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Film Review – Rush

Director:  Ron Howard
Screenplay:  Peter Morgan
Cast:  Chris Hemsworth, Daniel Bruhl, Olivia Wilde, Alexandra Maria Lara
Genre:  Drama
Ratings: ****
Venue:  Ster Kinekor Maerua Mall, Cine 4

Rating Score
* – Poor
** – Average
*** – Good
**** – Very Good
***** – Excellent

Would you push yourself to the limit to be a champion or risk your life to beat the best. That is how high the stakes are for rival race car drivers James Hunt (Chris Hemsworth) and Niki Lauda (Daniel Bruhl). Their rivalry began in their first race as Formula Three racers where Hunt wins the race.
They later manage to both get into Formula One in their own different ways, and the rivalry gets more intense than ever. They try to out race each other in every race that they are in together.  They are the two best in Formula One, the only question is who is the ultimate best. Lauda races for Ferrari and Hunt for MacLaren, each driving a race care that is the absolute best at that time. Throughout the film, it remains a thrill to watch the two very competitive drivers to see who comes out tops in each race.

At first the choice of actors does not seem so impressive. Only Hemsworth sticks out and makes an impression with his flamboyant arrogance and good looks.
(While watching the movie, I was trying to figure out from which movie do I know him, it only hit me when I got home that he is Thor, the god of thunder. Wow, what a transformation.) But as the plot thickens, Bruhl plays his role to perfection as a cool, technical genius who is very precise.
Even the actors with smaller roles play their parts very well making the movie more interesting and pleasantly chaotic. Olivia Wilde who plays Suzy Miller James Hunt’s wife, is the cold calculating model who seems to be in it for the money only.
Alexandra Maria Lara plays Niki Lauda’s wife who is more supporting and understanding even though sometimes she does not always agree with her husband’s actions.
I expected a boring car racing movie that was only made to immortalise privileged people who did next to nothing to get famous. But this turned out not to be the case. Rush is a very heart warming movie that has a lot of life lessons to convey.
You are actually shown how dangerous Formula One was in the 70’s and how hard every member of the crew worked. It also encourages you to push yourself to achieve your dreams and to live a little while you do that
This movie takes you around the world to all the Grand Prix destinations from Spain to South Africa to Japan to name but a few. Seeing all this and how the crowd cheers and seeing the racers on edge and their adrenaline-pumping racing actually gives you a Rush.
 I now get the bigger picture and will not ask again what the fuss is all about with Lewis Hamilton, Micheal Shumacher or Kimi Rikkenon.
You would expect a more dramatic or tragic ending to the movie but I liked the way it ended. It did not make me cry my eyes out but it did give me a sad sort of nostalgic feeling. It may not be one of the Fast and Furious but it is fast and dramatic, and I highly recommend it especially if you are not a Formula One fan. It will open your eyes for the competitive aspects of this highly technical sport even if it’s just a little bit.
And one suggestion: Do not go and watch it with your kids – there are too many explicit sex scenes and too many profanities.

 

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