Rush

Earlier this year around the time I started this blog, I made it very clear that I was an automotive nut by reviewing the movie Driven starring Sylvester Stallone. It was an okay movie at best, about two feuding race drivers in a Formula 1-esque environment until one ends up winning the race and their feud is suddenly forgotten or something. I gave it a 3 out of 5 or something. Like I said...it was just okay.

I started looking out for more racing movies to review on this blog. I wanted to find something better. Something like Driven, but done right. My friends turned me to Rush, a 2013 movie directed by Ron Howard about the story of James Hunt and Niki Lauda, two of my personal favorite drivers in the history of motorsport. Now, I had known about this movie ever since it came out...somehow, I completely missed watching it in the theater, I had never gotten a chance to rent it on DVD or VOD, and barely any chances to buy it on Blu-Ray. So, I finally just figured why the hell not, and I rented it to watch on YouTube. I'm very happy I did that...it definitely brightened up my Sunday night.

As I said before, Rush follows the story of the drivers known as James Hunt (Chris Hemsworth) and Niki Lauda (Daniel Brühl) as they climb the ranks and duel each other in the heyday of Formula 1: the mid-1970s. It starts out with the two racing in Formula 3 (a lower class of Formula racing with different cars, for those who didn't know) and their first time meeting each other. It's very obvious they have bad blood to begin with, as in their first race, Hunt causes Lauda to crash, infuriating the latter. However, Lauda manages to buy his way into Formula 1, and Hunt follows suit in order to finally get into the F1 races and keep beating Lauda.

Lauda signs with BRM (British Racing Motors) and Hunt keeps with his own rag tag team as the season starts, and it seems to be a pretty even match between the two. Hunt eventually marries Suzy Miller (Olivia Wilde) to the wishes of his bosses, and the two seem to have a decent romance to begin with, while Lauda focuses on signing with Ferrari and falling in love with Marlene (Alexandra Maria Lara). However, things go downhill for Hunt as he ends up losing the championship that year to Lauda and misses out on signing a new sponsor. Spiraling into depression, he eventually causes Suzy to leave him for Richard Burton as he desperately waits for a moment, but not all is lost as he gets a chance to sign with McLaren for the next year.

As the 1976 season starts, Hunt ends up with more bad luck. He loses the first few races due to engine failure or other reasons, and then when he finally wins a race in Spain, Lauda calls him out for illegal tire usage and Hunt ends up being disqualified. Things get worse as the McLaren team attempts to fix the car to make it legal to race, but it's futile as the car blows its engine in the next two races. Hunt, now infuriated with Lauda, calls him out for being a rat, but Lauda assures him that he had his reasons before turning Hunt's attention to Suzy's running away with Richard Burton. Hunt sinks even lower into anger, but he uses it as he returns to the track in an all-new car, winning the next few races and slowly making his way up the board.

As the German Grand Prix looms, the drivers travel to the fearsome Nürburgring in Germany, and it's looking to be a bleak race as one driver had already died in qualifying and the weather conditions refuse to comply. Lauda attempts to get the race cancelled, but Hunt calls him out as being merely afraid. The race begins with both drivers practically at each others' necks as they set out onto the wet tarmac. Sadly, though, the worst possible thing happens as Lauda's car loses grip and crashes, erupting into flame. The next few scenes are of Lauda recovering in the hospital as Hunt wins race after race, securing his place in the championship just behind Lauda.

Lauda eventually returns to the race to much surprise, and Hunt expresses an apology for pushing him to race in Germany on that day. The two compete against each other for the last few races in the season, and then the final race in Japan looms, turning out to be a climate similar to that fateful day in Germany. The two begin the race, but Lauda soon retires, fearing the fact that he may crash again, giving Hunt the opportunity to finish the race and become the 1976 world champion. 

The two part ways for a short time before meeting again in an airport hangar, where Hunt tells Lauda that he's done. Lauda objects and tells Hunt to keep on going in order to prove that he's the best. Hunt agrees, but during the final montage of the film, it's revealed he ended up leaving the championship in 1978 to become a race reporter before dying in 1993.

This movie is a frigging masterpiece of all media senses. The way that the colors of the booming 1970s were brought out on the screen, the sounds of these rumbling cars down the track, and the exhilirating soundtrack all do this movie wonders. The racing scenes give you chills, and the dramatic scenes between the two main characters will please you even more. It's shocking to think how I slept on this movie for so long...and how it didn't win any Academy Awards...it wasn't even nominated. It's just another movie to add to that list of movies that I want to show the world at least once.

Meanwhile, the casting is brilliant. Every actor and actress looks like their respective character, but honestly the golden ticket in this movie is Daniel Brühl as Niki Lauda. His performance is so captivating, so tear-jerkingly and beautifully awesome and true to the historical driver, that if anyone deserved an Oscar for this movie, it's him. As great as Chris Hemsworth is as an actor and as Hunt, I found myself rooting for Lauda for the most of the movie...all down to how brilliantly Brühl plays the part.

Rush gets 5 out of 5 stars. For a remotely unknown outside of auto circles type of movie, it really surprised me that it kept it together and managed to be a strong movie all throughout. The world needs more racing movies that beat out the mundane Cars 2s and Drivens out there, and this is exactly how to make one.