Review of Rush (2013) by Panos Y — 17 Aug 2017

A well crafted character story that may be Ron Howard's best film to date.

Two-time Academy Award (R) winner Ron Howard (A Beautiful Mind, Frost/Nixon) teams once again with two-time Academy Award (R)-nominated writer Peter Morgan (Frost/Nixon, The Queen) on Rush, a spectacular big-screen re-creation of the merciless and legendary 1970s Formula 1 rivalry between gifted English playboy James Hunt (Chris Hemsworth of The Avengers, Thor) and his disciplined Austrian opponent, Niki Lauda (Daniel Brühl of Inglourious Basterds, The Bourne Ultimatum).

I'll be honest, this was the first Ron Howard film I had ever seen in my young life. It left an amazing impression on me, to the point where I praised Ron Howard and his ability to drive character development. Then, I watched some of his other films and I wondered, was this really his only huge highlight? Whether it is or not, it has nothing to do with the fact that "Rush" is an amazing film that does nothing but good.

The thing that I love about this film is its character study. This is based on the true story between drivers James Hunt and Niki Lauda, who had the biggest rivalry in Formula 1 racing at the time. It's amazing how Ron Howard told this story, as there were no real protagonists or antagonists. You have two polar opposite people, who act differently and view things differently, but they have the same goal in mind. You see their upbringings and downfalls and in the end, you can see that they're both just people with dreams. They each have their flaws for sure, but it's easy to cheer for both of them and want them to succeed.

None of this could've been accomplished without our two main actors. Both Hemsworth and Bruhl put up some of their best performances to date. They each, respectively, bring out the personality and drive of their real life portrayals. I felt like I really got to know who these people were and what they did in their life. That's due to their ability to play their roles and bring that emotional drive with them.

I feel like when directors and / or producers look to tell the story of someone's biography or a true event, this would be a great example of that. Like I've said multiple times, both Ron Howard and the cast know how to tell a story about characters. The story is filled with interesting character conflict and it's done so well that you don't necessarily see either side as the villain (because neither side is the villain). It's really hard to accomplish that in a film and if you automatically side with Hemsworth because he's more recognizable, you're just being stubborn. This is such a well made film and I have to give it credit for that.

In the end, I truly thought this movie was amazing. This is how you should tell a story and how you should execute it. I really don't have any gripes with this film and in fact, I though it was near perfect.