From the comic chase in the silent film era to "Fast and Passion", need for speed has always been one of the themes that best reflects the "moving image" characteristics of movies. Focusing on the 1966 Le Mans Endurance Race, "Speed Car King" is the latest player in this category. As the title suggests, it is full of the ultimate restoration of speed and the fine description of the car building process. The factory assembly line in Detroit and the workshop in Modena, Le Mans night misty racetrack and country roads, wrenches and steering wheels, acceleration, cornering, crashing and burning, "Speed Car King" uses a steady narrative and dazzling editing to capture the audience Bring the first perspective behind the windshield, drill into the chassis of the car and listen to the roar of the engine.
But you don't need to be a racing enthusiast, or even understand cars, to get a movie experience that is rare in Hollywood today. The Chinese translation of "Speedy Car King", which is suspected of borrowing from "Speedy Wind", may not be completely accurate. This film is not a visual spectacle for speed advocates. It is not just a competitive movie with adrenaline as the leading protagonist. It is also a character-first biopic, a period movie with rich details, and a drama full of humor and transition.
The English film title Ford V. Ferrari, Ford vs. Ferrari, although there is no cleverness, but it may be more suitable for understanding the film: "The Speed Car King" is a film about confrontation and compromise. This kind of confrontation is not just a confrontation between two drivers and two cars on the Le Mans circuit. It is more about the conception of the two car giants, the game between the business world and idealism, pure and innocent. The opposition between purity, dignity and compromise.
Ford v. Ferrari: the car king or the advertising madman
The story of the film is set against the background of the baby boom in the 1960s after World War II. The young generation of Americans who are pursuing novelty and flaunting individuality no longer like the domestic Ford produced by assembly lines. The sports car brand with more "craftsmanship" from a foreign country looks cooler and continuous. Ferrari, which won the Le Mans endurance race, has become synonymous with speed and adventurous spirit. In the face of declining sales, Ford’s marketing genius Lee boldly proposed that Ford develop a sports car product line and acquire Ferrari, which is in financial crisis, and Lee’s brainstorming move has become the source of the entire Ford Ferrari battle. After experiencing embarrassing negotiations with language barriers and restlessness, Lee brought back news for the boss that they had been teased by Ferrari, and a fatal irony: "You are not Henry Ford, you are just Henry Ford II."
"Dignity" is an important topic that constantly appears in "The King of Speed Cars", and using dignity as the direct fuse of the war is a very clever dramatic treatment. Hearing his competitors mocking his obesity and ridiculing the ugliness of Ford's factory, Ford II gave a mocking expression of disdain, but the last sentence of irony that challenged dignity changed his look and directly announced that Le Mans had turned to Ferrari. To go to war, defeat Ferrari with a sports car made by Ford. To be precise, his term here is not to defeat, but to bury. Henry Ford II, the second ancestor who inherited the name of the founder's grandfather Henry Ford, and his lack of self-confidence in his identity and the weight he bears, have also been set up in a plentiful way, letting the audience feel the balance of Ford V Ferrari Tilt quietly.
One of the most interesting aspects of "The King of Speed Cars" is that during the course of the story, the images of the two companies in the title, Ford and Ferrari, have been constantly changing and swaying. The Ferrari side was portrayed as a cunning villain at the beginning. It seems that the seductive red sports car in their workshop is just a meaningless gesture. When the Le Mans started, the Ferrari driver was like a silent villain with a sneer, and every time the old Ferrari man in the stands was anxious and frustrated, every time the protagonist Carroll made the audience feel comfortable.
Ford II in the first and middle part of the film is the opposite. The audience will support his willingness to revenge after his dignity is damaged. In addition, he appears to have a great overall situation and business acumen, and he respects the protagonist team. The cry after a hurricane is the funniest part of the film, and it also makes this car giant look a little cute. However, this unexpected comedy passage is paving the way for Henry Ford's estrangement from speed and driving, and paving the way for the fact that Ford doesn't understand racing at all.
Ford executive Leo became a villain for the boss before the protagonists reached the Le Mans finish line, using the bureaucracy in the conference room to create obstacles for the protagonists again and again. But when the end arrives, the audience will gradually see that there will never be only one villain that tarnishes the purity of speed. All sportsmanship, competitive ethics, and all romantic fantasies about speed are nothing but the end in the business world. Promotional materials and marketing words that will be converted into sales.
So when our driver became a victim of the brand image, Henry Ford became a capitalist who left the team and went to dinner in a helicopter. Instead, he was an old Ferrari man who had been screaming in Italian and bowed his head in tribute to Ken.
Carroll Shelby & Ken Miles: The ultimate meaning of speed
Under the headlines of Ford and Ferrari, the two true protagonists of this film are undoubtedly the racing designer Carroll Shelby played by Matt Damon, and the driver Ken Miles played by Christian Bale. Unlike many other sports genres that focus on the competitive relationship between players and opponents, "Speed Car King" focuses on this pair of teammates who share mutual understanding and achievement. This treatment also shows that "Speed Car King" "Different interpretations of competition and winning or losing, confrontation and compromise.
The film opens with a reminiscence of Carroll's race at Le Mans. The blurred night fog of the Le Mans circuit suddenly turned into the leisurely sunshine of Los Angeles. Carroll, the first American racer to win Le Mans, had to release it due to a heart problem. Turn on the steering wheel and retreat behind the scenes. But Carroll is obviously unwilling. His unabated fascination with speed can be seen from the verse he quoted at the beginning: "When the engine speed reaches 7000, everything will pass."
The identity of a former racer and his loyalty to the racing career have become the engine that drives Carroll's actions throughout the film. This Texas guy, who always chews gum and dismisses it, will tirelessly mediate between the mall and the stadium. Going all over, make sure that there is a real driver in his carefully built GT40.
The purest driver in Carroll's heart is the legendary Ken Miles, who is not easy to get along with. This British man with a sloppy mouth and a mean face turned into another person behind the steering wheel. The word he said the most was push , which broke through the car in laps of racing at the risk of scrapping. The limit has also pushed forward the limits of his own body and spirit time and time again.
Damon and Bell, their performances in this film are phenomenal. Just like the relationship between the two roles, the two actor-level actors did not have the slightest tendency to seize the screen time, or the tendency to “play”, but some were just relaxed and natural with no trace of performance. Damon has completely transformed himself into the leader of the watch on the side of the track, with restrained and delicate emotions; while Bell, the rubber-like weight control ability can only be said to be the lowest level in the praise of his professionalism. The superb Birmingham accent in "The King of Cars" and the treatment of the transformation of the characters in different states prove that Bell has long been one of the best male actors in the contemporary era. No one will not love the Ken portrayed by Bell, even if this character has no intention of pleasing anyone at all.
Most viewers probably don't know much about the final win or loss of the 66 Le Mans, and the genre, mode and story direction of "Speed King" seems to be the ultimate suspense of the final outcome of this race. But when the three Fords finally cross the finish line, we may find ourselves deceived: "The Speed Car King" is not about victory, its ultimate theme is compromise.
Carroll compromised on his physical condition and started abstaining from taking medicine after he retired from the game; and when he got the opportunity provided by Ford to lead the team back to the track, even if he exhausted his efforts to fight in all kinds of ways, in the end he had to take the capital. And put down dignity in front of power.
Ken seems to be the incarnation of purity and freedom, but he still has financial pressure and family responsibilities before entering the GT40 cabin. After becoming a Ford driver, his first major compromise occurred when Ford executives banned him from attending the Le Mans race the previous year. The hot-tempered Ken unexpectedly did not leave. He got under the car in the empty garage, listened to the latest news of his teammates in Le Mans from the radio, and made serious comments.
It is not the steering wheel drivers who really control those cool cars. The sponsors crowded in the stands are really stepping on the accelerator and the brakes to control these toys that they have smashed heavily. Ken can't afford to lose this opportunity, so he can only lie in the shadow cast by the sports car and continue to play this wrestling game in which he has no right to speak.
Ken made a more significant compromise before the finish line of the Le Mans circuit. The compromise this time is a real compromise, slowing down, slowing down, and surrendering control of the speed. Of course, there must be many very different interpretations of Ken's final decision, and I tend to place it in a previous conversation between Ken and his son. Ken's several compromises may be a choice he made to preserve his chance as a racer. This kind of compromise is an idealistic helplessness, but perhaps for Ken, it is more transparency and relief after understanding the meaning of speed.
After breaking his personal record time and time again, and pushing the car to the physical limit time and time again, Ken has widened the boundary of his speed. For Ken, the track does not point to the end in a straight line. His real track is a lap after lap, never stopping. So Ken doesn't need to win, he only needs to hold the steering wheel, because he won't stop after that.
This may be the most different place between "Speed Car King" and other genres. "I don't care about the result, I only care about the process." Although it seems to be just a chicken soup to comfort the loser, it is the absolutely correct guide to action for the true pure competitor. Perhaps the competitor's statement is not accurate enough here, because there was no other opponent in Ken's final driving, he was the only one, driving towards a fire in the wilderness.
As a film adapted from real people, under the framework of reality, "Speed Car King" has been adapted to the maximum extent. From the difference between reality and the movie, we may be able to see the focus of the creators’ expressions: In reality, Enzo Ferrari not only did not greet Ken at the end of the race, he did not even attend the 66 Le Mans race at all; and Ford The company, in fact, did not set many obstacles for Ken. Ken was sent to play in Le Mans in 65 years. The shaping of these two companies out of reality, on the one hand, has enriched the plot of "Speed Car King", on the other hand, it may also be that the creators themselves stand in line and criticize the industry monopolists from the perspective of the so-called "purities". purely. Whether such a treatment is biased may have to be determined by Ford, Ferrari and their consumers.
As a biopic of real characters, "Speed Car King" inevitably exaggerates the leadership and importance of the two protagonists, obscuring or completely obliterating the other drivers and engineers in the team. In real history, Carroll and Ken are not the biggest contributors to the Ford GT40, but in order to facilitate the narrative and the establishment of characters, "Speed Car King" directly recorded this legendary model under the names of the two.
But this is not to criticize "The King of Speed Cars". There is a huge gap between the fictional work and the real world. The creators also use limited information and old TV pictures to fill in with their own attitudes and interpretations. Gaps in the story. In addition to the fun of character creation and a slightly subversive interpretation of genre narratives, another highlight of "Speed Car King", as a sports film and biopic, lies in the display of Ken's family.
In the pursuit of the extreme, his relatives are no longer a worrying obstacle next to the TV. On the contrary, Ken's family stands on the opposite side of the stereotype and breaks away from the functional role. His wife Mollie is a soul mate who is absolutely commensurate with Ken. He drives the car faster than him. When he sees two big boys fighting, he will hold a garden chair and open a magazine and sit aside. Ken’s son Peter, He is Ken's biggest admirer, but he will be puzzled and disappointed when Ken makes compromises, and finally he really understands his father.
Although this article focuses on the layman’s point of view, discussing the expressions and narratives of "Speed Car King" outside the arena, this does not mean that the "Speed Car King" is not good-looking. From Willow Springs, to Daytona, and finally to Le Mans, the three races in "Speed King" and the countless tests between the races all rely on realistic photography, sound effects and editing to create a physiological Feel the sense of speed. You don’t even need 3D, the kind of immersive high-speed experience in the amusement park, "Speed Car King" has done it.
"Speed Car King" is set in the 1960s, but apart from the era setting, the whole movie, from the choice of theme to the narrative technique, reveals a solid and steady retro feeling that does not belong to the current era. This weekend when the Disney+ streaming platform was launched, when most media people were pessimistic about the box office of "Speed Car King", this film, which seemed outdated in the era of streaming media and "Das Mickey", unexpectedly went to the box office in the first week of its opening. The big explosion will be "buried" as the relaunch of the film series "The Charlie's Girl". "Speed King" is far from being a masterpiece, but it can be a boost to classicist film people, and once again proves that "need for speed" will never be out of date in the theater.
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