Review
Rush (Sports, Drama, Biography) [Based on True Story] (2013)
Director: Ron Howard
Writer: Peter Morgan
Stars: Chris Hemsworth, Daniel Brühl, Alexandra Maria Lara, Olivia Wilde
Forming a deep rivalry, two Formula drivers compete in an adrenaline-fueled season that is as thrilling as it is dangerous.
Premiering in London, later also shown at the Toronto Film Festival, ‘’Rush’’ provides a true story between famous racing drivers focused on reaching the absolute peak of Formula One. It was filmed in several actual racecourses worldwide, such as the Nürburgring and the Crystal Palace, among others. Being produced by Cross Creek Pictures, Exclusive Media, Working Title Films, Imagine Entertainment, Revolution Films and Egoli Tossell Film while distributed by Universal Pictures, StudioCanal and Universum Film.
Emerging talents within Formula Three, James Hunt (Chris Hemsworth) and Niki Lauda (Daniel Brühl), forge a bitter rivalry as they enter the Formula One division. Both are steadfast in achieving their personal goals, driving each other to the peak of competition in the 1976 Formula season through their animosity alone.
Based upon a historical rivalry within Formula One, Ron Howard delivers a broiling action-packed drama pitting Hemsworth’s Hunt and Brühl’s Lauda against each other in a manner we haven’t seen before. Being able to showcase the racing spectacle to a possibly unfamiliar audience.
Within a sparsely featured theme, ‘’Rush’’ delineates tension, trauma, and acceleration, with these rivals opposing each other and presenting unimaginable risks. Their mindsets are as honed as the vehicles they drive, steadying themselves with their pure passion for the sport. Hemsworth’s Hunt is a braggadocios loudmouth compared to the misanthrope in Brühl’s Lauda. Obviously, one is the popular protagonist, and the other is quickly slipping into an antagonistic role... Brühl’s tone and demeanour are superlative against the easily preferable recent Marvel addition as a Norse god at the time of release.
In reality, Hunt isn’t that immaculate hero in this story, and Lauda isn’t the villain. Neither character fits into those traditional roles that have been so ingrained within our cinematic and written tales. Despite Lauda’s reclusive nature, he’s not inherently evil. Hunt, popular yes, can be seen as reckless without abandon, even endangering others with impetuous choices followed due to his infallible charisma. Howard makes the audience believe to be somewhat responsible for an incident involving Lauda. Both paths are being developed in parallel, granting a better understanding of the growth between these adversaries who are more similar than you’d initially realise. As a vital shift happens following the aforementioned incident, it’s a rush, in positive respect, taking enough time to define Hunt and Lauda truly. At the same time, the racing itself is just as vital in combination with other opportunities, granting some knowledge of the history behind it all.
Honest and determined in its narrative, accepting on some grounds ‘’Rush’’ is a fictionalised Formula One feature, I believe it would be able to please casual audiences, critics and fans of the sport. There are unexplained and missing features, as always; for example, these two were friends who had lived together in the past. Howard and Morgan opting for a stark antagonism between these men does work on a filmmaking level. It all works in favour of perhaps the most remarkable modern depiction within the racing niche, in my view–which is one most might share.
Verdict
An absolute rush.
9.0
