Ferrari – A Solid Return For Michael Mann

Ferrari is Michael Mann’s first film in nearly a decade since 2015’s highly underrated techno-thriller Blackhat. The film sees Mann stepping back into the biopic genre this time centering around Italian motor racing driver and entrepreneur Enzo Ferrari. Set in the summer of 1957, ex-race car driver turned entrepreneur Enzo Ferrari (Driver) is in a crisis. The company that he and his wife Laura (Cruz) built from nothing 10-years earlier is facing bankruptcy and their marriage on the rocks as they mourn for the loss of their one son and struggle to acknowledge Enzo’s other child with a woman named Lina Lardi (Woodley). With no other option, Ferrari pushes himself and his drivers to the edge as they launch into the Mille Miglia, a treacherous 1,000-mile race across Italy. Ferrari is another rock-solid biopic from Michael Mann even if it never quite reaches the same heights as his best work.

The film smartly decides to focus on and center around a crucial summer in Enzo Ferrari’s life instead of trying to show his entire life from his birth all the way to his death. This gives the story focus while still providing audiences a great understanding of who he was as a person and businessman. It also still finds time to show key events from Ferrari’s past in a very unique flashback structure. As a biopic, it’s pretty engaging and finds a good balance of showing his professional and personal life with the poignant family drama being easily the films strongest component. Meanwhile, the film’s racing sequences are absolutely thrilling and beyond immersive to watch, showing that Mann hasn’t lost any of his touch behind the camera.

Driver is obviously great as Enzo Ferrari and thankfully his performance isn’t nearly as showy or over the top as the trailers make it out to be. He nails both the quieter and more explosive sides of the character without going too far or crossing the line into parody. He also nails the Italian accent and thankfully it never once becomes distracting. As great as Driver is in the titular role, it’s Cruz who undeniably gives the best performance in the entire film as Laura Ferrari. She’s insanely good in such a devastating and layered role that truly sneaks up on audiences in the end. It’s a crowded year but she absolutely deserves to be in the Best Supporting Actress lineup, as she delivers some her best work in years. Woodley is fine despite feeling a little miscast in a role that will have most spending a good chunk of her screen time wondering if she is supposed to have an Italian accent or not.

As solid of a biopic as this is, it’s far from perfect and there are a few different factors that hold it back from reaching greatness. Firstly, the film feels way longer than it actually is despite only being a little over 2-hours long while its pacing can occasionally drag quite a bit. Secondly, its crash sequences aren’t nearly as effective or as hard-hitting as they are meant to be (save for the big one which the aftermath is admittedly is haunting and shocking) due to distracting effects and the way Mann decided to film them. While a mostly engaging biopic, it could never quite grab audiences or hook them into the story as much as one would hope it would.

While Ferrari isn’t as top tier Michael Mann as some have suggested, it is still a fine film from him and one about on par with everything else he’s done the past few decades since Collateral. In terms of quality, this would probably sit right beside something like Ridley Scott’s Napoleon from last month. Though both are more than worth seeing, they are arguably not quite the knockout audiences would normally expect from Ridley Scott and Michael Mann and the real-life subjects of their respective films. That being said, if one happens to have some free time over the holidays, this one is definitely worth a recommendation.

still courtesy of Elevation Pictures

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Connor Carey

www.connorsmoviereviews.com/