DIRECTOR: Ron Howard
CAST: Chris Hemsworth, Daniel Brühl, Olivia Wilde, Natalie Dormer, Alexandra Maria Lara, Pierfrancesco Favino, Christian McKay, Sean Edwards, Martin J. Smith
RUNNING TIME: 122 mins
CERTIFICATE: 15
BASICALLY…: In the 1970s world of Formula 1 racing, drivers James Hunt (Hemsworth) and Niki Lauda (Brühl) are engaged in a fierce rivalry that has severe repercussions for both men…
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NOW FOR THE REVIEW…
After opening with Natalie Dormer’s nurse Gemma treating Chris Hemsworth’s James Hunt in a hospital after an altercation with his lover’s husband, it is not long before she is seduced by his charm and engaged in passionate intercourse. Much like Dormer – a beautiful talent who disappears all too quickly after the opening scenes – we are drawn into the competitive, sexy world of Formula 1 racing and the main rivalry between Hunt and Niki Lauda early on in Ron Howard’s latest awards contender Rush. Thankfully, it’s a world worth staying on in to explore.
Chronicling their multiple clashes from their early days as Formula 3 racers and eventually the 1976 season which would change both men forever, Peter Morgan’s steadfast and confident screenplay is clever in showing the stories of both men as they work their way up to the big leagues but without painting either one of them as the hero and villain respectively. While both are truly gifted at their craft, they are critically flawed men. Hunt, played with charm and charisma Hemsworth, is fearlessly dedicated to his passion but is a frequent womaniser whose extravagant lifestyle soon costs him his marriage to supermodel Suzy Miller (Olivia Wilde, who despite a flawless British accent again is not given a lot to do within an already-packed screenplay). Lauda, on the other hand, is intelligent and steady in his approach, but is exceedingly arrogant and only gets ahead in the game through his family connections and by paying various racing sponsors, eventually becoming a spokesperson for Ferrari. It is through Brühl’s extraordinarily committed performance that Lauda doesn’t come across as entirely despicable to the audience; in some sense you begin to see his point as he proposes changes to the way he races. When he demands his car be refitted with swifter tools in order for it to go faster, you can tell he knows exactly what he’s talking about much to the dismay of his mechanics. It’s the same when he later suggests postponing a race due to severe weather; everyone else in the room, especially Hunt, goes against his proposals suspecting some selfish gain for him but while it’s sort of true, even then you do see his point. Instead, everyone goes for Hunt’s animalistic approach of just going for it rather than listening to Lauda’s balanced reason and logic.
The respective animalistic and logical personalities of Hunt and Lauda are what carry most of the drama and they work off each other wonderfully. Whether it’s on the racetrack in many sequences of truly impressive combinations of directing, editing and cinematography, or sometimes even within their own lives – after a journalist upsets Lauda with a question about his wife, Hunt later beats him up as a much-deserved comeuppance to show some form of hidden loyalty to his archenemy – their antagonistic relationship is always at the core of Rush. It all builds to a riveting climax that some might see as anti-climactic but makes sense in the context of the story and character study of each driver. Howard has, however, managed to make such an anti-climax some of the most tense, heart-pounding on-track action you’ll likely see all year, and you’ll likely be cheering for the outcome.
Although it can be dragged out across its two-hour running time and as you may have picked up there are not as many big roles for women in the film aside from Alexandra Maria Lara as Lauda’s wife – although to the film’s credit they are not really the most important focus in the story – Rush is still thrilling cinema entertainment from a powerful director-writer team and even more powerful two leads.
SO, TO SUM UP…
Rush is fuelled with enough gravitas in front of and behind the camera to get it across the finish line in one piece. What gets it into shift, however, is the central rivalry which tells both sides’ stories with dignity and compassion that makes it one of the most respectable Formula 1 films out there.
