Without a doubt this is one of the best movies that I have seen so far this year. Rush keeps you glued to your seats with excitement and anticipation throughout the entire movie. Rush (directed by Ron Howard), focuses on the 1976 Formula One racing season and the rivalry between drivers James Hunt (played by Chris Hemsworth) and Nikki Lauda (played by Daniel Bruhl). It also gives glimpses into the personal life of Hung and Lauda and how each had a different approach when it came to racing. I was surprised to hear that Ron Howard wanted to make a movie about the rivalry between these two legends since most people today have never heard of Nikki Lauda or James Hunt.
One thing that the film seemed to have slightly got wrong was the relationship between James Hunt and Nikki Lauda. The film has their rivalry portrayed as both parties having absolutely no respect for each other and towards the end of the film they grow to have an understanding and finally respect for each other. But in reality both James Hunt and Nikki Lauda were extremely close and never had any amount of disrespect for each other. Both Hunt and Lauda became close friends during the 1976 Formula One racing season.
The shining factors of this movie were its two leading men. Chris Hemsworth who is best known to audiences as Thor, portrayed Hunt as a man who had a lust for life including many women, drugs, and alcohol. His portrayal was extremely accurate in portraying how James Hunt really lived his life. Hemsworth portrayed Hunt right down to perfection by even including Hunt’s rituals he did before every race. Initially I had doubts that Hemsworth had much range as an actor before seeing this film, but my doubts were proven wrong. The portrayal of Nikki Lauda by German actor Daniel Bruhl, who is best known to audiences as Frederik Zoller from Inglorious Basterds, I believe will go on to be nominated and win the Academy Award for Best Actor. Bruhl portrayed Lauda as a man who is very serious and somewhat anti-social. You can’t help but root for Lauda who is clearly the underdog throughout the film.
When it came to the racing scenes it was exciting and breathtaking. Ron Howard made you think that you were actually the one driving the Formula One racing cars. One of the most powerful racing scenes was when Nikki Lauda suffered a near fatal racing accident during the 1976 Formula One racing season. This scene shows just how dangerous Formula One racing cane be and how each racer puts everything including their own life on the line to win.
Thanks to the wise directing from Ron Howard and the outstanding acting performances from Chris Hemsworth and Daniel Bruhl, Rush will go down as one of the greatest racing movies of all time. This film has none of the Hollywood-like changes that you see in films today. It is very accurate to the story of one of the greatest racing rivalries in history. One thing that you will learn from this movie is that if you truly love something then fight like hell for it and never stop. You will not leave the theatre in disappointment after seeing this great film.
This is on my list of films to see.