Rush (2013)

DIRECTION Ron Howard is amazing. His camera work here is absolutely incredible. I wouldn't at all be surprised if the cinematography and the sound editing are nominated for Oscars. The engines roaring alongside Hans Zimmer's score really gets you into the mood. The backdrop is gritty with lots of dark and gray colors giving it a tough 1970′s aesthetic. Howard places is camera so specifically and we get so many different angles that are gripping. Camera work inside the cars giving you the intense look of driving an F1 car as well as camera's on the grass looking up as they fly by. Howard's use of slow motion is also perfect and helps build the intensity of the rivalry he is exploring here. The racing is intense and the dangers are shown in some dramatic ways as the suspense keeps building up. The biggest problem is that Formula 1 isn't the biggest of sports here in the U.S. If people can get past that and go see this, they won't regret it.

Grade: A

SCRIPT The story follows two F1 drivers in the mid 1970′s that don't always get a long but have a mutual respect for one another. It centers around British driver, James Hunt and the Austrian Niki Lauda. Peter Morgan's script is brilliant and Howard brings it to life in some really great ways. In essence, both characters are the protagonist and the antagonist of the story. The film explores Hunt and his immature ways but at the same time makes him very likable. Then the story switches to Lauda and his quest to live his own life outside the big family business, yet again making him likable. However, at the same time each take their own turn in being the "bad guy" and showing you qualities that make this person flawed and unlikable in some ways. But then the movie brings it back around showing you why these characters are good characters to root for and the mutual respect they have for one another. It's the competition that drives them in this story. What makes it so great though, is that the audience really gets to choose who they want to root for. They build up and tear down each character so flawlessly. The use of narration at the beginning and at the end was a perfect choice as well. The ending becomes a bit sentimental and hits the buttons that you'd expect from Howard and company.

Grade: A

PERFORMANCES Daniel Brühl and Chris Hemsworth are amazing. This is perhaps Hemsworth's best as he portray's James Hunt in some incredible ways. He's the dangerous driver that has Tony Stark mentalities in terms of partying, women and being extremely likable. Yet Hemsworth shows some depth and some emotion here as well which this character calls for in some ways. Brühl, who you may know from Inglorious Basterds, almost steals the show. He's the Austrian car genius who becomes famous for knowing how to make the cars lighter and faster, thus making him part of the Ferrari team. One can argue he's the bigger lead here as he narrates a good chunk of the story and brings in some great perspectives. Brühl's performance is spot on though and brings life to this character even when Lauda is more deadpanned. Olivia Wilde is good here although her character is a small role. This is about Brühl and Hemsworth and they carry the movie extremely well.

Grade: A+

SCORE Freakin Hans Zimmer. The dude is on fire lately. A lot of people like to criticize Zimmer for having score's that are similar or nothing new but they work. His score for Man of Steel added a lot to that film and his

Fmovies: As a Cineworld Card Holder I was invited to a screening last night of Ron Howards new movie Rush.

Before I start...I am not a F1 fan, but I knew enough of the history of the main protagonists to appreciate the film. The main set pieces of the film set a year before I was born in 1976, so mainly my knowledge was based on my Fathers recollection of the events. I'd seen James Hunt in interviews and recently watched footage with Niki Lauda so got an idea of the characters.

The film is bang on in period, cars fashion and sets the tone excellently, the cinematography is nothing short of breathtaking and the fx are very much in keeping with the period, no ridiculous CGI.

The acting, on the whole is nothing short of miraculous, Hemsworth and Bruhl are fantastic, particularly Hemsworth, who's accent, mannerisms and natural acting was a big surprise. I could see a few awards for this role. I have seen Bruhl in quite a few films and I am always impressed so this just continues the trend. All the support actors are very good in smaller roles.

The film is well paced for 2 hours and quite graphic, particularly a few accident scenes.

Direction: Ron Howard - nice job, I'm not a massive fan and particularly after the da vinci/Angels fiasco's a big return to decent form. The flair was there but played safe (As normal) but let the story and the actors take centre stage.

If you like History in F1, a well documented rivalry and a film that capture this, watch it. It is similar to the excellent Control, Moneyball etc but with a bit of heart.

8 1/2 out of 10

As Asif Kapadia's gripping and extremely moving 2010 documentary Senna proved, cinema audiences have a thirst for the larger-than-life characters that inhabit the Formula One track. The sport itself is frightfully dull (although I'm sure plenty will disagree with that), but the sportsmen willing to lay down their life for a kick and a trophy are infinitely more fascinating, especially in the days of lax safety rules. The sport nowadays is little more than advertising on wheels, but when the likes of James Hunt and Niki Lauda battled it out on the track, epic rivalries were created, and no matter how talented these men were at driving these "coffins on wheels", every race could spell out death. Rush portrays the clash of two opposing personalities. The long-haired, dashing Englishman James Hunt (Chris Hemsworth) was all about the adrenaline, embracing the post-race parties and lying with the many women that would throw themselves at him. He was reckless, willing to risk his life and others in order to win, but, as described in the film, there was no better driver in the world in terms of raw talent. His rival, Austrian Niki Lauda (Daniel Bruhl), was focused, clinical, and even helped design the cars he would drive. He was the early-night type, 'rat-faced' and cold. In every sense, he's the perfect villain. But where Rush succeeds the most is challenging our early conceptions of these two characters. There's little fun to be had with Lauda, but played by Bruhl, he evolves into the underdog of the movie, perhaps the only one that actually gives a damn about his own life and the life of his opponents. This, naturally, leads to tragedy and a particularly wince-inducing scene in which Lauda requires having his lungs vacuumed, but it's at this point that we realise just what these two drivers mean to each other. As Lauda watches Hunt claw back some points in the 1976 Formula One season, it becomes clear that these two need each other to survive. Their hatred of one another only serves to fuel the flames, and leads to Lauda's defiant early return to the driver's seat, scarred and bandaged. Fast cars, beautiful women and exotic locations hardly sounds like a recognisable workload for Ron Howard, one of the most play-it-easy directors out there. His past films have been unjustifiably successful, critically and commercially, never stamping a recognisable directorial trait onto his work. Yet here, although the bright sheen of the 70's initially takes some getting used to, he has managed to create a world that is very much alive, using snappy editing, a pumping soundtrack and some growing sound design to re-create this world for petrol-heads. But he doesn't neglect his characters, and evokes the great work done on Frost/Nixon (2008), which was also a study of two giant, clashing personalities coming together on the world stage. Rush is an exhilarating experience, able to distinguish each race from the next and literally putting us in the driver's seat with the use of digital cameras. Although it occasionally drifts into formulaic territory with the introduction of the 'wives' (played by Oivia Wilde and Alexandra Maria Lara, respectively), Howard cleverly uses this as an insight into Hunt and Lauda's personalities. Hemsworth is very good in his first 'proper' post-Thor role, but it is Bruhl that you take away from the film. How he gets you to initially loath him, only to be cheering him on at the climax is the work of a g

Rush fmovies. Having seen the trailers and TV set-up (BBC as a Grand Prix insert) I was thinking OK so I've probably seen the best of this and it's going to be 'clunky' in parts or too far up it's own a$$.

But hey we can all be wrong, Ron Howard has added depth to a story I knew well, the presentation has a feel for the era the colour's are sometimes harsh and edgy.

The set pieces are well researched, the owners of some of the classic F1 hardware must have had an enjoyable time (not quite so sure about the Insurance Underwriters).

Where the story hits the spot for me is the acting of the main protagonists, they have life and depth. Hemsworths presentation of James Hunt is uncanny it's like a documentary he's almost as good as Daniel Day-Lewis in Lincoln.

If your not a F1 fan or from the 70's it may not be more than a blokes film, but give it a go it is going to end up being a important as Apollo 13 in the life of Mr Howard and quite frankly is by far the best car racing movie ever

Mr. Ron Howard is a great story teller, this movie is about human nature, love and tears.

It is difficult to make a good movie about car racing, especially to make one for the time period from 1970 to 1976. I don't know how they did it to bring those old F1 cars back to life. You will feel like you are really there watching the racing, it's really unbelievable.

It is truly touching to see each character played their perfect role for this movie, Chris Hemsworth did a great performance, he is such a talented and devoted actor. Daniel Brühl also did a great job on portraying the eccentric and unsociable legendary F1 driver Niki Lauda.

A great movie is like having a great meal, a good starter, a good soup/salad, a good main course and a good dessert, well balanced. Rush is that good meal, it's a fun ride!

I have to say I really enjoyed watching this movie. Thank you Mr. Ron Howard for making this masterpiece.

In 1976, the rivalry between two brilliant racing car drivers, the British James Hunt and the Austrian Nikki Lauda, came to a head in the almost literally life-and-death struggle of the Formula One championship. American director Ron Howard ("Apollo 13", "A Beautiful Mind", "Frost/Nixon") and British scriptwriter Peter Morgan (both play and screenplay of "Frost/Nixon") have done a terrific job bringing the titanic struggle to the big screen, aided by some excellent casting and powerful sound and cinematography. Those were the days when most years a couple of drivers would be killed, so the stakes could not be higher.

Sensibly the car racing does not over-dominate, since this is essentially a character- driven conflict, but when the racing is on screen - notably in the final race - the excitement is visceral. The Australian Chris Hemsworth (previously best known as "Thor") and the Spanish-born German Daniel Brühl ("Inglourious Basterds") are so good as the British and Austrian drivers respectively that the dialect coaches should receive a special commendation. Arguably Brühl gives the stronger performance which should auger well for his future career.

A great strength of this tale is that there is not a hero or a villain. Both drivers had privileged backgrounds and were superbly talented, but both were flawed. although in very contrasting ways, including styles of thinking, driving and womanising (Olivia Wilde as model Suzy Miller and Alexandra Maria Lara as aristocratic Marlene Knaus respectively).

I never saw the recent film "Senna" (2010) so "Rush" reminded me most of the much older "Grand Prix" (1966), but what is stunning about "Rush" is that it all happened. A season of the fastest sport in the world decided in the last race by one point - you couldn't make it up. Rush to see the movie.