Entertaining presentation of the battle between extroversion and introversion, a battle that rages on unconsciously in contemporary reality. Ron Howard does his best Tony Scott impression (with a mighty help from the DP, Mantle); at many points during the film I wished Tony were alive to direct the film though; it's successful kitsch but that doesn't make it good. The only thing that really stands out are the characters and their interactions, who are very human and carry their respective baggage, full of flaws and all. A breath of fresh air from Hollywood, who thrive on the black and white dichotomy.
Excellent movie, even for someone who doesn't really have any interest in cars/car racing. Watched this after the Ford vs Ferrari, similar sort of deal, similar great quality.
Lucky enough to watch it with a friend who knows about this thing, probably doubled the viewing time by pausing to discuss further background of events/pratices at the time.
Knew practically nothing going into it but Howard knows how to craft a product to the point that practically anyone can enjoy, and dare I say, love it very much. The star of the show is Daniel Bruhl as Lauda. He is that good of an actor that he can make Lauda a real person to the audience even if they (me included) have no idea who racing icon Niki Lauda is. Watch a few videos of Lauda before or after this movie and you'll be dumbstruck how well Bruhl was able to nail his mannerisms, his voice, and he even looks like him to boot.
Great film. I think if these actors were older and the subject was a bit less 'niche' (that is, the main characters were better known - world leaders etc) they would have both been nominated for Oscars. You believe the film is happening. Great accent by Chris too - as another person mentioned, now I know he can act. I knew Daniel could going in.
When I first saw the trailer for “Rush”, I was honestly not impressed. I remember muttering under my breath that it was going to be a completely cliche racing film with it’s cheap thrills and predictable outcomes. I really have to stop watching trailers and acting like a snob because I ended up really enjoying the film after reading so many positive reviews about it. The film tells the true story of the rivalry between formula 1 drive James Hunt and Nikki Lauda. It reminded me of an excellent documentary that is required viewing for anybody who enjoys racing or even documentaries in general. “Senna”, which chronicles a nearly identical rivalry between Ayrton Senna and Alain Prost, is a fantastic film that should be seen is you enjoyed “Rush” as much as I did. “Rush”, which took some liberties to dramatize the rivalry between Hunt and Lauda, still tells the story of what actually happened in the two years that the drivers were the best in the world. They are stories of true adrenaline filled eras that I don’t think have been seen since.
I think the first thing to be said about “Rush” is that it is an intense ride. Ron Howard, who I’ve always regarded as a very good director, crafted a thing of beauty when he made this film. I was on the edge of my bed watching this. It’s late where I live. I don’t usually watch films this late but I felt the urge to watch something but was a little skeptical on whether or not I was going to finish it. I had no problem finishing this film. The race sequences were some of the best action sequences of the last few years. Howard took advantage of every single sharp turn and car overtake to deliver a ride that made me feel like I was in the driver seat. Recently I drove down to Jersey City where they have some pretty fast go-karts. I think they got up to 45 mph which is nothing compared to the speeds of this movie but just fast enough to be an exhilarating experience. Watching the race sequences in this film put me right back in that kart flying around turns and overtaking fat middle aged men and their wives whom they dragged along onto the go-kart track. I should go back because it was honestly all I could think about watching the film. I didn’t expect that to happen.
The other great part of this film was the acting from both leads. Chris Hemsworth proved to me that he is a fully capable actor. I always thought he was just perfectly cast to play Thor and that his acting skills rode shotgun to a talented casting director but he really can excel in certain roles and he excelled in this. Daniel Bruhl however, stole the entire film. He perfectly portrayed the real life Nikki Lauda. He was able to get me to go back and forth between rooting against him and rooting for him. It’s a shame that most movies only consider one person to be the lead actor, usually the one who gets paid the most or is the most popular but this film proved that there can be two leads commanding the screen and when it really came down to it, Bruhl ran away with it.
I did have a problem with the film. The screenplay, which was mostly solid, failed miserably when it came to Olivia Wildes’ character. She was introduced and before I knew it she was married to Jame Hunt and before I blinked another eye she was gone. There was zero emotion whatsoever between the two of them. I barely saw them even kiss yet I was supposed to feel for them when the nature of their relationship came into question. It was completely necessary to even have her in the film and if the rest of the film wasn’t so engaging, would have completely distracted from an otherwise sound script. There was also way too many shots by Howard depicting nudity where there just shouldn’t have been. I’m a straight male, but even I was thinking “why the hell did you have to have these nude shots that contributed nothing to the film other than the source of erections?” It was just a strange tactic.
Other than that the film was pretty fantastic. It managed to balance the pretty boy lifestyle of James Hunt with the serious and precise lifestyle of Nikki Lauda without coming off redundant or preachy. It successfully ran home the theme that life will give you enemies and that they are just as important as friends. They give you something to be ambitious about and in the case of Nikki Lauda, fight through horrible circumstances. I don’t think it should be in IMDB’s top 250 films of all time but it was an addicting film with some of the best action scenes I’ve seen in a long time.
Perfect camerawork and direction, a screenplay that has literally been worked out to the nuts and bolts, a gripping story between two opposites with a love-hate relationship, and everything done right to bring us back to the 1970s with props that often must have been hard to come by. No effort was spared for this film. It'll keep you captivated for the full two hours.
My only point of criticism would be that
with all this quality, the scene showing Hunt drinking and the record playing to the end was unoriginal and frankly a bit unnecessary
pretty poor! the story itself is not hugely interesting but they could have made it so with a better script and characterisation, both of which were unrealistic (over the top) and meant the film was a bit of a joke at times. still it had a few redeeming features with a couple of memorable scenes and the race scenes managed to be engaging on the whole. only 4 or 5/10 though
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Comments 1 - 15 of 38
Louis Mazzini
Shallow story and cartoonish characters. It will probably win a couple of Oscars, it's that bad.rakesh
I thought this movie would be boring when i watched it & i told to myself "this movie will be one of my favorite"(9/10)mysteryfan
First of all, why are F1 movies so awesome? Senna was terrific. Now this one.Excellent movie, much more than about just being an F1 movie, really liked the rivalry between the two protagonists, i would rate it 9.5/10
aniforprez
excellent movie. literally no flaws i can think of.great acting, brillliant cinematography, directing, editing, score etc.
10/10
karuss
Entertaining presentation of the battle between extroversion and introversion, a battle that rages on unconsciously in contemporary reality. Ron Howard does his best Tony Scott impression (with a mighty help from the DP, Mantle); at many points during the film I wished Tony were alive to direct the film though; it's successful kitsch but that doesn't make it good. The only thing that really stands out are the characters and their interactions, who are very human and carry their respective baggage, full of flaws and all. A breath of fresh air from Hollywood, who thrive on the black and white dichotomy.Tidorith
Excellent movie, even for someone who doesn't really have any interest in cars/car racing. Watched this after the Ford vs Ferrari, similar sort of deal, similar great quality.Lucky enough to watch it with a friend who knows about this thing, probably doubled the viewing time by pausing to discuss further background of events/pratices at the time.
danisanna
Impressive movie. Really enjoyable.DisneyStitch
Knew practically nothing going into it but Howard knows how to craft a product to the point that practically anyone can enjoy, and dare I say, love it very much. The star of the show is Daniel Bruhl as Lauda. He is that good of an actor that he can make Lauda a real person to the audience even if they (me included) have no idea who racing icon Niki Lauda is. Watch a few videos of Lauda before or after this movie and you'll be dumbstruck how well Bruhl was able to nail his mannerisms, his voice, and he even looks like him to boot.aussieflickfan
Great film. I think if these actors were older and the subject was a bit less 'niche' (that is, the main characters were better known - world leaders etc) they would have both been nominated for Oscars. You believe the film is happening. Great accent by Chris too - as another person mentioned, now I know he can act. I knew Daniel could going in.stexdo
The race scene are great and the story is pretty good. The dialogue is bad in usual Howard fashion. If you like F1 it's a must see.roxannepena
I'm not a fan of sports films but this one is very enjoyable, heart-warming and easy to understand even if I didn't have any background in racing.The_Comatorium
When I first saw the trailer for “Rush”, I was honestly not impressed. I remember muttering under my breath that it was going to be a completely cliche racing film with it’s cheap thrills and predictable outcomes. I really have to stop watching trailers and acting like a snob because I ended up really enjoying the film after reading so many positive reviews about it. The film tells the true story of the rivalry between formula 1 drive James Hunt and Nikki Lauda. It reminded me of an excellent documentary that is required viewing for anybody who enjoys racing or even documentaries in general. “Senna”, which chronicles a nearly identical rivalry between Ayrton Senna and Alain Prost, is a fantastic film that should be seen is you enjoyed “Rush” as much as I did. “Rush”, which took some liberties to dramatize the rivalry between Hunt and Lauda, still tells the story of what actually happened in the two years that the drivers were the best in the world. They are stories of true adrenaline filled eras that I don’t think have been seen since.I think the first thing to be said about “Rush” is that it is an intense ride. Ron Howard, who I’ve always regarded as a very good director, crafted a thing of beauty when he made this film. I was on the edge of my bed watching this. It’s late where I live. I don’t usually watch films this late but I felt the urge to watch something but was a little skeptical on whether or not I was going to finish it. I had no problem finishing this film. The race sequences were some of the best action sequences of the last few years. Howard took advantage of every single sharp turn and car overtake to deliver a ride that made me feel like I was in the driver seat. Recently I drove down to Jersey City where they have some pretty fast go-karts. I think they got up to 45 mph which is nothing compared to the speeds of this movie but just fast enough to be an exhilarating experience. Watching the race sequences in this film put me right back in that kart flying around turns and overtaking fat middle aged men and their wives whom they dragged along onto the go-kart track. I should go back because it was honestly all I could think about watching the film. I didn’t expect that to happen.
The other great part of this film was the acting from both leads. Chris Hemsworth proved to me that he is a fully capable actor. I always thought he was just perfectly cast to play Thor and that his acting skills rode shotgun to a talented casting director but he really can excel in certain roles and he excelled in this. Daniel Bruhl however, stole the entire film. He perfectly portrayed the real life Nikki Lauda. He was able to get me to go back and forth between rooting against him and rooting for him. It’s a shame that most movies only consider one person to be the lead actor, usually the one who gets paid the most or is the most popular but this film proved that there can be two leads commanding the screen and when it really came down to it, Bruhl ran away with it.
I did have a problem with the film. The screenplay, which was mostly solid, failed miserably when it came to Olivia Wildes’ character. She was introduced and before I knew it she was married to Jame Hunt and before I blinked another eye she was gone. There was zero emotion whatsoever between the two of them. I barely saw them even kiss yet I was supposed to feel for them when the nature of their relationship came into question. It was completely necessary to even have her in the film and if the rest of the film wasn’t so engaging, would have completely distracted from an otherwise sound script. There was also way too many shots by Howard depicting nudity where there just shouldn’t have been. I’m a straight male, but even I was thinking “why the hell did you have to have these nude shots that contributed nothing to the film other than the source of erections?” It was just a strange tactic.
Other than that the film was pretty fantastic. It managed to balance the pretty boy lifestyle of James Hunt with the serious and precise lifestyle of Nikki Lauda without coming off redundant or preachy. It successfully ran home the theme that life will give you enemies and that they are just as important as friends. They give you something to be ambitious about and in the case of Nikki Lauda, fight through horrible circumstances. I don’t think it should be in IMDB’s top 250 films of all time but it was an addicting film with some of the best action scenes I’ve seen in a long time.
4/5
http://thoughtsfromthebooth.com/2014/03/10/film-review-rush-2013/
Irynasami
Simply A-M-A-Z-I-N-G. It's more than just about cars and racing. It has soul in it.Eddyspeeder
Perfect camerawork and direction, a screenplay that has literally been worked out to the nuts and bolts, a gripping story between two opposites with a love-hate relationship, and everything done right to bring us back to the 1970s with props that often must have been hard to come by. No effort was spared for this film. It'll keep you captivated for the full two hours.My only point of criticism would be that
jacktrewin
pretty poor! the story itself is not hugely interesting but they could have made it so with a better script and characterisation, both of which were unrealistic (over the top) and meant the film was a bit of a joke at times. still it had a few redeeming features with a couple of memorable scenes and the race scenes managed to be engaging on the whole. only 4 or 5/10 thoughShowing items 1 – 15 of 38