In 1976, the rivalry between two brilliant racing car drivers, the British James Hunt and the Austrian Nikki Lauda, came to a head in the almost literally life-and-death struggle of the Formula One championship. American director Ron Howard ("Apollo 13", "A Beautiful Mind", "Frost/Nixon") and British scriptwriter Peter Morgan (both play and screenplay of "Frost/Nixon") have done a terrific job bringing the titanic struggle to the big screen, aided by some excellent casting and powerful sound and cinematography. Those were the days when most years a couple of drivers would be killed, so the stakes could not be higher.
Sensibly the car racing does not over-dominate, since this is essentially a character- driven conflict, but when the racing is on screen - notably in the final race - the excitement is visceral. The Australian Chris Hemsworth (previously best known as "Thor") and the Spanish-born German Daniel Brühl ("Inglourious Basterds") are so good as the British and Austrian drivers respectively that the dialect coaches should receive a special commendation. Arguably Brühl gives the stronger performance which should auger well for his future career.
A great strength of this tale is that there is not a hero or a villain. Both drivers had privileged backgrounds and were superbly talented, but both were flawed. although in very contrasting ways, including styles of thinking, driving and womanising (Olivia Wilde as model Suzy Miller and Alexandra Maria Lara as aristocratic Marlene Knaus respectively).
I never saw the recent film "Senna" (2010) so "Rush" reminded me most of the much older "Grand Prix" (1966), but what is stunning about "Rush" is that it all happened. A season of the fastest sport in the world decided in the last race by one point - you couldn't make it up. Rush to see the movie.
