Lamborghini: The Man Behind the Legend

After really wanting to see this movie, I must say that it could not have been worse. The actors playing Ferrari and Lamborghini don't resemble the real people in the slightest. In the 1948 road race scene, what are Mercedes 190 SL roadsters doing there, given they came out seven years later? Why is Ferrari drag racing against a Countach in a Mondial? Ferruccio didn't design the Miura, Marcello Gandini did. And I could on and on.

But the worst part is that the movie entirely misses the point: with the Miura, Lamborghini invented the mid-engined supercar and completely re-wrote the rules of the game. Ferrari's cars were made obsolete overnight.

The real story should have been how Feruccio with his engineers Bizzarini, Gandini, Dallara, Stanzani and Wallace pulled that off and made history.

Instead of a comprehensive biopic, this film instead takes a look only into certain key chapters in the life of Ferruccio Lamborghini. For the average viewer this may be enough but for the car enthusiast it will leave them wanting more. Coming into this knowing very little about the man I feel I walked away with a better understanding of Lamborghini but only on a cursory level.

With an obviously limited budget they managed to stretch every penny to get a final product that is as polished as the cars. The acting was solid, the settings exact, the direction professional and the cars were beautiful. Sure they did not race the obviously very real and loaned classic vehicles into any danger but it did not detract much from the film which is more art than engineering.

There are a lot of garbage films out there but this is not one of them.

Here's the problem: "Ford vs. Ferrari" was damn good, and set a high bar for a story about the development of these cars - and the clashes of competitive personalities - in the 60s. So when "Lamborghini..." fails to develop any of the characters at all and draw the viewer in to engage with and pick sides in the rivalries, we're left watching a handful of cartoon characters in which we simply aren't invested. While I've never seen any footage of Lamborghini (and thus can't comment on the accuracy of the performance here), Grillo played him like a soap-opera central-casting Italian. And aside from the pure animus between Ferrari and Lamborghini, engineering a new thing is actually very exciting - it's difficult and arduous and maddening and exhausting and incredibly rewarding. But did we get any of that? Not really, only a few clips here and there of a motor and a couple of body panels and almost nonexistent characters who - in real life - would have sweated bullets in doing what they did. The whole thing comes off as a pastiche, and just makes me want to read the book upon which it was allegedly based to find its heart and soul. And we didn't even get enough great car porn to boot.

The story of Lamborghini is the the stuff of legend. Marque.

A sound script albeit more fantasy than truth.

Good acting from Grillo et al.

But this is no different from your average auto epic, like every film before it, it is let down by details.

The producers were either lazy or ignorant.

Why is Mr Lamborghini driving a US spec Countach at the start ?

Mr Ferrari in a lowly Mondial ?

Why on earth are there so many shots of an old Ferrari motor when real Lambo motors are not rare.

And why were real car sounds not used ?

Instead we have some generic motor revving dubbing in.

This could have been a great motor bio pic instead we get something extremely average.

Casual viewers may be fooled but those who know cars will groan with disappointment.

Frank Grillo is the highlight of this movie, can't fault him, great job with what he had to work with.

How do directors manage to make fast cars look like they are going slow. The race scenes between the Ferrari and Lamborghini are by far the worst filmed race scene I have seen. Who choreographed and directed that scene? Really? That's what you came up with? It's trash. Directors, take note. Go watch the opening scene to a movie called the Cannonball Run from 1981, yes that right, 1981. They made that Lamborghini look fast, sound fast, how a Lamborghini should be. To this day, that one scene is better than what you all came up with.

If your not a car enthusiast or don't care about Lamborghini this movie will bore you to death. I stayed with it because of my passion for Lamborghini and Ferrari, and the legendary story of how Lamborghini began.

It has its moments, good moments, but the badly written and horridly directed moments outweigh the good ones.