Being a hardcore fan of Christian Bale, I rarely miss any of his movies. But his portrayal of the legendary racer and racing car developer Ken ‘Bulldog’ Miles in ‘Ford vs Ferrari’ has simply swept me off my feet. This is a brilliant depiction of the early days rivalry between the car giants Ford and Ferrari where corporate egos of Henry Ford II and Enzo Ferrari changed the complexion of the motorcar racing in the days to come. Amidst such hard hitting and nail biting corporate egos, what stand tall are the personal ethos, values and camaraderie of the great racers Caroll Shelby and Ken Miles and their everlasting bonding and love and trust for each other and how the machines they rode redefined the very word ‘Excellence’ and showed the world that greatness originates from not coming first in a race or grabbing a trophy, but from sheer passion for excellence and value addition to life. Bale as the maverick Miles or Matt Damon as his trustworthy friend and mentor Caroll Shelby deliver one of the finest performances of their illustrious careers. Its so good to get back the great Matt Damon in his pristine form after a prolonged hiatus. His restrained emotions and Bale’s over the top passion are the two unmatched gems of this brilliant treasure trove. If you want to be entertained for 140 minutes without a single moment of boredom or experience adrenaline rush throughout, ‘Ford vs Ferrari’ is a must watch for you. One of the finest works on real life motivation, I would strongly recommend this biopic to everyone who think beyond the parochial feelings of rat race or monetary success. Certainly it is going to bag many awards in the coming months. One of the finest Hollywood movies in the past decade. Miss it at your own risk. P. S- I am not an F1 freak, yet I loved every frame of it. Such is the power of this movie…
The review was written in October, 2019.You can watch it on Netflix.