Rush

The last truly memorable Ron Howard flick came in the form of Willow, which says a lot about him and his skill behind the camera. Don’t get me wrong, he makes entertaining films but unless there’s a midget, old people who become aliens, or a sexy mermaid involved, chances are you’ll forget 95% of the movie within 3 months. Whenever he tries to make a suspenseful action movie I usually end up shouting like Mel Gibson towards the end of it “Give me back my money!!!” I HAD to get a Gibson joke in there even if it was terrible; and yes, if I was a part of the awful Ransom, I too would end up shouting racial slurs while drunk and high on coke. Now to Howard’s credit, I did actually like his Frost/Nixon movie mainly because of the writing, and thankfully he teamed up with the same writer for his latest film Rush.

Since I am from a small town in Texas, I don’t know much about Formula 1 racing. “Whatcha mean der aint no top to that car?” They only care about football and NASCAR in the country. But the story of the rivalry that existed between James Hunt and Niki Lauda is truly fascinating and it’s what makes this film stand out from the other racing movies you’ve seen in the past. Peter Morgan (writer) did a wonderful job of taking you inside the rivalry that existed between tv host David Frost and President Richard Nixon. You saw in detail what all went into initiating it and how they formed a mutual respect for one another throughout it. Well he uses a similar formula (no pun intended) in this film.

James Hunt was the blond pretty boy that partied hard and had a ton of friends, meanwhile Niki Lauda was the always serious and calculating bore that no one wanted to be around. Thankfully Howard tells the story through the eyes of Lauda, so there isn’t truly a bad guy to root against in the movie. Initially it starts out that way when you are introduced to both characters and you see Hunt with his hot new nurse girlfriend (Game of Thrones’ Natalie Dormer, who gets naked within the first 3 minutes) and Lauda, who is just roaming around by himself. Both of them are on the lower circuit at this point and are simply trying to get noticed so they can move up to the big leagues so to speak. Their first race against one another in this circuit is intense as you can see that they are both clearly head and shoulders above their competition, but for the most part are even with one another when it comes to skill set. It ends with one of their cars getting spun out and an loud argument on the track after the race. This would be one of many to come.

Howard takes you through the beginning of their careers and shows the different paths that each one took to get to the top circuit while also showing you how they kept an eye on one another’s progress. You see the difference in their personalities and how that affected some of the major decisions they made in life and ultimately how it affected their careers, livelihoods, and how their peers and the media viewed them. Now to this point, it sounds like a boring documentary but it is anything but. Howard actually does a decent job filming the races in an entertaining fashion and for the entirety of the film he drives home the point that this was truly a dangerous sport. Formula 1 was very lax in their handling of the safety conditions for the drivers and really didn’t seem to care that at least one driver died during each race. You are honestly scared for the drivers as they make each turn while racing though rainy conditions and avoiding bystanders on the side of the road who are just trying to catch a glimpse of the race. And it isn't until after one critical accident that the tables finally turn for you the viewer in regards to Lauda and how you view him. You can’t help but root for the determined little runt as you see just how deep this rivalry goes. But again, it’s as if Hunt is a bad guy either, he is just as determined as Lauda is to win and in the process nearly destroys his life as well.

Howard kind of takes it light on showing just how much a party boy Hunt actually was. He apparently did coke, boozed, and banged everything in sight for his entire adult life. He touches on it here and there with some one liners and the occasional brief montage but I get the feeling that if Wally Balls from Entourage had directed this, he would’ve done it justice!

I did end up liking this film and will give it a solid rating of FRESH! But I will say that if you check in with me three months from now, I’m pretty sure that the only thing I’ll remember is Game of Thrones girl’s rack.