Ron Howard feels the need, the
need for speed! Getting inside the beautiful minds of not one but two Formula
One race car drivers in Rush, his latest film grips as hard as the drivers grip
the wheel. It's frequently buttock clenching, white knuckle stuff as engines
roar, gears shift and rain pours on unforgiving race tracks.
Dreamy Chris Hemsworth is long
haired British lothario, the cocksure and arrogant James Hunt. His nemesis is
rat faced German, the know-it-all Nikki Lauder played by Daniel Brühl. The
pair are contemporaries and fierce competitors, making their far too fast
on-track showdowns breeze by in breathless set pieces. Off the track the sparks
also fly with Lauder and Hunt trading insults and revving each other up so much
their rivalry becomes their reason to live... and very possibly their reason to
die.
Hunt and Lauder's fight for the
championship is the stuff of Formula One legend with both racers refusing to
give an inch or back down in the face of incredible danger, personal injury and
in the case of Nikki Lauder a particularly terrifying brush with death.
As fun as some of the off track
scenes can be, the supporting characters never get much room to breathe.
Hemsworth and Brühl hold the film together, the film starting with dueling
voiceovers from each of the pair. Despite both playing seriously flawed
characters with little to like in either, the stars find room to wrap around
your heart and skid into likeability by the end. Brühl is particularly adept at making Lauder completely
understandable, and if not wholly likeable, at least deserving of a huge amount
of respect.
Formula One is still very much
a man's world and the women, including Olivia Wilde get little to do except
mope on the sidelines. Though Hemsworth might be unacceptably sexy, it is easy
to see why beautiful women are attracted to the drivers for other reasons.
Though the thought of grown men racing round and round a track, risking their
lives for money, glory and the title of champion might seem silly to some, the
bravery of the men and the risks they rush into become quickly clear and
surprisingly alluring even to those of us who have no interest in watching race
cars whizz round a track.
It is on the track however
where Rush really races into pole position. For a film about Formula One the track
scenes are relatively few and far between and rush past in a blur of inventive
angles, slick editing and roaring sound design. Freeze frames, intense close
ups and cameras in every place imaginable make the race scenes incredibly
tense, especially when the rain starts to pour. Director of Photography Anthony
Dod Mantle captures every drop and frames the moody skies over the proceedings
like ugly portents of doom. With cameras even right next to the eyes of the
actors as their helmets are put on, we are right there in the action as the
cars race, collide and crash their way round the tracks.
Though many will know the story
and may even have seen the races or the terrible crash that nearly killed
Lauder, they will not have seen behind the helmet of the man as he recovered in
hospital. The scarily real recreation of the crash is brutal and heart stopping
and the race that leads up to it is terrifically tense whether you know the
story or not. The stakes are raised each time either Hunt or Lauder gets in a car
and it is a shame that so many of the races are rushed when the cinematography
and score are so effective. For a film that could have done with a bit more
action, the mood is more sombre, the score adding to the sense of dread and
sadness at what is to come.
However Rush does not dwell on
the down sides. It is a film that finds the humour in the characters, their
rivalry and even their tragedy. Hunt and Lauder may have faults but they made
each other better racers and Howard and writer Peter Morgan find the
insecurities and arrogance endearing and worthy of investigation.
Some moments of the script
might steam ahead into obvious sound bites but Rush never fails to raise a
smile or take its lead pair too seriously, making it easy to forgive the odd
line that spells out the characters motivations, feelings or the message of the
film. Hemsworth and Brühl consistently sell their real life characters and manage to
make both men surprisingly warm and likeable antagonists despite their
conflict, an admirable achievement for both actors in the circumstances.
Peter Morgan continues his fine work with real
life figures and particularly two-handers in the tradition of his previous
collaboration with Howard, Frost/Nixon. His knack for character and dialogue
could be the reason the film comes in at the two hour mark while giving short
shrift to vital race scenes that could have fuel injected Rush onto the 5 star
winners podium. Whether you like cars or not, Rush will get your heart beat
racing.
Release
date: September 27th, 2013
Running
time: 123 minutes
Director: Ron Howard
Writer:
Peter Morgan
Cast: Chris Hemsworth, Daniel Brühl, Olivia Wilde
Here is the trailer:
Recent reviews at I Love That Film:
