Fantastic, wonderful and a blast.
This is the best movie I have seen in years, not just sports movie, any movie.
Ford vs. Ferrari is dueling stories wrapped into one. The first story is of Ford Motor Company and Henry Ford II (also known as “the Deuce”) trying to legitimize their car company from the company his predecessor created. This story line leads to Ford attempting to purchase Ferrari who plays them and embarrasses the company and the Deuce personally. With this sting, Ford decides to defeat Ferrari on the race track, namely Le Mans, a 24 hour car race, the oldest of it’s kind.
In order to do this they enlist the help of the only American to win this race, Carroll Shelby. Shelby is played by Matt Damon who is fantastic, as expected. He plays the racing expert fighting against the corporate suits phenomenally. But it his relationship with his co-star that is the best part of the movie.
Race car driver, Ken Miles is played by Christian Bale. It is my opinion that Bale is the best actor of this generation. In this movie he is at the heights of his skills. No one ever thinks of Batman nor does Dick Cheney cross the screen. Bale, from the way he stands, his head lowered forward and his shoulders peaking up and a thick English accent, is Ken Miles.
The promotion for this movie was wrapped in humor, the movie itself doesn’t disappoint. Though it is an action based, sports movie everyone will be laughing all the way through. There are no cringe worthy scenes and no gratuitous sex. There is a healthy and lovely marriage relationship between Ken Miles and his wife, played excellently by Caitriona Balfe. There is the friend and coworker relationship of Miles and Shelby. But there is also a wonderful father-son relationship with Miles and his son Peter played by Noah Jupe.
Want a bad guy? This has a bad guy within the corporate world that everyone wants to lock away into a deserted room (spoilers?) and of course the foreign arrogant villain who must be beat by our main heroes.
This movie is what movies were originally made for. It is a story in the finest sense of the word. It tells us a story most viewers probably didn’t know. It tells of the human capacity for greatness and for standing up for what you know. It informs but it first and foremost entertains. The acting is phenomenal and the humor brightening.
If I thought the Academy Awards awarded the best movies I would say this movie would be nominated for multiple awards (Best Picture, Best Screenplay, Best Actor, Christian Bale and Matt Damon). But I don’t. This movie will do great at the box office and the decision makers don’t award popular movies anymore. They award movies that check off inter-sectional boxes. It’s a shame, because Bale deserves all the credit of his craft.
Sports fans will love this movie. It has all the ingredients needed for a good sports movie; big odds, lovable characters and a compelling ending. The great part of this movie is you can bring the non-sports fan to it and they will also enjoy it. It is highly entertaining.
It is rated PG-13, but I would have no issues letting my younger kids watch it. There is no sex neither is there a lot of bad language. The themes are appropriate for younger children to see though of course some of the nuances will be lost on them.
In other words, go see this movie! It’s everything you want in a movie.
A Sip of Sports 