'Le Mans '66' (12A)

****

Tired of Ferrari's dominance at Le Mans, Henry Ford II challenged Carroll Shelby to build a car that would beat the Italian team. But Shelby's trust in renegade driver Ken Miles put him at odds with the corporate powers that be.

When was the last time you watched a film that you simply enjoyed? That was entertaining, emotionally engaging and kept you entirely in the moment for the entire runtime? Honestly, I'm struggling to remember a film that did all three and put a grin on my face in the same way that Le Mans '66 (in some territories the film's been released as Ford v Ferrari) did. Perhaps it's because director James Mangold, who so successfully made Logan into the Thinking Man's superhero film, doesn't attempt to recreate the wheel here (no pun intended) but simply lets the true story do the work: there's no jumping around in different time frames, no jarring artistic choices to be found. Instead, Mangold deftly drives the film from A to B, successfully ticking off believable character development, humour and pathos as he goes. The result is a film that's undeniably enjoyable, and wonderfully 'old fashioned'.

Let's turn to our two central characters, who ultimately guide the film and make it the emotional rollercoaster it is: Carroll Shelby (a gum-chewing, Stetson-wearing Matt Damon) and Ken Miles (Christian Bale, whose accent takes a comprehensive tour of the world's English-speaking countries). Thanks to a fast-paced and witty script (three screenwriters take the credit) and the obvious chemistry between Damon and Bale, the relationship between these two men feels wholly believable and rarely contrived, resulting in a story that's a much about them as it is the car and the impending Le Mans showdown. The 'chalk and cheese' dynamic is played excellently and never overdone, with moments of genuine emotion and laugh-out-loud humour deftly interwoven throughout. Credit should also be paid to the portrayal of Mollie Miles (Ken's wife, played by Caitriona Balfe). Yes, there are moments were she's depicted watching the TV with tears in her eyes, the angel in the house, but she's also fully fleshed into her own independent character and far much more than simply the 'wife and mother' figure: we grow to see that the relationship between Ken and Mollie is just as important as that of Ken and Shelby, thanks to a couple of particularly touching scenes.

Is this a film for people who don't identify as petrol heads? I would argue that it is. Although I'm somewhat interested in cars, I would never profess to be an expert in them, and yet I found myself really swept along with the race scenes and the mechanics of the car's construction. The racing sequences are well edited and engaging, switching from shots of tactical gear-shifting to Shelby anxiously chomping gum on the sidelines, with Marco Beltrami and Buck Sanders' score peppering the action with nail-biting chords. Dare I say that, although it appears to be about motor racing, it's actually not about that at all? For me, it was much more about the importance of human collaboration in the face of something that seemed impossible - and if that doesn't warm the cockles of your heart and put a smile on your face, what will?

It's quite refreshing to get a 'bricks and mortar' movie every now and again - an A to B story that utilises a good script, solid direction and an excellent cast instead of more 'artistic' flourishes. Yes, perhaps it does play upon tried-and-tested cliches every once in a while, but for pure, old fashioned enjoyment, you'd struggle to find something that ticks all the boxes like Le Mans '66.