Ferrari

For a film helmed by Michael Mann and starring Adam Driver and Penelope Cruz, I was expecting a lot more from this.

By the end, I didn't feel like I was much closer to Enzo Ferrari or his wife. I didn't come away with much more of an understanding or appreciation of the racing element. I didn't feel overly thrilled or engaged.

This all sounds a bit negative, but that's not to say there aren't positives to this film. Adam Driver and Penelope Cruz are really strong, even if they don't peel back the layers of the characters enough for me. However this is more of a criticism of the script than the performances. The racing scenes are well executed although could be a little more exciting and perhaps even shot a little better. Speaking of the direction, it is fine but I think there was potential to really get creative and design some thrilling set pieces. It probably didn't help that the pacing of this film was totally off, feeling much longer than it actually is, which reduced the impact of some of these scenes.

Overall I think this is a film of what could have been. There's an interesting story and an interesting man at the heart of all of this, but it just wasn't teased out enough.

Definitely NOT a car movie and definitely NOT a gripping dramatic portrayal either. It's not a flop alright, but it is an awkward misfire for sure.

The bad: Director Michael Mann is famous for several terrific action thrillers in the past (HEAT), but he has never excelled at making a true drama (on the contrary) and this is the exact problem with this movie, because it is severely LACKING in true drama.

It's lackluster, uneventful and simply going through the motions. Almost the entire storyline is about money problems for producing racecars and lots of wife / lover quarrels / issues. What's suppose to be exciting about that?!

Not even the car races (the few that were featured) were thrilling to watch. Those races didnt look bad for sure, but they werent exhilirating either. Quite average to be honest. Was this a car movie? NOPE it was NOT.

What is it then? This story is entirely focussed on the CHARACTER of Mister Ferrari, played by Adam Driver. I really value this actor's performance in many other great movies, he's definitely a great actor, but he didnt nail it this time. And I am being really polite now...

BEWARE: use subtitles because director Michael Mann decided to let all the ITALIAN characters speak in almost unrecognizable English with a terrible accent. THAT was THE most annoying thing, that really PUT ME OFF entirely. What jibberish accents.

Not a total flop, but an awkward misfire of a drama for sure...

As I saw on a YouTube video, when you are told you are going to watch a movie about Enzo Ferrari, you might think it will explain where did his car obsession come from, what happened to him after his son died, what was his rivalry with Maserati about, how did he manage to make such luxurious and aspirational cars. Sadly, none of these topics are addressed in this movie.

Although he was an interesting businessman, we seldom see anything behind his success. The movie only offers us some soap opera drama.

The acting is bland and the plot line lacks development. I was expecting so much more from this and I got white disappointed.

Watched this and thought to myself wonder what budget was used, after finding out it cost 96 million I have to question where all the money went. The storyline drags and is very boring, some of the car scenes look terrible and most of the acting is very average.

It is very weird to make a movie about Enzo and only include a tiny piece of his life, there was a lot more to this man than one race and a love child. So much more in his life that would have made sense to make a movie about.

I really question sometimes movie studios and who makes the decisions on what to spend money on. In particular the car accident scenes are woeful, $96 mil and this is what they came up with? Pretty sure if you gave me that much I could make a better movie.

This felt sadly dreadful to me, for the most part. Ferrari is a film where it feels like very few people involved cared about what they were making. On paper, the idea to focus on one brief period of time was a good one, rather than trying to capture a single figure's life story. Adam Driver is probably my favorite actor who's risen to prominence since 2010, and Michael Mann's a filmmaker whose work I generally enjoy. The idea of them teaming up to make a movie sounded promising, but the execution here was just lifeless and strangely amateur.

Much of the film's shot with a floaty, aimless camera that frames things strangely in an attempt to look unique, or because of simple incompetence; the way it sometimes shakes and drifts or zooms in and out seemingly by accident. The fact some scenes abruptly end and other scenes just linger for what feels like forever. I hated the way this looked and felt. I have no idea what Mann's going for here, or if he's simply lost his touch as a filmmaker.

Actors look either confused or bored - sometimes both - for the entire film. I have no idea what I'm supposed to care about when it comes to Enzo Ferrari as a figure. Maybe Adam Driver captured his essence well, but if so, his essence is boring and I don't know why they made a film about him. There's no real pacing or engaging build in the narrative, actors mumble their lines, and the dialogue I could make out tended to sound weirdly uninspired. Penelope Cruz felt like she was done particularly dirty by the lackluster material she was given to work with. It just felt like one boring scene after one boring scene after another boring scene.

The final act is watchable and saves the film from being an outright failure. Ferrari has a stupidly high budget, but I think much of it went into capturing some of those fairly stunning race sequences. Everything else was so dull, lifeless, directionless, and shockingly amateur, though. It's a surprising mess of a film.