Review of Rush (2013) by Yorkman — 01 Jan 2016

It's hard to make films about motor sports, it's even harder to make one and base it on real life events. Rush is a somewhat fanciful account of the build up to, and events of, the 1976 F1 Championship. A year in F1 that became legendary the second it came to a conclusion, and was a tale of two men... Niki Lauda and James Hunt, played by Daniel Bruhl and Chris Hemsworth respectively.

The narrative focusses on the fact that the two men are dynamic opposites, Hunt the flamboyant playboy who famously refers to sex as the breakfast of champions, and Lauda the deep thinking and analytically minded racer who is also naturally fast behind the wheel.

The problem with the film is that, like a real F1 season, there are highs and lows and it does get predictable. The highs being the truly awesome recreations of the best parts of the on track action and the scenes which tell the audience the motivations of the two drivers. The lows being pretty much everything else, with several scenes really dragging on and not moving the story forward in any way.

Part of the 'high' are the performances on the 'Lauda side' of the narrative. Daniel Bruhl is probably the only person who could 'be' Niki Lauda in a film, but he's matched by his on-screen girlfriend then wife Marlene, played by Alexandra Maria Lara, who is as beautiful as she's talented.

Conversely, it's hard not to like Chris Hemsworth (as an actor), but his performance is very one-note and muted. Similarly his girlfriend then wife Suzy (played by Olivia Wilde) is unable to convince as the one woman Hunt could want to walk down the aisle with.

Ultimately it's a decent enough film, the action scenes more than make up for the somewhat stilted dialogue and slower parts, but at 122 minutes it's probably about 20 minutes too long.