Rush (2013) [Blu-ray]
Action | Biography | Drama | Sport


Tagline: Everyone's driven by something. (Based on a true story)

The closer you are to death, the more alive you feel. It's a wonderful way to live. It's the only way to drive.

Two-time Academy Award-winner Ron Howard delivers the exhilarating true story of a legendary rivalry that rocked the world. During the sexy and glamorous golden age of Formula 1 racing, two drivers emerged as the best: gifted English playboy James Hunt (Chris Hemsworth, The Avengers) and his methodical, brilliant Austrian opponent, Niki Lauda (Daniel Bruhl, Inglourious Basterds). As they mercilessly clash on and off the Grand Prix racetrack, the two drivers push themselves to the breaking point of physical and psychological endurance, where there's no shortcut to victory and no margin for error. Co-starring Olivia Wilde (Tron: Legacy), it's the heart-racing, epic, action-drama that critics are calling "one of the best movies of this, or any, year" (Pete Hammond, Movieline).

Storyline: Set against the sexy, glamorous golden age of Formula 1 racing in the 1970s, the film is based on the true story of a great sporting rivalry between handsome English playboy James Hunt (Hemsworth), and his methodical, brilliant opponent, Austrian driver Niki Lauda (Bruhl). The story follows their distinctly different personal styles on and off the track, their loves and the astonishing 1976 season in which both drivers were willing to risk everything to become world champion in a sport with no margin for error: if you make a mistake, you die. Written by P. Morgan

Reviewer's Note: Reviewed by Kenneth Brown on January 16, 2014 -- While a fine filmmaker by most standards, director Ron Howard has a reputation for playing it a touch too safe, leaning on method where impulse and innovation would be of greater benefit, indulging in sentimentality and heartstrings, and scraping reality too thin to accommodate convention. Rush, though, is a welcome departure. It certainly isn't the first time Howard has brought a true story to the screen, nor is it far removed from the character-beholden biopic template he's used before. But there's an intensity, spontaneity and viscerality on display here -- on the track and off -- that's decidedly un-Howard. The dynamic, multi-camera racing scenes are unlike any that have ever been filmed, and very little of the resulting high-speed, gut-check drama is attributable to CG wizardry. The performances are uniformly excellent; the product of a slick script, shrewd casting and raw talent. The production design oozes authenticity, from costuming to locations and sets, hair and makeup, on down. Above all, the story of James Hunt and Niki Lauda's 1976 Formula One season is a fascinating one, regardless of one's interest or disinterest in the sport; it's all so attuned to cinematic adaptation that it's almost difficult to accept how much of it actually happened. Rush is easily one of Howard's finest films as well as one of 2013's best.

"Twenty-five drivers start every season in Formula One, and each year, two of us die. What kind of person does a job like this? Not normal men, for sure. Rebels, lunatics, dreamers... people who are desperate to make a mark and are prepared to die trying. My name is Niki Lauda. In racing, people know me for two things. The first is my rivalry with him. I don't know why it became such a big thing. We were just drivers... busting each other's balls. To me this is perfectly normal but other people saw it differently. That whatever it was between us went deeper. The other thing I'm remembered for is what happened in August 1976, when I was chasing him like an asshole."

Rush charts the rivalry between British F1 racer James Hunt (Chris Hemsworth, Marvel's The Avengers) and Austrian Niki Lauda (Daniel Brühl, Inglourious Basterds) and the tragic accident that nearly killed the latter. Hunt, a rock star in racing, is beloved by the masses but a notorious thrill-seeker, substance abuser and playboy, despite being married to supermodel Suzy Miller (Olivia Wilde, Tron Legacy). Lauda, blessed with a brilliant mind, is a more professional, introspective competitor, investing countless hours into improving his car and technique to truly be the best of the best, often at the expense of his relationship with Marlene Knaus (Alexandra Maria Lara, Downfall). Formula One racing in the 1970s is a dangerous sport where a single mistake can end in death. The cars are continuing to grow faster with each passing year while the tracks remain unchanged. Turns become deadlier, curves more treacherous and crashes more terrifying. Fuel tanks are being installed directly below drivers. Shedding weight from the car is a must. Safety becomes less and less of a priority. And the dead and injured aren't dissuading anyone. Whether Lauda or Hunt will win the 1976 season isn't the question. Whether they'll survive is.

Howard and screenwriter Peter Morgan's Hunt and Lauda aren't portrayed as gods or men, but rather something else entirely; death-defying creatures of will and habit (respectively) to whom celebrity and daredevil become synonymous with risk and reward. Hunt embraces his every impulse and desire with abandon, yet exhibits such uncanny skill and control behind the wheel -- reckless as it might appears to a layman -- that he becomes an inexhaustible contradiction. His life is one of chaos and excess, stilled only when gambling with that very same life at breakneck speeds. Lauda, by contrast, is meticulous, obsessive and secretive; a tinkerer and genius with a restless mind and unflappable focus. His life is one of order and calculation, set free only when his endless efforts are put to the test. Both racers are drawn to the track but for such wildly different reasons that the rivalry that develops is between competing philosophies and ambitions rather than a contest between mere sportsmen. Hemsworth and Brühl commit to each role with the same passion and tenacity; they bear somewhat striking resemblances to Hunt and Lauda, sure, but it's their pursuit of truth, to the real Hunt and Lauda and everything that pulled them into the seat of their cars, that makes their performances so hypnotic.

The races, meanwhile, are a rush of adrenaline all their own. Using dozens of cameras, many mounted directly on the cars and drivers, Howard and cinematographer Anthony Dod Mantle create a startlingly involving and masterfully gripping sense of speed and danger. Hunt and Lauda's lives, rivalry and friendship are suddenly that much more fragile and finite, and the suspense that accompanies each lap -- each turn -- is nothing short of remarkable. (To be honest, it's all far more engrossing than this newcomer to F1 racing expected.) Every word and encounter off the track takes on an importance, even a finality, not normally demanded of an audience, and every moment on the track feels like it could be Hunt and Lauda's last. The film's desaturated, nostalgia-fueled '70s and at-times overly composed dialogue is a bit much -- Howard and Morgan occasionally seem more interested in evoking the post-Boom culture and sexual revolution than in necessarily recreating it -- but it's hard to fault the filmmakers for romanticizing the period and the F1 icons when dealing with "men who are willing to kill themselves driving in circles." Minor quibbles aside, Rush took me completely by surprise; quite a feat considering I went into it with zero knowledge of F1 racing, the history of the sport, or of Hunt and Lauda. I certainly didn't think I'd come away with a deep appreciation and awe of it all, yet that's exactly what happened.

Rush is and isn't a racing drama. It is in the sense that it offers more engrossing, thrillingly filmed races than any other movie in the genre, and isn't in the sense that its dual character study is so, so much more. Everything from Morgan's script to Hemsworth and Brühl's performances to Howard's direction are outstanding, and very little careens off the track. It's not only one of Howard's most refined and rewarding to date, it's one of 2013's best films. Thankfully, Universal's Blu-ray release eliminates all distraction with a first class AV presentation and a solid supplemental package. Yes, more special features would have been appreciated, but the hour of extras that's included is well worth watching. This one comes highly recommended.

[CSW] -3.2- This is a character story, a rivalry story, one that explores the nature of rivals pushing each other to be and do better...but, it cannot separate out these things from the physical act of sport of car-racing. Even the dialog is really strong. It's just not a story I'm that interested in unless it has a very poignant moral, an ah ha moment. I don't think the high-level humanity lessons we draw from the film are poignant enough to overcome the general let down I felt with the racing world. So, once is enough for me. From a purely objective filmmaking and performance quality standpoint, this film would rate a lot higher than my rating. And although D-Box really enhanced this movie, it wasn't enough to make me give it a higher rating.
[V4.5-A4.5] MPEG-4 AVC - D-Box 10/10.

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