Readers of today’s withering Gran Turismo review might get the impression that this critic is down on the sport of professional motor-racing; while I’m not a follower of the business of car-pointing, I do love a good sports movie, and Ron Howard’s Rush is one of the better examples of the genre, with Howard fashioning an excellent two-man biopic from a literate Peter Morgan script.
Morgan’s usual writer’s trick of balancing out of two competing characters (Frost Nixon, The Other Boylen Girl, The Queen) is well suited to capturing the sporting rivalry and one-upmanship that went on between between James Hunt and Niki Lauda, two iconic figures brought vividly to life by Chris Hemsworth and Daniel Bruhl. So for once, winning isn’t absolutely everything, but how you win, and how you treat others in the process, is very much up for analysis.
As well as a fairly impressive trackside evocation of the trials and dangers of the sport, Hunt’s playboy lifestyle is captured with evident affection; Hunt’s private life could probably make for a mini-series of its own, but most of that excess takes second place to a sympathetic portrait of losing out in love to an off-screen Richard Burton. Framed by a lion’s mane of golden hair, Hemsworth is exactly the spit of Hunt, but the film wouldn’t play if it wasn’t for a breakout performance from Bruhl as Lauda.
Not quite the dynamic figure that Hunt cuts, Lauda broods and frets, even despite the affections of Olivia Wilde, and overcomes incredible odds to maintain his alpha male battle with Hunt to the end. Few directors can marry character and plot as deftly as Howard can on his day, offering the same glossy brand of verisimilitude that he brought to Apollo 13, Backdraft and A Beautiful Mind. Rush didn’t quite get the wide mainstream audience it deserved on initial release, but anyone who digs car, sports or ogling handsome guys will find much to savour. And while a brief but rousing scene in which Hunt punches out a mouthy journalist for disrespecting Lauda may be fiction rather than fact, that moment chimes nicely with the overall reverent feel for depicting the Hunt/Lauda axis.
This is a great biopic, and Bruhl is Always a good watch. It’s a shame they didnt drag Dominic West in for a wee cameo as Burton.
That is a good call. Russel Crowe does a good Burton too. Bruhl really does a great job here, up against Hemsworth, balances the film.
I haven’t seen Crowe as Burton, what movie is that? Bruhl is fantastic in Goodbye Lenin too, would recommend that if you haven’t seen it. And it’s definitely one of Hemsworth’s better movies..
Try The Man with the Iron Fists…
Definitely interest for the Crowe performance alone…
There’s a few funny things in that movie…
Why channel Burton?? Is it relevant??
I’m not sure, maybe Crowe just fancied a lark, but I’m pretty sure that Burton is exactly what Crowe is copying in this mad performance in a film that’s full of them…
This is now on the to watch list, thanks. Btw, in Tropic Thunder Robert Downey Jr channels Russell Crowe…
I can see that!
Hmmm!
Hmmm! I’ll need more to go on.
Anyone who broods n frets while Olivia Wilde gloms on them needs a serious checkup, physically and mentally…
I had to look up the word ‘gloms’ but yes, Lauda had the kind of inner demons that somehow could not be quenched by just forgetting about cat pointing and going off with Olivia Wilde.
Poor guy. Nobody needs inner demons like that. OW should be a universal cure all in my opinion…
She’s on the NHS here.
In the movie or in real life?
Neither, sadly.
Booo!
Chris looks like he’s really channeling his inner Fabio there. Does he have anything on underneath his racing onesie or is it all Hemsworth?
I think flame retardant undies, but I’m not sure if that’s to keep the intense heat in or out.
I always channel my inner Fabio, my outer Fabio can’t be managed the same way.
I am always amazed about how good a director Ron Howard is. Here’s a guy who, even when he was playing Opie in “The Andy Griffith Show” as a child, knew that he wanted to be a director. It is shown in every film of his that I’ve seen.
Agreed. He’s a total pro and doesn’t get enough respect. A proper auteur, but doesn’t bend the story to make it about him. He does a typically thorough job here.
Better see this rather the “Gran Turismo”. But the winner of the race is “Ford v Ferrari”.
Loved that one.
That is a better film. But this one is good too.
Sounds a heap better than Grand Theft AUto movie! Might have to track this down.
I’ve got a bit of a secret connection to Hunt, so he’s a hero in my house. If you can’t find it, I’ll send you a disk, but it’s a super movie and a fitting tribute to some great sportmen who didn’t learn their craft from video-games!
Now I’m intrigued!