Le Mans 66 on the surface tells the story of Ford’s attempt to beat Ferrari at Le Mans with the help of retired racer Carol Shelby (Matt Damon) but it isn’t really about that and is much more about British “journeyman” driver Ken Miles (Christian Bale).
It was a bit of an odd film in my opinion, while some people are singing its praises it didn’t fully work for me some of it was great while some of it really just grated.
It’s not an awful film by any stretch and has lots of things that it does right, but a whole lot it didn’t. Bizarrely and maybe the most confusing thing is many of the things that I enjoyed were also some of the things that drove me to distraction.
Firstly there are the performances, Damon and Bale are as you’d expect more than watchable with a strong and believable central relationship. Josh Lucas and Tracy Letts bring home the slimy Ford suites that constantly try to derail the pure racer enthusiasm of Bale and Damon. But then that is also the problem, Letts and to an even greater degree Remo Girone’s Enzo Ferrari are cartoonish villains the caricature corporate suite and untrustworthy foreigner.
Oh and then there is the accents, to a US audience maybe this plays differently but to a British ear those accents were such a distraction, while I got used to Bale’s on the whole as it made its way around the country, his wife (played by Caitriona Balfe), turned in a horribly unconvincing brummie accent, along the lines of Pol in Peaky Blinders and it grated on me from start to finish and of course there are the Dick Van Dykeesque moments I was expecting a “this car isn’t half quick and there’s no mistake Mary Poppins” to be uttered at any minute.
The heart of the film is the motor racing, which at times works brilliantly, maybe no better than when Miles races through the rain and the dark at Le Mans, it also perfectly captures his utter joy behind the wheel. There are also some real hold your breath moments as cars spin and contort in an array of accidents. But then there is also the continual use of sports action film tropes, the unconvincing commentary box and the family watching at home on TV “expositioning” away the race.
Lastly there is the length, it’s too long and could easily have lost half an hour but then the film never felt long, it did power on at a good pace and the story was intriguing enough to keep me hooked for the 2 1/2 hours.
In the end and while it maybe doesn’t sound like it, this was a film I enjoyed but with a few too many flaws
stopping it been great, but the story, the action, Damon and Bale give you enough to keep your foot down and heading onto the end.
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