Review: Rush

So, Rush. And if I were restricted to a line for this one, I’d make a corny joke about how it doesn’t half give you a rush too. Luckily I’m not, because that’s a silly joke. Regardless this is a fine film!

Directed by Ron Howard (Apollo 13, A Beautiful Mind) and starring Chris Hemsworth (Thor) and Daniel Bruhl (Inglourious Basterds), Rush is the story of how the bitter Formula 1 rivalry between James Hunt and Niki Lauda played out in the 1970s (played by Hemsworth and Bruhl respectively). Starting from both of their early racing days, the story tracks their respective rises to the big stage of Formula 1, and paints the picture of two men moving parallel to each other and yet in completely different ways.

A quick motor racing history lesson. Hunt was the playboy – never without a girl (or three) on his arm (or in his bed) and never without a drink in his hand. He drove in the same way – he was a risk taker, gambling at each corner with his life and the lives of others. And Lauda resented him for this. The pragmatic Austrian was a man of science and numbers, he knew how to eke every last percentile of performance from his car. He also lived his life accordingly – no parties, a simple quiet relationship with his wife, no fuss at all.

It would be fair to describe Ron Howard as a historian with the mind of a showman. The man is a genius with biopics such as this, and yes he has been accused in the past of slightly ratcheting up the tension in certain situations (notably Apollo 13), but in Rush he was very true to the events as they unfolded. The beauty of the story is that he didn’t need to add any Hollywood razzle-dazzle to it – they truly were risking their lives on a weekly basis, and explosions and crashes were par for the course. Through clever camera work Howard shows us what the drivers would be seeing as they approached corners at 150mph, and I for one jumped out of my seat more than once as multiple flaming chassis spun out of control.

Hemsworth is a good Hunt. He has the cheeky smiles and flirtacious winks in his locker for that side of the character, but for me he lacked a little depth. Perhaps more torment as his marriage broke down could have been portrayed – Hunt the man cared a lot for the people around him and the people he raced with. Bruhl however delivers a pitch perfect performance as the measured Lauda – he masters the full range, and manages to do that most difficult thing of acting in a measured and quiet way while still acting. Sometimes it is more difficult to say nothing on screen.

Not one for the faint hearted I must add, but a very fine film indeed. And for Formula 1 fans like me, well, it was a bit of a geekfest!