2023 brought with it a new breed of biopic. Emotionally distant, flat, and just engaging enough to warrant a viewing, both Oppenheimer and this movie suffer from the same issues. I say issues but I think the more appropriate word is traits. Mostly because all of this makes them relatively easy movies to watch. Ferrari is a biopic offering a snapshot of Enzo Ferrari’s life along with some pretty exciting race scenes. We will be focusing on just a few weeks of his life but I think this will be enough to learn more about Enzo and his family. We find him still grieving for his son, who passed away recently.
His wife is not happy in their marriage as Enzo spends his nights in the bed of his mistress. On the business front, things are not looking good. They’re not making enough cars to be profitable and to boost sales Enzo decides that his team must win the dangerous Mille Miglia race. The director is none other than Michael Mann, who’s finally back at it after an eight-year hiatus. To be honest, 2015’s Blackhat is not that good of a movie. On the other hand, Thief, Manhunter, Heat, and Collateral are veritable masterpieces. Mann has been trying to make a movie about Ferrari for more than 30 years.
So, I found it quite surprising that he settled on such an uninspired script. A script that’s based on a non-fiction novel Enzo Ferrari: The Man, the Cars, the Races, the Machine. The excellent cast did what they could with it. Adam Driver was a great choice for the lead role along with Penelope Cruz. Featuring a budget of almost $100 million, Ferrari looks great. The sets were authentic and the races fucking amazing. You could see just how much safety wasn’t an issue back then. And how much we improved it since then. Mann wanted to put you in the driver’s seat and he accomplished that.
Apart from all the excitement, we’ll also have the pleasure of seeing all these vintage racing cars in action. Considering all of this, I think I know what movie you’re thinking of right now. It’s the 2019 Ford vs Ferrari starring Christian Bale and Matt Damon. To make things even more interesting, Bale almost ended up starring in Ferrari before he had to drop out because of scheduling conflicts. Ford vs Ferrari takes place during the early sixties while Ferrari takes place in the late fifties. You can actually watch these two movies back to back.
And I recommend you start with the one we’re talking about today. It’s much more timid compared to its loud and pompous counterpart. You can see that Mann was trying to use the family drama to engage the viewers before dazzling them with those adrenaline-fueled racing scenes. The end result is a watchable movie that you’re going to forget all about in a couple of days. I mean, I’m struggling to find something to talk about here and I watched the movie literally last night. So, I won’t bother you too much with this one. I just want to recommend you two more movies and that’s going to be it.
The first one is Neill Blomkamp’s Gran Turismo based on an incredible true story and featuring excellent racing scenes. The second one is Driven, a movie about John DeLorean, a man who made one of the most recognizable cars on the planet. It’s more of a crime comedy than anything else and it will leave you in a good mood.
Director: Michael Mann
Writers: Troy Kennedy Martin, Brock Yates
Cast: Adam Driver, Penélope Cruz, Shailene Woodley, Gabriel Leone, Derek Hill, Patrick Dempsey
Fun Facts: Patrick Dempsey, who bleached his hair for this movie, is race car driver in real life. He’s the owner of Dempsey Racing and has competed in one of the most popular racing events in the world, 24 hours of Le Mans.
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IMDb Link: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt3758542/
