RUSH
I have
no interest at all in Formula 1 Racing; in fact the thought of watching grown
men in cars driving round and round on a circuit for hours on end bores the
hell out of me. I am also not a fan of
Ron Howard as a director. Do not get me
wrong, the man has made some great films in his career, but he is so
inconsistent that I find myself not bothering checking out his films most of
the time. The fact that “Rush” was a
combination of these two things, being it is a film about two rival racers set in
the world of Formula 1 and was directed by Ron Howard, it is safe to assume I
had no interest in the film at all. The
bland posters for the film never caught my eye and I literally never saw a
trailer for “Rush” either. It wasn’t
until the film started getting stellar reviews that I decided to check the film
out and I am so glad that I did, because “Rush” is an amazing movie; I was
riveted to the screen for its entire running time. While I was initially thrown a little by the
accents of the two leads, Daniel Bruhl and Chris Hemsworth who play real life
rivals Niki Lauda and James Hunt respectively, what followed were two stunning
performances by these actors. Both
Hemsworth and Bruhl accurately represented these two men perfectly and their
rivalry that dominated the sport in the mid 1970’s. In fact, period detail of the entire film
seems to be spot on; from the fashions to the lifestyles of these men, right up
to the cars themselves, it is obvious that “Rush” had been very well
researched.
What I
really liked about this movie was the fact that both Lauda and Hunt were
completely different men, in life and in their approach to their sport. Hunt was a playboy who lived life in a wild
manner, and who had a natural talent behind the wheel. He had a passion for the sport, to the point
that it was something he had to do to survive; he wanted to prove to the world
(and himself) that he could do it – he could be the best. Lauda, on the other hand, was the consummate professional,
looking after his body and mind so that he could always race at his best. He also brought mathematics into his racing,
working on probabilities (particularly when it came to risk management) and
designing his car to the nth degree for maximum efficiency. While Lauda was just as skilled a driver as
Hunt, it would be fair to say his passion wasn’t as great as Hunt’s and this is
brought to light when he mentions to a girl he is dating that if he could make
as much money doing something else, he would do it. In regards to the races themselves, they have
all been magnificently staged and photographed by Howard and cinematographer
Anthony Dod Mantle (I have just noticed that Mantle also shot my biggest
surprise of 2012; “Dredd 3D”) and are
very suspenseful. Thankfully they have
been handled realistically and not in the usual over the top manner you may
expect from a film coming out of Hollywood.
While there is much more to say about this fine film, I will say no more
except that I recommend it wholeheartedly.
Even if you are not a fan of the sport, like myself, “Rush” has been put
together so well that I am sure everyone will get something out of it. The following days after I saw it, I spent
telling everyone I knew to go see the film; this for a movie I initially had no
interest at all in seeing.
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