Michael Mann’s fast-paced character study stalls in it’s finale
Michael Mann has returned to cinemas! No, not in a crime drama that pits the two best actors of the last fifty years against one another (1995’s Heat, if you’re still following). This time the director has taken an excerpt from the life of Enzo Ferrari. Yes, that one. The Italian car racer and builder who was hell-bent in the 1950s on being a leader in the auto industry.
In the driver seat for Ferrari is Adam Driver in the title role. He shines brightly, as Driver always seems to. But it could be argued that he is a bit of a miscast.
Like most of Michael Mann’s films, you are sucked into the world of it all. Mann paints a picture of 1957 Italy through a day in the life of the complex leader known as Enzo Ferrari (Adam Driver). Within the first twenty minutes, we get to know Enzo’s story as he wakes up next to a woman we perceive as his wife, Lina (Shailene Woodley). He puts a blanket over a little boy who is still sleeping.
It turns out that that wasn’t his wife, but his mistress and the love child he had with her. His wife is a disgruntled woman, and his business partner, Laura (Penelope Cruz). But we soon learn about the child they lost and the toll it may have taken on them as a couple.
The world of Ferrari feels competitive as Enzo is on the verge of bankruptcy, going toe-to-toe with Maserati for European race car superiority. All of that culminates in the movie’s final act. The balancing act of both Ferrari’s personal life and his industry he became an icon in works in the film’s first hour but starts to get clunky in the second hour.
Cruz’s performance has a lot of comedy, adding to her trauma, oddly. The standout line of “I want my gun back” will give you a chuckle but also remind you of the grief she has and how she lashes out at her husband.
It’s hard to determine if Adam Driver is miscast in this film. His mannerisms and tone of Italian dialect don’t feel like a gimmick. Enzo Ferrari is a stern man who hardly smiles in the film. Driver can do that well, but there are some mechanics in his delivery that don’t drive the narrative forward.
Some of that may be in the script as well. Still, Driver is doing what he can to throw himself into this role. His hair color is a spot-on match to Ferrari, and his wardrobe of high-waisted pants makes you lose sight of him from time to time in the role.
Ferrari feels like a loose sequel to the Oscar-nominated Ford V. Ferrari from a few years ago. A film in which Michael Mann served as an executive producer. However, Ferrari doesn’t seem to have an advantage over the other in terms of critical praise. A lot of things do work in Ferrari, but not enough to make it memorable.
It stalls a bit in what is supposed to be a thrilling third act. You do get a sense of the man that the automotive tycoon was, so stay in the theater for that. But the stakes on whether he can progress forward lose a lot of power as the film comes to a close.
Read More: Ferrari Ending Explained
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Verdict - 6/10
6/10