Review: Rush

by Trevor Kirkendall

★★½

Ron Howard returns to the biopic genre that’s helped him win awards. Surely “Rush” will be another knockout film that will add many more statuettes to his trophy case, right? A 1970s set drama about Formula One racing drivers has to be exceptional. While “Rush” is an entertaining two hours, it does not live up to expectation.

“Rush” chronicles the rivalry between Formula One drivers James Hunt (Chris Hemsworth) and Niki Lauda (Daniel Brühl) during the early-to-mid 1970s. Specifically, the movie focuses on the 1976 season, but not before giving us a little bit of back story on the two drivers. Hunt is a party animal and a womanizer. Early on, we see him putting his moves on an emergency room nurse (Natalie Dormer). He does settle down, at least for a short time, when he meets and marries British model Suzy Miller (Olivia Wilde).

Lauda, on the other hand, is a very focused and determined racecar driver. He’s here despite his family’s disapproval of his career choice. Since he comes from money, he’s able to buy his way into the lower tier Formula Three and eventually into Formula One. It doesn’t take long for teams to recognize his talent and he’s eventually signed by Ferrari. Eventually even Lauda finds love, with Marlene (Alexandra Maria Lara).

On the race track, both Hunt and Lauda are bitter rivals. Hunt thinks Lauda is too uptight at times. Lauda thinks Hunt needs to concentrate more on his driving rather than his image. Throughout the 1976 season, Hunt and Lauda are the two best drivers with Lauda taking a large lead in the points. That is until catastrophic disaster strikes during the German Grand Prix. Lauda wrecks his car on a rain soaked track causing him to miss most of the remainder of the season.

“Rush” does not follow the typical three-act story structure model most Hollywood studio pictures utilize. Screenwriter Peter Morgan, who has scripted other biopics such as “The Last King of Scotland”, “The Queen” and another Howard film “Frost/Nixon”, abandons this method that he’s used before in his screenplays in favor of a more free flowing narrative. The film doesn’t really suffer because of this. There are a few moments where the film feels like it’s taking its time trying to get through certain episodes of history. Overall, the lack of structure doesn’t really do much too negatively affect the film.

Director Howard has never stuck to one genre in particular during his wildly successful directing career. He’s done his share of biopics, including “Apollo 13”, “A Beautiful Mind” and “Frost/Nixon”. He usually has a fair grasp on his subject when it involves real life people. But with “Rush”, it feels that he never fully grasps the characters. There’s not much in these characters for you to become emotionally attached. The moments of empathy are evident but limited. The film only shines during the racing sequences. There might be a little too much CGI for my taste, but it’s all very well choreographed and seamlessly integrated, thanks in part to the talents of Oscar winning cinematographer Antony Dod Mantle. Credit is also due to Howard for being able to realize this vision, and to his longtime film editors Daniel P. Haley and Mike Hill. It leads to many exciting moments. “Rush” works the best when it’s on the racetrack rather than in someone’s house.

The performances from the two leads also help carry the film. Hemsworth proves he’s more than just an over muscled Marvel action hero. He does possess some real acting ability. He’s never really worked off of a great screenplay though. I’d like to see him do a film one day with a great script and see what he can do. He’s worked with many talented filmmakers; now he needs a screenplay. Even with the lack of depth written for him here, he still able to portray to character well enough that we do end up rooting for him at times.

The star of this film is German actor Brühl. He’s an actor I first saw in a small German film about ten years ago called “Good Bye Lenin!” where he turned in an amazing and emotionally charged performance. American audiences were first introduced to him as the war-hero-turned-actor in Quentin Tarantino’s “Inglourious Basterds”. His performance here is, not surprisingly, sensational. The film is being advertised on television and in trailers as being about Hemsworth’s James Hunt character, but this isn’t accurate. Brühl’s Niki Lauda is the star of the film. He’s magnificent in this film, and the only true bright spot in an otherwise average film. Now that Brühl is a recognizable face in American cinema, his career should really take off.

There’s nothing wrong with “Rush”; it’s an enjoyable film. Some parts might be a little drawn out, but they are few and far between. Otherwise, it has pretty quick pace. It’s a lot of fun during the racing scenes, but there aren’t too many to speak about. Most of the racing season is glossed over with montages to make room for more scenes of people sitting and talking. The advertisements show you exactly what this movie is all about. You won’t get anything more that what you’re expecting. That doesn’t mean it’s bad – because it’s not – but it’s far from the exceptional work we’ve come to expect from a film with Ron Howard’s name on the poster.