The movie “Ford v Ferrari.” released on Nov. 15, raced to the top spot in the box office, earning $31.5 million during its opening weekend.
Now that the film has been out for about three weeks, according to Box Office Mojo on Dec. 15, the gross worldwide total reached $184.6 million. However, that amount hasn’t been increasing in comparison to other movies in theaters right now. In my opinion, the movie has been overshadowed by “Frozen 2,” which reached $127 million during its opening weekend on Nov. 22.
Nevertheless, I highly recommend the movie, which is based on a true story.
One of the main characters, Carroll Shelby, played by Matt Damon, was a race car driver that faced heart problems that conflicted with his career. This forces him to retire to car sales and managing race car drivers.
One of the drivers he manages is Ken Miles, played by Christian Bale, who is an English World War II veteran who became a race car driver when he returned home. I thought these two actors portrayed these two characters’ personalities very well. I especially enjoyed the hotheaded nature of Miles, which Bale played with an amusing cheeky attitude.
At the beginning of the movie, we see Henry Ford II, played by Tracy Letts, dissatisfied with how things are at his car company. In his quest to make the company better, he eventually gets the idea to try and make a deal with Ferrari, who at the time had the best race cars.
The deal doesn’t go through though, so Ford asks Shelby to build him a race car that can beat Ferrari in Le Mans, a 24-hour race that tests the endurance and efficiency of the race cars. To drive the cars, Shelby wants Miles in the driver’s seat but the Ford company isn’t too excited about this.
The rest of the movie follows the two men trying to create a car that will last the full 24 hours without mechanical failure, followed by the race.
If you love the thrill of watching car races, then this is the movie for you. The movie depicts realistic car crashes including blown gaskets during the races. While watching this movie, I felt like I was right there on the track.
For me, I grew up watching Disney Pixar movie classics such as “Cars.” Seeing “Ford v Ferrari” brought back that nostalgic feeling of watching cars zooming around the race track.
Overall, I didn’t have anything to complain about the movie as a whole.
The one thing that disappointed me, though, was going into the movie and knowing nothing about the story behind it, with the title giving me a false impression. “Ford v Ferrari” gives the impression that the movie will be a rivalry between the two companies. While the big picture is about that, the main point of the movie is Ken Miles and his achievements.
Also, I think the title is turning people off from watching it. If I hadn’t seen the reviews which enticed me to go and see it, I would have no interest in seeing a movie about race cars.
Even though the title might have had some downsides, I really enjoyed watching this unique story, and I think it gave Ken Miles the credit he deserves.
