One of the best films of the year is “Rush,” director Ron Howard’s mesmerising chronicle of the heated rivalry between legendary Formula 1 race car drivers James Hunt and Niki Lauda. And two of the best performances of the year come from Chris Hemsworth and Daniel Brühl as Hunt and Lauda, respectively, who are so perfectly cast in their roles that in the film’s closing moments, when stock footage of the actual Hunt and Laudu are presented to us, we can barely tell them apart from their real-life counterparts.
For a film about cars going around in circles, “Rush” is oddly, stupendously riveting. It opens on the fateful date of 1 August 1976, when the heavens opened up to pour down onto the Nürburgring track at the German Grand Prix, before jumping back to 1970 when a risky manoeuvre by Hunt on a Formula Three track results in Lauda's defeat and sparks their six-year tug of war. Their differences are immediately noticeable: Hunt, a prep schooled Brit, is an arrogant, blonde-locked hunk (not a world away from Hemsworth’s role in Marvel’s “Thor”) always surrounded by fawning admirers; Lauda, an Austrian engineering wiz, is a loner, coldly calculating and generally unlikeable, and is described by Hunt, not inaccurately, as having rat-like features.
Their attitudes towards racing differ greatly. Hunt believes that all that is required is simple speed, while Lauda, criticising Hunt for being too aggressive, believes there's so much more to it than that: “To be a champion, it takes more than just being quick,” he says. "It's the whole picture." But they have their similarities: both are rebels, racing against the wishes of their wealthy families, and both are brilliant racers who wish to become the F1 World Champion, no matter the cost. Screenwriter Peter Morgan, Oscar-nominated for “The Queen” and “Frost/Nixon,” charts their rivalry as they compete against each other across the globe, both usually finishing first or second, as well as detailing their shaky love lives — ever the womaniser, Hunt has a fling with a nurse played by Natalie Dormer and later weds supermodel Suzy Miller, played by Olivia Wilde, while Lauda falls for socialite Marlene Knaus, played by Alexandra Maria Lara.
Howard, who propels the story with roaring horsepower, recreates each race, and indeed each crash, with breathtaking intensity. We are given front-row seats, watching the action through both racers’ helmets, listening to their calm, controlled breathing over the almighty roar of the engine and watching them swiftly calculate their every last-second move — we the audience feel like we are racing in their cars with them, and boy, what a rush it is. Perhaps my lack of prior knowledge concerning the true events aided in my immersion: knowing that every corner of every lap is a potential death trap and that any minor miscalculation could mean a driver's fiery end, I feared for their lives at every turn, waiting for that fatal error — if there was to be one — to finally be made.
It’s of note that the film doesn’t pick a side. The posters, flaunting Hemsworth’s golden good looks, would have you believe that it is Hunt who is the hero and Lauda who is the villain. On the contrary, there is no clear hero or villain in this fact-based sports tale, the film instead leaving us to choose who to root for as these two petrol heads go head to head. I found myself rooting for Lauda: of the two, he suffers the most throughout the story, of which his side is the most tragic. It's to his credit that in playing such a humourless, uptight character, Brühl earns our sympathy. I'll be surprised if he's not up for an Oscar this coming February.
Here we have a powerful study on the nature of obsession. Hunt and Lauda are men obsessed: obsessed with beating each other and obsessed with winning the top prize, risking their lives for the sake of a trophy and their name on the top of a scoreboard. Towards the film’s end, a breaking point is reached, and here the film breaks from Hollywood formula: is the quest for gold really worth risking your life, the film questions, and the answer, surprisingly, is rather ambiguous.
I walked into “Rush" knowing next to nothing about the true story of James Hunt and Niki Lauda and without the slightest interest in motor racing. I walked out feeling exhilarated and eager to find out more about this remarkable piece of sporting history. This is studio entertainment at its finest, and like the extraordinary 2010 documentary “Senna,” also about a Formula 1 legend, it had my heart pounding and made me shed a tear at the races. Who knew watching cars going around in circles could be so emotional?
Rating: 10/10
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