mangold excellently handles what can best be described as a ‘David and Goliath’ story on two different fronts. As much as this is a story about how a perennial underdog like Ford managed to dethrone Ferrari, one of the most successful auto racing teams in the world, it’s also very much a story about the two men who played the most prominent roles in making it all happen. They may not have been the kind of guys who flawlessly represent the company’s image, but they knew that going against the norm was the only way that they could possibly beat Ferrari at their own game. All this is especially prevalent when it comes to how the film ends. Without directly spoiling anything (which, I admit, may not be that necessary of a thing to point out since this is a true story), Ford v Ferrari boldly decides to end on a note that, in a different biopic, would’ve just been relegated to the closing text that pops up before the credits roll. But in this case, the decision to include that final plot point is what ultimately gives Ford v Ferrari its most prominent emotional beat.  

The other factor behind this film’s success is its amazing ensemble cast headlined by the potent duo of Matt Damon and Christian Bale. Not only do these two have phenomenal on-screen camaraderie, but they also provide an incredibly fun dynamic that stems from their characters’ radically different personalities. Whereas Carroll Shelby is the smooth-talking, charismatic Southerner, Ken Miles is the cockier Brit who isn’t afraid to express his particularly blunt opinions on any given matter but is also a fully devoted family man. On that note, the film does a nice job of handling the roles of Miles’ wife Mollie (Caitriona Balfe) and their son Peter (Noah Jupe) in the story even though they don’t directly factor into the work that Carroll and Ken do for Ford. Caitriona Balfe benefits nicely from Mollie Miles having just as much of a feisty personality as her husband, thus allowing her to be far more than just a passive supporting character, while Noah Jupe does a solid job with the simple but highly effective arc of a young racing fan who’s forced to learn about the dangers of the sport the hard way. After that, the film is chock-full of excellent supporting turns from the likes of reliable names such as Jon Bernthal as Lee Iacocca, the only Ford executive who doesn’t clash with Shelby and Miles’ ways, and Tracy Letts, who brings the right amount of bold conviction to the role of Henry Ford II.

Ford v Ferrari is easily one of the best films of 2019. Simply put, this is one of those films that flawlessly manages to hit all the right notes when it comes to everything that went into making it. James Mangold’s phenomenal direction sets the stage for an utterly thrilling racing biopic that thrives thanks to its incredible racing sequences and pitch-perfect pacing, with the latter being a vital factor in overcoming the pressure of the film’s weighty runtime. But to be clear, the fact that Ford v Ferrari is 2 ½ hours long is never once an issue because it always maintains an incredibly compelling underdog story with a solid emotional hook thanks to its emphasis on the two men who practically made it all happen. These two men, Carroll Shelby and Ken Miles, are excellently portrayed by Matt Damon and Christian Bale, respectively, as they do, indeed, carry the whole film while still being backed by a phenomenal supporting cast. Because of this, it’s safe to say that these two will be major frontrunners for all the big acting awards during this year’s awards season. And yet, perhaps the best aspect of Ford v Ferrari is that it’s one of those films that’s so universally appealing that you don’t have to be a big fan of auto racing to enjoy it. In other words, James Mangold manages to craft a film that fully succeeds at being both an incredibly well-made awards contender and a good old-fashioned crowd-pleaser.   

Rating: 5/5!

A Quiet Place (2018) review

For actor John Krasinski, fans primarily know him for his role on the American remake of The Office as Jim Halpert, the lovable everyman who constantly pranked Rainn Wilson’s Dwight Schrute and romanced Jenna Fischer’s Pam Beesly. But in recent years, one could argue that Krasinski has begun to transition away from his comedic roots. In 2016, he starred in Michael Bay’s war flick 13 Hours: The Secret Soldiers of Benghazi, and later this year, he’ll become the fifth actor to take on the role of Tom Clancy’s classic protagonist Jack Ryan in the upcoming titular TV series on Amazon, another project that he’s collaborating with Michael Bay on. And to top it all off, Krasinski has also begun to make a foray into directing. Prior to this year, he directed a pair of dramedies in the form of 2009’s Brief Interviews with Hideous Men and 2016’s The Hollars, both of which he also wrote and starred in. And this trend continues with his latest directorial outing, A Quiet Place, in which he co-stars with his real-life wife Emily Blunt and, yes, is once again collaborating with Michael Bay via the latter’s production company, Platinum Dunes. This time around, Krasinski tackles the horror genre with a film that’s based around the concept of silence as the main characters are forced to maintain such silence to survive against a collection of creatures who hunt through hearing. And thanks to the film’s highly effective treatment of this premise, along with an excellent sense of emotional poignancy, it’s quite easy to see why A Quiet Place is currently one of the most well-reviewed films of the year.

As the film begins, it’s established that the planet has been ravaged by a group of hostile extraterrestrial creatures. While these creatures are blind, they also have a heightened sense of hearing that allows them to easily hunt their prey if they end up making any loud noises. This, of course, forces any surviving humans to live their lives in complete silence to avoid being killed by them. This includes farmer Lee Abbott (John Krasinski), who lives this exact lifestyle alongside his wife Evelyn (Emily Blunt) and their two kids; their daughter Regan (Millicent Simmonds), who’s deaf, and their son Marcus (Noah Jupe). Communicating with each other via sign language, the family has managed to endure one full year of this alien threat while Lee continuously works to find any sort of weakness that the creatures might have. While all this is going on, Evelyn is about to have another baby and Regan struggles to cope with the guilt that she feels over a recent tragedy that the family has been through. But soon enough, it becomes apparent that the alien creatures are slowly but surely starting to come their way. Thus, Regan and Marcus find themselves having to ‘grow up’ a lot quicker than expected to help their parents fend off this terrifying threat before it gets them first.  

A Quiet Place very much lives up to its title, as the film is almost completely dialogue-free aside from the use of subtitled sign language and a few instances where louder bits of background noise allow the characters to speak normally. And while there is a backing score by Marco Beltrami, a lot of scenes rely solely on diegetic sound to help accentuate the importance of the characters’ silence. It also helps to establish a great sense of tension, making one dread what’s going to happen next whenever someone slips up and makes a loud noise. With that in mind, yes, this is a horror film that features one of the genre’s most infamous aspects, jump-scares, but in this instance, it fits the narrative as does the ‘Spielberg method’ of not fully showing the creatures at first. Because at its core, A Quiet Place is about the importance of family, a concept that is established right out the gate when the Abbott family suffers a devastating personal tragedy during the opening sequence and is maintained all throughout the film, culminating in an intensely emotional event during the finale. This immediately makes them a sympathetic group who are only strengthened further by the film’s excellent cast. Along with the excellent job that he does directing the film, John Krasinski perfectly encapsulates the role of a father who feverishly works to keep his family safe. The same goes for Emily Blunt, who Krasinski, of course, has excellent chemistry with. Ultimately, though, the real standouts of the film are their two kids, played by Millicent Simmonds and Noah Jupe. Jupe shines as the young son who finds himself forced to learn about the dangers of their current dilemma the hard way while Simmonds gets some of the best bits of character development in the entire film by way of how the previously mentioned family tragedy begins to create friction between her and her father.  

Now as I’ve made it clear several times in the past, I’m not a big fan of the horror genre. However, several recent horror films (specifically this, the film adaptation of It, and Get Out) have made me realize what it is about the genre that personally pulls me into it. For me, the best aspect of a horror film isn’t how memorable the main antagonist is or the creative ways in which characters are killed off. Simply put, if I don’t give a crap about the main characters in these horrifying situations that they end up in, then quite frankly it’s all for naught. And that’s what these three films managed to avoid via the strongly developed protagonists that are the Abbott family, the Losers’ Club, and Chris Washington, respectively. Oh sure, A Quiet Place does manage to succeed at creating a palpable amount of tension via its effective use of silence. This helps to make its proceedings even more intimidating due to the fearful anticipation that comes from the build-up to the inevitable alien-attracting noise. But at the end of the day, the reason why this film works as well as it does is thanks to its strong familial themes that are handled phenomenally by the lead quartet of John Krasinski, Emily Blunt, Millicent Simmonds, and Noah Jupe. Thus, just like It and Get Out, A Quiet Place is a prime example of a horror film that is so well-written, directed, and acted that it ultimately ends up being more than just ‘a horror film’ to become a highly satisfying watch that can strongly appeal to those who aren’t fans of the horror genre. I mean, who knows? If these three films weren’t enough proof of it, we might just be experiencing something of a ‘renaissance’ right now for this iconic film genre.

Rating: 5/5!