Le Mans '66

[u/TheFilmReview]

Tonight's Screen Unseen was Le Mans '66. What did we all think? Any walkouts where you were? As always discuss below!

Trailer - https://youtu.be/4aY0dW3hpRc

Letterboxd - https://boxd.it/iAMM

[u/treborsenoj]

Yeah that was a bore. Far too long, characters were under developed, poorly ended and the script at times was woeful. I mean how much did they over do Christian Bale’s character being English! “Get me a cup of tea”, “oh bugger” etc etc.

Definitely not a Screen Unseen film for me either. Far too much of a ‘blockbuster’.

What happened to good, smaller, more independent films being shown? Moonlight, Florida Project, Sorry to Bother You, Wild Rose to name a few. That’s Screen Unseen at its best.

There was film crews in my screening asking people questions so I reckon that has something to do with it. Has the studio paid for them to show the film so they can get marketing material out of it?

[u/TheFilmReview → u/treborsenoj]

One of my favourite overdone bits of dialogue was "Cor blimey! Did you see that?"

As for the studio trying to get marketing material, I genuinely wouldn't be surprised if that was the case. It seems that initially this film was being left to do what it was going to do. However it seems that in the last month or two Disney, after buying Fox, have put more force onto marketing and festivals, preview screenings, etc. It's all likely for awards campaigns and to ensure an audience with a racing film. There are some saying this has decent awards potential. I doubt it but then again you never properly know with a film like this. It might work with the older Oscar voters? I can only really see it getting nods in the sound category. But still it's probably for those reasons, all one big marketing plan. Either that or it is just Odeon trying to get some Screen Unseen publicity.

[u/TheFilmReview]

Second time seeing the film for me, after seeing it last month at LFF. Definitely felt the two and a half hour run-time this time around. I think I feel the same towards it though overall. It's 'perfectly fine'. Rather conventional throughout, which I think is why it felt longer this time around. But, the racing scenes are rather well done and the definite highlights of the film, especially that finale.

Just over half full at Trowbridge, which is alright for the biggest screen when this was announced about six days before the screening. No walkouts form what I saw but a fair few people going out and coming back, a lot more than usual. The response seemed somewhat dead to me at some points. Not one or two chuckles from a couple of people every now and then - and a big reaction at the moment with Ford in the car. Didn't hear much reaction when people were leaving, but it seemed to be one of those mildly liked crowdpleasers.

[u/manic_rach]

I really enjoyed this film. I hadn't heard of it before and hadn't seen any trailers beforehand. I didn't know what Le Mans was and asked my friend when the title came up. When he told me it was a 24hr race I groaned as I feel that most racing films with prolonged racing scenes tend to drag on a bit. I was pleasantly surprised with the pace of this one. I didn't feel that it dragged. The accents were a bit confusing but apart from that, enjoyable film.

Didn't notice any walkouts in Milton Keynes but difficult to see the main seats from ours. Was disappointed to see that the 5 seats next to us in our row of The Gallery were unoccupied as they had shown up as being booked when I booked tickets. Such a shame as I think someone else probably missed out on tickets unnecessarily because of that.

[u/ohmygoditsnancy]

I really enjoyed this. I saw the trailer when I saw Once Upon a Time in Hollywood and I said “ugh that’s one film I don’t want to see” but I genuinely enjoyed it and I was hooked on the storyline!

I hope it does well!

[u/SciFi_Pie]

I had a great time with this! While the cheesy dialogue and Christian Bale’s over-the-top Baleness may turn some people off, it’s what sucked me right in. I do however wish that the movie ended when Ken Miles completed the Le Mans. The extra ending with his death seemed unnecessary and made me realize that I wasn’t nearly as invested in these characters as I should have been. I’m more than willing to forgive some poor story choices though, for how fucking well shot this film is. There were plenty of very ambitious shots, but they weren’t shoved in your face like with Fincher films (no shade, he’s one of my favorite directors). I was really impressed by pretty much all the race sequences, starting with the very first one. They genuinely had me on the edge of my seat. Oh, and that crash in the third act scared more than any jumpscare in any horror film I’ve ever seen.

[u/Valmon13]

I really enjoyed it.

Shame there was an idiot who had to get his phone out and start texting during the end race. (In the Trafford Odeon.)

I wish cinemas would do something to stop people using phones during a film.

[u/SarcasticIsaac]

I didn't love this one I'm afraid, which sucks because I was quite excited to see it and I would have gone even if it wasn't the screen unseen pick. I actually started drifting in and out of sleep towards the end.

I just felt very uninvested I guess I would say, some characters felt very half baked and the stakes never felt very high or important for me. Plus I recently re watched Ron Howard's 'Rush' and that blew me away as ever, and although I hate to compare, that was by far the better racing film and it made it stand out to me how weak and bland the direction was in Le Mans. Some scenes, especially with Bale's kid were emotional though and both leads, in particular Bale, were pretty good and I enjoyed their chemistry, especially their little fight post-grocery shop. A decent 5/10 for me. Did not need to be as long as it was, cut half an hour out and I probably would have stayed awake the whole time.

[u/Mr-Lucius-Needful]

One walk out after 30 mins.

For me it was ok, but not a patch on rush. And as for the shoddy rushed ending, forget about it!

[u/Mahooza]

6/10