How do you like your genius? Don’t worry, you have choices.
Hello moviegoers, today I’ll be taking a look at Famed-director Ron Howard’s car racing, instant classic “Rush”. Howard takes the script by Peter Morgan and weaves a captivating and empowering biopic of two racing rivals who have little else in common beyond their considerable will to win.
The movie is based on the true story of the relentless rivalry between Formula One racing legends James Hunt (who is played deftly by Chris Hemsworth) and Nikki Lauda (played by Daniel Bruhl) who gives one of the best performances I have seen all year.
“Rush” (4 sweet potatoes out of four) Stars: Chris Hemsworth, Daniel Bruhl, Olivia Wilde; Directed: Ron Howard; Genre: Biopic; Rated R; running time 2 hours, 3 minutes; opens Friday in select cities and nationwide Friday, September 27th
“Rush” is set in the mid-seventies and cinematographer Anthony Dod Mantle captures this period wonderfully. He also captures the heightened sense of drama and uncertainty that is ever-present in the world of F1 racing – which dense, ironclad, skies and torrential downpours during the racing season portend.
James and Nikki both get their start in the lower ranks and take their budding rivalry all the way to the pinnacle of the sport. But, the two men couldn’t be any more different.
James Hunt is sex; he’s gorgeous and instinctive. He is a high-performance machine on the track as well as in bed. He probably couldn’t tell you why is fast; he just knows that he is. He is unfaithful to his model wife Suzy Miller (played by Olivia Wilde). She is desirable but unloved as marriage does not suit James. James Hunt is carefree and he is risky both in his personal life and on the racetrack.
In contrast Nikki Lauda is short and it is generally accepted that he looks like a rat. He is logical and his ability to see things for what they are is poetic. Nikki knows the risk involved and doesn’t take for granted the difference 1 percent can make. He races with a chip on his shoulder wanting to prove his family and others wrong and himself right.
Nikki hurries from a race to his nuptials. His wife Marlene (played by Alexandra Maria Lara) is not a model, but she is the picture of strength and resolve, and her commitment to Nikki is acknowledged by the driver in the final race of the season’s final race.
Only forty-five days after his terrible accident almost claimed his life, Nikki Lauda makes a miraculous return to the track. Everyone is surprise and delighted including James Hunt. This marks a turn in the relationship between the two men toward acknowledge, respect. However, you can’t really tell by Nikki’s disposition. Never the diplomat, when James confesses to Nikki his feelings of being responsible for his accident, Nikki agrees with him. But he also credits James for being just as responsible for getting him back on the track.
The championship comes down to the final race of the season which should be postponed because of in climate weather, but the television rights have already been sold and the race must go on. Anyway, under these worst of conditions, James and Nikki remain through to who they are in their actions and make it easy to cheer for both sides down to the end of the very last race. What a ride!
A soundtrack that accents the overall tone of the film, and editing that illustrates exhilarating action sequences; drive home the testosterone fueled nature of the sport, its conquest, its exhalations, and its tragedies. These and well-placed narration by our stars result in the kind of exquisite filmmaking only a director of Howard’s ilk can render.
“Rush” is one of the year’s best. Ron Howard is also one of the year’s best in bringing the story of these geniuses of the racetrack to the big screen.
“Rush” gets four sweet potatoes out of four from me.
This has been your resident moviegoer and I will see you after the movies at moviegoersview.com.
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