Rush, the latest film from Ron Howard, is the type of film that I usually hate.
It’s big, bombastic, and so extremely mainstream that it actually features Chris Hemsworth uttering the line, “This is what I was born to do,” without a hint of irony. This is a film about rich boys playing with expensive toys and the movie’s portrayal of women manages to make Aaron Sorkin look enlightened by comparison. Finally, the film is about a sport that I previously knew nothing about and, after having spent two hours watching this film, I still know very little about.
And yet, I didn’t hate Rush. In fact, I really enjoyed it and I think the reason why comes down to one thing.
I have a weakness for hot guys who drive fast cars.
Rush tells the true story about the rivalry between two Formula One racers, the flamboyant Englishman James Hunt (Chris Hemsworth) and the extroverted German Niki Lauda (Daniel Bruhl). The film follows them from their first meeting in 1970 until they both find themselves competing for the Formula One championship in 1976. Along the way, we watch how both of them deal with the temptations that went along with being a rich celebrity in the 1970s. (Lauda resists the majority of them. Hunt does not.) Along the way, one of them struggles to recover after a horrifying accident and both of them try to maintain a balance between their personal lives and the fact that each race they run could potentially be their last. (In one of the film’s best scenes, Niki explains that he’s prepared to accept a 20% chance of dying during a race but not a point more.)
Plotwise, Rush is pretty much a standard sports film, full of men talking about the importance of being men while women stare up at them with adoration. Inspirational speeches are delivered and everything comes down to one final race. If, like me, you’re not into Formula 1 racing, the film can occasionally be difficult to follow. During one extended montage of cars racing across the world and occasionally crashing, I found myself seriously wondering how many races could possibly be run in a Formula One season. As the film reached its conclusion, James and Niki started talking about which racers have the most points. Their conversation would have undoubtedly been easy to follow for someone who was into Formula One but for me, it took a few minutes to figure out what they were going on about.
However, none of that matters.
Rush works.
There’s a lot of reasons why Rush works. The film’s glossy recreation of the 1970s (in all of its frequently tacky glory) is enjoyable to watch and Hans Zimmer’s score is properly loud and majestic. Both Hemsworth and Bruhl give good performances, with Hemsworth coming across as properly flamboyant and Bruhl bringing some much-needed humor to a character who, in the hands of a lesser actor, could have been insufferable. Both Olivia Wilde and Alexandra Maria Lara do good work bringing seriously underwritten characters to life.
However, the film’s ultimate success belongs to director Ron Howard.
Ever since Frost/Nixon prevented The Dark Knight from getting a best picture nomination in 2009, there has been a certain loud element of the online film community that has used Ron Howard as a go-to example of a safe and thoroughly commercial director. He is often dismissed as being the epitome of a mainstream, conventional filmmaker.
However, as mainstream as Howard’s sensibility may be, Rush proves that he still knows how to craft an exciting scene. I may have occasionally had trouble keeping track of who was and wasn’t in each car but that didn’t make the races any less thrilling or the accidents any less horrifying. During the film’s best sequences, you feel the thrill of being in control of the uncontrollable and you understand why Niki and James are willing to risk death just so they can experience being alive.
Through the Shattered Lens 
It’s a great true story, but when I heard Howard was directing, I was worried he would turn it into canned cheese, sounds like he pulled it off
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This is an example of a positive review turning me right off a film. I mean, okay, I’ve never seen any of his movies, but that Hemsworth clod seems to possess all the charisma of Brillo (actually, a Brillo pad is more exciting). I’m sick of seeing him shill the latest pay TV packages, as I suffer his monotone, moribund delivery. Ooooh, but he’s Australian, he’s “one of us”, so we have to be proud of him, right?
What grabbed my attenion from the film poster for “Rush” was the appearance of two names: Daniel Bruhl and Alexandra Maria Lara. If you’ve watched enough German cinema in the past decade, you’d recognise these names, particularly Bruhl (“Goodbye, Lenin!”, “Der Edukators”, “Ein Freund von Mir”–all really interesting films, by the way), who seems to be everywhere (and given he speaks Spanish as well as German and English, he’s also appeared in numerous Spanish productions). But as curious as I am (make that “was”) to see these players in an Anglo setting, Hollywood will have to do better than this.
I wasn’t aware that Ron Howard took such a bollocking from the “Dark Knight” acolytes, but I will say that “Frost/Nixon” was much better than “The Dark Knight”. A safe director who panders shamelessly to the almighty dollar? That’s Christopher Nolan right there. Lots of big names, big explosions, whiz-bang special effects, computer-generated imagery, pseudo-intellectualism—you don’t get any “safer” than this. At least “Frost/Nixon” took a risk by potraying Tricky Dick in a somewhat sympathetic light—disagreeable though it may be, but a risk nonetheless.
I’ve never understood the attraction to men who drive fast cars. Let’s face it, men who WALK are much cooler. From Jesus Christ to Kwai Chang Caine—any bozo can, after a few lessons, sit in a car and turn a key, and all too often, it’s quite obvious that a lot of men who are obsessed with their cars have…erm, “issues”. To quote “Super Amigos”, a great documentary from Mexico: “To walk is to be fearless”.
By the way, nobody should ever confuse this for being a “sports movie”, given the fact that it’s not about a sport. Racings cars does not qualify as a sport. Flying a commercial passenger plane is actually infinitely more challenging, but that doesn’t make every single pilot a world-class athlete.
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It’s a sports movie in that it hit all the usual notes that you expect from a sports movie — inspirational speeches before the final race, conversations about the importance of winning and being the best, and all that.
I figured the presence of a Hemsworth brother would turn you off this film. 🙂 Oh the two leads, Bruhl gives the better performance.
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Daniel Bruhl is a really good actor. If he were THE star of this film, I’d most likely give it a chance. Still, good to see a couple of German performers getting some recognition outside of Germany. Maybe it will double with something more appetising at the Astor and I’ll take a peek. That was my reason for seeing a certain Bollywood-tingerd undeserving winner of eight Oscars a few years ago, because it was paired with “Cheri” starring Michelle Pfeiffer (I saw “Cheri” first and had already paid for both films–it would’ve been the same price if I left after “Cheri”). Not saying that “Rush” could be possibly as annoying as you-know-what.
I was a little bit confused about the whole Hemsworth thing. I thought I’d seen the name “Liam Hemsworth” around, and I’m thinking “Wait, I thought his name was Chris”. Just goes to show you how bland and interchangable a lot of action stars have become.
And no, no, no, NO, it’s STILL not a sports movie! It’s a car racing movie!
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