Went to see Ford v Ferrari this evening. It is a Hollywood movie and they could not resist occasional hamming it up, but nonetheless is pretty faithful to the real story. I have to say Christian Bale and Matt Damon were brilliant. I first thought Matt Damon was a poor choice to cast as Carroll Shelby, but he overcame the physical differences and had me believing him after a few minutes. And Christian Bale couldn’t have been better.
I thought they did a poor job of depicting the racing, for a movie that cost $100 million to produce. Steve McQueen’s LeMans did a better job of capturing the reality of endurance racing, and it was a more serious piece of film (too bad it was not much of a story). If you could have had this cast and story with McQueen’s production, then you’d really have something. And of course some elements of the story were oversimplified, but you kind of had to do that or you’d have a six hour film.
Some of the supporting actors could have been a little better (Henry Ford, Commendatore Ferrari). Overall the movie would have benefited from a little less humor and a little more serious dramatic acting, but one must acknowledge the audience is broader than just race car guys. None of my criticism is meant to diminish the enjoyment of the film. I’m not sure the direction and cinematography are Oscar-worthy, but I believe the performances of Bale and Damon are. And the guy who played Leo Beebe performed his smarmy role to the hilt.