Living on a lighted stage approaches the unreal. Like the Rush song Limelight, James Hunt and Niki Lauda would agree but bicker about how to get there. Rush the movie is probably the best sports movie about car racing (except The Fast and the Furious), creating some very compelling race sequences and two interesting rivals. However, the storytelling doesn’t trust the audience and peripheral characters don’t get the same treatment as James Hunt and Niki Lauda.
Rush tells the story of eventual Formula One racing competitors James Hunt (Chris Hemsworth) and Niki Lauda (Daniel Bruhl). These two would eventually grow a mutual respect, but it doesn’t really make sense on paper. Hunt gained a reputation as a playboy and excessive risk taker, trusting his talent more than the odds. Lauda was cold and calculating, gaining every pre-race advantage by minimizing risk and expecting the same level of detail from others in his crew. The story examines their initial rivalry in a lesser racing division, their personal lives, their struggles to get into formula one, and the fateful 1976 season where Hunt and Lauda battled for the Formula One Championship and Lauda was horribly burnt in a bad accident.
If you can’t already see, the peripheral characters get the short straw in this film. The best drawn characters are Niki Lauda’s wife Marlene and his racing teammate Clay Regazzoni. James Hunt’s personal life is such a blur that everyone really falls by the wayside including his divorced wife Suzy Miller. Most of the characters get one trait related to the competitors that get’s beaten into the ground, probably a smart decision since the Lauda/Hunt rivalry is so compelling on the track and off.
Director Ron Howard’s biggest contribution to this film is his period decor and racing sequences. The clothes and hairstyles are more old-fashioned but not screaming “We’re in 1970!” Surprisingly, the medical treatments look arcane and horribly painful (one of the best scenes of the film). Howard shoots the film in a slightly grainy style reminiscent of the cinema era. The races are compelling and dangerous because of the investment in the Hunt/Lauda story. 1970’s Formula One is a dangerous endeavor. Howard would drop a dangerous racing fact or a smoldering wreckage showing how close the racer gets to death. These races set up real life and death sequences, and the fiery wreckage and aftermath is as grotesque and terrifying as any other race car film I have ever seen.
Chris Hemsworth is the face of this film due to his ability to wield and intergalactic hammer. Hemsworth is good here, charming enough to be the life of the party with a fierce desire to be the best and win. Daniel Bruhl is the unknown and star of the film. His Lauda could come across as cold and calculating with no soul, but Howard finds ways to make the man evolve subtly over the course of Rush while maintaining his core beliefs. Hemsworth and Bruhl have a nice rat-at-at (with an emphasis on rat) when they bicker and try to understand one another, showing their relationship evolving from resentment to mutual respect.
Rush keeps the audience engaged until the end of the Formula One season, but it tacks on a needless epilogue that recaps everything the audience has already seen if it was paying attention. It is a shame, because until that point, Rush was flirting with the rarefied air of the great sports movies like Hoosiers. Hemsworth proves he can act, and Bruhl has been successfully introduced to American audiences. This is Ron Howard’s best film since Frost Nixon (Rush has the same screenplay writer), proving once again Opie can always find a way to come back.