Review of Rush (2013) by Swati — 07 Jan 2014

Rush definitely lives up to its name. The way it pumped blood through my head gave me a rush. But quite a few movies manage to do that, and it was solely not for this that I liked the movie. I loved its art direction. It got me believing that I really was looking through a window into the 70s and witness this rivalry replayed.

There are quite a few movies out there vying for our attention. They have thrilling car races or chases, and the intention is only that_ to amaze us with the mind-boggling stunts. But Rush endeavoured to be much more than a film about racing cars. It wanted to make us experience how these drivers live, why they choose this profession, how they feel during the time they are behind the wheel, and how much victory means to them. In that task Rush has succeeded beyond my expectations. It set out to do something I had not even expected of it. So it sets itself apart and should be taken more seriously.

Rush is narrated by Niki Lauda (Daniel Brühl) at key moments of his career. His rivalry with James is spun out of context by the frenzied media. Surely they don't see eye to eye but when such levels of adrenaline are pumping through your veins and you risk everything to gain victory, even the slightest setback makes you envy and loathe your opponent to the extreme.

Both the main characters start off as rookies. Their first encounter and tussle may be fictionalised. Both of them are stupendously talented. But they must make their mark in order to gain attention from the big names in the game. Drivers finish the race but the ones making them the heroes in the public eye are the ones with the cars. And they would have to vie for names such as Ferrari and McLaren to even begin to have some kind of a chance to be among those who finish first.

I found the acting sufficient for the believability of the characters. James Hunt (Chris Hemsworth) came across as the universal bad boy with a heart of gold. He certainly has the charisma to pull it off. Lauda was much more complex. He is clearly the type who aim high in life and are willing to do everything to achieve their goals. So Brühl had his work cut out for him but he surprised and rose to the occasion. There are their other sides which are gradually revealed and make them more human and thus more worthy of admiration. It was nice to see Olivia Wilde given a role in a movie that was not a box office bomb or a disaster with the critics.

We are shown glimpses of races around the world intertwined with scenes from the private lives of these two men. The racing scenes were short and well captured. The character development was well done and certainly painted distinct personalities. They joke and verbally spar in their own ways, calling each other names to incite angry responses. No one's the bad guy. They shuffle as the more sympathetic character throughout the movie. I'm glad they didn't resort to add more conflict and contrived fictional gimmicks to offset each other to add drama, which would have ruined it for me. I was constantly waiting for this to happen, for it to slip up and reveal mediocrity, even expecting it, for it is a film about cars, but I was pleased to be proven wrong.

You can have a thrilling movie about car racing or you could have a movie about the lives of drivers with sparse action, but Rush combined both perfectly. Everything was in the right proportions. It had the story, the entertainment value, the mood-changing quality and the effects. The races were brilliantly done. The accidents when they happened were rightly worrying and realistic and not exaggerated. The cars themselves were pure beauties. And I found myself agreeing with the line of dialogue that men love cars more than they love women.

I dare say that Rush has succeeded in supplanting all car racing movies I had previously watched and become my favourite from the genre. But the reason I loved it is it made me think about the importance of human life and why it must not be risked for thrill seeking and for the entertainment of others who do not have the guts to perform such kinds of feats.