‘Ford v. Ferrari’ is an absolute joy ride from start to finish.

Abbie Barth, Copy Editor and Freelance Reporter

This may be the most entertained I have ever been during a film.

I have never really been a race fan. In fact, the only reason I was even interested in seeing “Ford v. Ferrari” was because Christian Bale and Matt Damon play the starring roles.

The story is based on the true story of how the Ford Motor Company teamed up with the best automotive designers and racecar drivers to beat Ferrari both on the racetrack and in the showroom.

Bale plays the insanely talented race car driver Ken Miles, and Damon plays the American automotive designer Carroll Shelby. Without surprise, both of them pulled their roles off perfectly.

I had no doubts going into the film that the acting would be flawless. But I was apprehensive that the movie would drag along because it is two and a half hours long, But, it ended up not feeling that way at all.

The racing scenes were paced perfectly, so the audience could not possibly get bored. And the scenes created a great amount of suspense. I saw the film with my dad, who knows the story of Ford’s race against Ferrari well. Even he was on the edge of his seat.

Like I said earlier, I never really cared about racing, but man, I was on the edge of my seat for every turn. A couple times I was clenching my fists hard and really wanted to stand up and cheer, or yell, depending on the scene.

If you are like me and don’t know much about racing or cars, don’t fret. The film will explain it all to you. Miles’ son had a key role in the story. He answers the questions the audience probably has, but in a way that feels organic to the film, and he ensured that no viewer was left behind.

I saw this movie at the new B&B Theatres Wheatfield 9 here in Topeka. It was in the MX4D theatre, a theatre completely unique to Topeka. The seats are grouped in rows of four and the row moves throughout the film. You can tell that the creators of the experience tried hard to choreograph the seat movements. There were blasts of air, rumbling seats, strobe lights and the release of different smells. In this case, the smell released was either oil or burnt rubber.

Personally, I thought the MX4D theatre was pretty distracting. It wasn’t always choreographed to the film, and there was a lot of movement at the beginning of the movie. So, it was pretty distracting, because it almost felt like we were on a rollercoaster. It was fun, but maybe only go to the MX4D theatre for a really boring movie, so you don’t fall asleep. “Ford v. Ferrari” was definitely not boring.

I don’t want to give away anything further about the movie because every moment is unique. I’m just going to strongly suggest that you shell out the money for this film. It certainly deserves all the praise it has been getting.

Edited by Jessica Galvin, Jason Morrison, Adam White