Truth in 24 II: Every Second Counts

Jason Statham is still the narrator and it's still about Audi. Unfortunately Tom Kristensen is not the main element of the doc which is a huge step down. We see younger and less iconic racers which is not as historical or cool, but this is still way more fun to watch. They use the right music in big moments and they make sure to focus on the battles on the track. The first one was just about the team. So we saw a car driving down the road and the men in the garage making statements about their jobs. Jason Statham was also focused on the race this time around instead of just delivering single statements. Basically, this time around it's about the show on the track not just about the team. So all narrator comments, interviews, and comments are about what we see on the track in that moment and it all comes together nicely. As I already said, the first one was just about how they felt so they would be interviewed about how tired they were, how many fans they have, who did what job, how they felt about winning. Just rambling about random stuff unrelated to anything we saw and other teams were largely ignored on the track so we just saw cars driving. It was a dull watch. This time around every time the Audi passes another car they make a huge spectacle out of it and ignore small random statements about other stuff. They also use talking heads to make points which is amazing. In the first one you kinda just saw random statements on the spot delivered lazily and fast without thought so it was a confusing mess. Here it's all carefully planned and filmed.

The same doc set in 2013 with Tom Kristensen's last win would have been AMAZING. That way we would get the best of both worlds. The more historical season and the better doc format. But I'm not sure there is one? I know nothing about Le Mans. Honestly the worst thing about this is that it's not really a season I'm that interested in as an outsider. Everything else worked really damn well. But of course it's not quite the best racing stuff around. Light Speed (2020) for example is way better. It's some of the most fun stuff to watch yet it's not historical in any way. Just college students racing each other. Yet the format with a host and small interviews was amazing and extremely fun. You felt like you met real people not a spectacle.

Most importantly, don't judge this movie by it's description, it's a lot more than an Audi documentary about how they tried to win some race. I fully understand how this movie can and possibly is perceived as boring without even watching it by most people, but I beg you to give it a chance.

Even if this is the first time you hear about 24 Hours of Le Mans, I guarantee the story will draw you in. It's not about a fast cars going around. 24 Hours of Le Mans is much more than that. You will be quickly introduced to just how much it takes to endure a 24 hour race with average speeds of 260km/h (160mp/h). It's all very personal, and even if you never heard the names of people it's about, you will very quickly start to feel with them and even understand the pressure they have to withstand to succeed, whether it's one of the drivers or members of the crew pit.

The rivalry between Audi and Peugeot was nothing but epic in 2011, and it's a very lucky coincidence that Audi decided to film this documentary that year. The 2011 Le Mans was so epic and the result so unpredictable, that it's almost unbelievable it really happened, and it's not a work of fiction.

I could go on and on about this movie, and how much deeper it is than it might seem at the first glance. All I'm going to say is, give it a chance, if you turn it off after half an hour, no one will blame you, but I honestly doubt you will.