Rush ****

You don’t have to appreciate the world of motoring racing to enjoy Ron Howard’s latest adrenaline-fuelled film, Rush. It’s more about an intriguing character stand off, much like the director’s 2008 film, Frost/Nixon that pitted the recently departed British interviewer against an American President. In all fairness, there are the angry buzzing sounds of the early Formula One cars to contend with, but the actual drama is what makes these two men tick. Howard and screenwriter Peter Morgan get the dialogue and casting spot on, so easily draw you in for the bumpy ride.

The film follows the much documented rivalry in the 70s between British racing driver James Hunt (played by Chris Hemsworth), a showy playboy who liked to party as much as he did driving fast, and Austria’s Niki Lauda (portrayed by Daniel Brühl), a more serious and methodical driver on the Formula One circuit who went on to have a near fatal crash on the fabled German track, the Nürburgring, on August 1, 1976, that severely burnt the driver.

Aside from some nifty editing that keeps the pace in top gear, plus some race recreation highlights for fans of the motor sport, the real triumph for Howard is pulling off the casting of Hemsworth and Brühl. Although the former perfectly personifies ladies man Hunt who initially frowned on sponsorship and nearly lost out in the Formula One running – the actor showing off a torso left over from his Thor days that the late driver would envy, it’s the Spanish actor who captures the screen and spookily embodies all the idiosyncrasies of the young Lauda, right down to the fixed, glazed stare and pursed lip.

Both actors rise above merely re-portraying their iconic characters – the obvious task at hand for such a genre but often the Achilles heal that makes other such biographical films a tedious experience if not fully fleshed out. Hemsworth and Brühl get beneath their drivers’ skins to expose their weaknesses that were their downfalls and their strengths that surfaced when the going got tough. This consistently volatile momentum keeps us on our toes, even if the story is already known to some watching.

To the rest, it makes for a fascinating insight into the kind of character attracted to dicing with death on a weekly basis, sat on top of a powerful engine in a fragile metal container on wheels. It’s compelling to see how each driver secretly earned the professional respect of the other, eventually, however they reached their goal and expressed their distain for each other’s methods. As it’s so well acted, Hemsworth and Brühl rapidly earn our respect too, as the film progresses.

There is also an impressive foreboding, gritty production value to the whole affair – with the colour ebbing away to the cinematography. This reaches a crescendo at the race meeting before the 1976 German Grand Prix so that by the time we’re outside, the atmosphere is as menacing as the wrath of the Gods, brilliantly setting up the terrifying accident for Lauda’s Ferrari’s near-death explosion.

This probably one of Howard’s finest films to date since Frost/Nixon as he’s an expert in making a mountain out of a molehill – taking intriguing characters in their own right then creating high drama and scintillating tension from their circumstances that manages to translate exceptionally well on screen. Indeed, Hemsworth redefines his career in this more serious role, while Brühl has firmly stamped his mark on the Hollywood circuit.

4/5 stars

By @FilmGazer

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