"Ford v. Ferrari" and "Bombshell"

Still getting through the backlog of Oscar hopefuls.

James Mangold's "Ford v. Ferrari," released in some markets as "Le Mans '66," is an old fashioned sports film with a slightly unconventional narrative. It's about two underdogs, car designer Carroll Shelby (Matt Damon) and driver Ken Miles (Christian Bale), joining forces to help Henry Ford II (Tracy Letts), head of auto giant Ford, compete in the notorious Le Mans sportscar race against his rival, Enzo Ferrari (Remo Girone), founder of Ferrari.

The major antagonist of the film isn't Ferrari, though, but the corporate hierarchy of Ford, which stifles creativity and innovation. It's the asshole executive Leo Beebe (Josh Lucas), who is constantly getting in the way and finding new ways to undermine Miles and Shelby's efforts. Being able to compete in Le Mans first involves a lot of politicking, negotiation, and outright manipulation, especially when it comes to putting loose cannon Miles behind the wheel. Once the movie gets to Le Mans, it's a more typical, by-the-numbers sports movie, executed beautifully. On a technical level, it is everything you want in a racing picture - lovingly shot and edited, wonderfully paced, and very visceral. You have strong characters you want to root for, and I like that the story has elements of a biopic for Shelby and Miles, without actually being a biopic.

The performances are excellent all around. I like Christian Bale here better than I've liked most of his recent work. He's playing another walking disaster with a lot of quirks, but he's a lot more genial about it here than in films like "The Fighter." Damon is solid as the more pragmatic Shelby, and shines in the behind-the-scenes clashes. It's easy to see why the pair were chosen as the focus of the film, as they're far more sympathetic than the title characters and clearly deserving of the spotlight. However, focusing the film so exclusively on the Ford side of the fight limits the film's scope. I could have used a little more context about the racing world and Le Mans itself. And while "Ford v. Ferrari" is a very well-made, engaging entry into the genre, it doesn't quite have the verve or the artistry to put it up there with the racing movie greats, like "Rush" and "Senna."

On to "Bombshell," the doggedly myopic dramatization of Fox News impresario Roger Ailes' downfall due to sexual misconduct allegations. Director Jay Roach's approach here is to largely ignore the right wing politics of Fox News' content, and focus on the day-to-day operations of the organization and the relationships of the major players - Ailes (John LIthgow), Megyn Kelly (Charlize Theron), Gretchen Carlson (Nicole Kidman), and a composite character named Kayla (Margot Robbie). All the performances are great, the scandal unfolds in an engrossing fashion, and clearly there was a lot of care put into the portrayals of the many, many familiar faces involved.

However, it is very strange to be watching a movie about major figures at Fox News in a narrative that is so classically the sort of female empowerment booster than conservatives usually raise eyebrows at.
It's telling that Kelly and Carlsen are positioned as sympathetic because they are shown to go against Fox's usual narratives. Kelly ignites a firestorm for asking then-candidate Donald Trump about his behavior towards women. Carlson lands in hot water for favoring sensible gun control on air. No matter how often the characters are made to protest that they aren't feminist, you can tell that the filmmakers have other ideas. What's disappointing is that though great efforts are made to address the toxic environment of the Fox newsroom, nobody involved is brave enough to really confront the protagonists' own hypocrisies that keep cropping up.

So, I can admire Gretchen Carlson's legal tactics, and respect Megyn Kelly's guts for speaking out, and sympathize with the ambitious Kayla. However, I couldn't bring myself to root for them, because "Bombshell" never feels entirely honest in its portrayals of a set of very morally complicated people. If you take the film at face value, it's good for some general female empowerment vibes and a few jabs at the corporate culture of Fox News. However, dig past the surface and the gaps an omissions appear immediately. I came away very dissatisfied with it.

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