Rush

Inspired by true events, Rush details the rivalry between ’70s Formula One drivers James Hunt (Chris Hemsworth) and Niki Lauda (Daniel Brühl) – with the film exploring the characters’ exploits in both their professional and personal lives. Though the movie doesn’t exactly open with a lot of promise – Hemsworth’s character is, for example, first glimpsed seducing a nurse à la James Bond – Rush eventually settles to become a consistently engrossing drama that boasts a handful of genuinely exciting racing sequences (although, by that same token, it’s hard not to wish that filmmaker Ron Howard had spent a little more time on the individual races). It’s worth noting, too, that Rush fares quite well in its smaller, more low-key moments, with the movie’s transformation from merely passable to thoroughly watchable triggered by an early interlude in which Lauda first encounters his future wife (Alexandra Maria Lara’s Marlene). There’s similarly little doubt that the film benefits substantially from the above-average efforts of its various stars, with Hemsworth and Brühl’s stand-out work complemented by a supporting cast that includes, among others, Stephen Mangan, Christian McKay, and Olivia Wilde. And although the movie suffers from a rather anticlimactic final stretch – the narrative peaks with a fantastic crash sequence that leaves one of the protagonists badly injured – Rush ultimately stands as a satisfying biopic that gets the job done efficiently and without much fanfare (ie Howard clearly isn’t looking to reinvent the wheel here, so to speak).

*** out of ****