Rush lives true to its title
Introduction
Rush (2013) is a biographical action film by two-time Academy Award director Ron Howard and written by a fellow two-time Academy Award nominee, Peter Morgan. Rush is an intriguing big-screen recreation of the rivalry between the British driver James Hunt (for McLaren) and Nikki Lauda (for Ferrari) during the 1976 Formula One season. Hunt – – a casual risk-taker on the track, womanizing playboy of a driver – is played by Australian actor Chris Hemsworth (Dayoub 1). Driver Lauda – a methodical, industrious, a rational assessor of risk, and typically not much fun – is played by German actor Daniel Brűhl. These two main characters are not only contrasting on the Grand Prix racetrack but also in their personal lives. While Hunt competed for the fun, the good times and the glory, Lauda approached all his races as if they could be solved with quadratic equations. The film’s target audience is mainly ardent lovers of sports movies and action thrillers, as well as movie snob in search of screaming roller-coaster ride more often.
Rush, an epic action film, premiered in London on 2nd September, 2013 before being released theatrically on 13th September 2013. According to Marshall Fine of the Huffington Post, Rush is a daring movie for tackling a subject matter that is not an outright audience magnet. Personally, I find the subject matter of the film to be both middlebrow and mainstream, and it is not only engaging but also audience-friendly. However, according to Anthony Lane of The New Yorker, Rush would have gotten it right if the story was told in a chronological order- starting in the early seventies and proceed from there. In my opinion, Rush compares well with Senna (2010) – a documentary film that depicts the motor racing career of Brazilian driver Aryton Senna and his rivalry with fellow driver Alain Prost. Rush is a movie that makes rousing viewing and lives to its title.
General summary of the plot
Daniel Bruhl and Chris Hemsworth star as legendary rival F1 drivers Nikki Lauda and James Hunt respectively in this biographical action-drama set in the golden age of motor racing in the 1970s (Grouden 1). Hemsworth (driving for McLaren) and Lauda (driving for Ferrari) are contrastingly different both on and off track. While Hunt’s showy public persona conflicts with Lauda’s character for tightly-controlled perfectionism, both Formula drivers have one commonality – they are the most highly skilled drivers at the time.
During the famous 1976 German Grand Prix held at the Nürburgring, a horrific crash almost claims the life of the meticulous Lauda. This marks a turning in the rivalry as a grudging respect starts to emerge between the two top racers following Hunt’s realization of the great devotion his greatest adversary has for the sport they both love (Macnab 1). The climax of the 1976 season is marked by the rainy Japanese Grand Prixx, in which stiff competition and dangerous racing conditions finally determines the champion between Hunt and Lauda.
Film evaluation
Rush is a brainchild of playwright and screenwriter Peter Morgan in collaboration with director Ron Howard. Morgan, also the author of Award winning films The Queen and Frost/Nixon¸ is an acclaimed writer who excels at showcasing the nuts-and-bolts of great historical events in the human sense (Grouden 1). The writer manages to create lovable yet contrasting characters – the one naturally flamboyant, while the other a perfectionist with a stroke of genius. According to David Gritten of Telegraph this film’s texture is attributable to screenwriter Peter Morgan’s excellent ability to write modern ‘history plays’, precisely rendering known well know facts whilst imagining vividly conversations behind closed doors. However, according to film critic Susan Wloszczyna of the Elbert Digital LLC, “The action is fueled by a lot of pre-race trash talk, plenty of disparaging press-conference interviews and on-camera braggadocio, much plotting to maximize speed and outmaneuver the competition, tons of commentary during the actual races, followed by get-your-motor-running vroom-vroom on the track.” I am in disagreement with Wloszczyna because there is denying that the off-track play between characters in Rush is as intriguing as their duel on the racetrack.
Gritten declares that Rush breaks the mould associated with motorsport films – as vanity projects often depicting very fast cars and drivers without much concern for decent scripts. He argues that the racing scenes in Rush “are thrilling, and the personal dynamics in the pits and away from the track genuinely intriguing. Here’s a Formula One story that’s not just for petrolheads… Rush combines studios’ production values and their penchant for action with British-flavoured storytelling.” I find these sentiments totally true considering that Eric Fellner, a producer of the thoughtful and visceral Senna, is also in charge of working titles for Rush. Conversely, Fine argues that “watching auto racing – whether on TV or on film – isn’t particularly compelling. You are always conscious of the camera and the contrivance.” He further adds “I didn’t find Rush remotely exciting, though I understand why some people would. But chatter about it as an Oscar contender is simply laughable. It’s a solid popcorn movie, nothing more.” On the contrast, it is my conviction that the director does well to pull a throwback into the 1970s era when filmmakers were more risk-taking. Howard achieves this fete by taking on a subject matter presently not popular with the audience and makes a blockbuster. In fact, I find it to be as middlebrow and mainstream as other Howard’s oeuvres. Horward uses his skills and craftsmanship to tell a story with historical relevance in an overly engaging and audience-friendly manner (Macnab 1).
According to film critic Ben Keingsberg of the A.V. Club, Rush “is a foursquare sportsmanship movie, offering little in the way of surprises but plenty of earnest, satisfying thrills.” Ben nodes the racing sequences of the film which are both crowd-pleasing and horrifying as would be expected. Wloszczyna states that Rush suffers the same problem of most race-track movies although efforts have been made to give the viewer a behind-the-wheel point-of-view. She further argues that “as physically intense as racing might be, cinematically it’s tough to portray as anything but repetitious. What’s onscreen is a bunch of helmeted drivers in cramped vehicles chasing each other in circles with a few hairpin turns tossed in until the finish line looms—and, unlike real life, the results have already been determined.” While Wloszczyna’s sentiments carry some weight, it is unfortunate that she fails to take into consideration that Rush is a biographical action movies, based on true events. There had to be predetermined results because it is a recreation of a historical account in the public domain, thus twisting the outcome would significantly distort its historical accuracy.
The acting
In my opinion, the two main characters of Rush, Hemsworth and Hunt, play out their roles rather well. The German actor Daniel Brűhl plays the duor Australian Lauda with remarkable conviction. Hemsworth, with his good looks and blond locks fits well into the appearance of Hunt, notwithstanding the fact that he lacks the McLaren legend’s elements of sexual magnetism. Gritten admits that Hunt ably “carries off an essentially British brand of insouciance to good effect.” I think Hunt’s recklessness is particularly inherent to motorsport racing for success as he puts it himself: “It’s just a little coffin, really, surrounded by high-octane fuel all around—for all intents and purposes, it’s a bomb on wheels.” Equally, Brűhl’s Lauda does well to grow in stature with the progress of the film, especially from the film’s climax – his near-fatal accident after swerving his Ferari off the track during the German Grand Prix, he effectively becomes the emotional center of the entire story. Rush manages to underscore the fact that inside those infernal machines are real men, vulnerable flesh and blood literally cheating death in the quest of becoming champion. Hemsworth is best acclaimed for his roles in Thor and The Avengers as the Norse deity. Brühl is remembered by the audiences for his role as a Nazi war hero in Inglourious Basterds and award-winning turn in Good Bye, Lenin, a post-iron curtain drama. In this regard, these characters ultimately show how bitter dislike of each other result in some sort of mutual respect only possible when each of them put their lives on the line to do what they love. However, Wloszczyna regrets that this moment arrives too late to break up a wearying pattern of bragging, bashing and crashing.”
Rush is criticized for dwelling on Hunt’s strained relationships as seen through his model wife Suzy Miller (played by Olivia Wilde). Kenigsberg argues that she “barely logs any screen time before she runs off with Richard Burton”. This is backed up by Lane who states: “Hemsworth’s Hunt gets involved with a British model (Olivia Wilde), but the connection feels manufactured and convenient, rather than important to the story – here’s the love interest and oops, there she goes because he loves his cars more than he does her. Shocking.” I agree that this is about as interesting as Suzy manages to get, thus adding little but eye candy in the film. In the same vein, Lauda’s wife, Marlene Knaus (played by Alexandra Maria Lara) fares worse off by mostly standing around in silence though showing concern. The acting is also dealt a blow by the depiction of Lauda as cruelly disregarding his spouse’s wishes, considering the fact that he was the more amiable character of the pair. Wloszczyna argues that “While Hemsworth as Hunt and Daniel Brühl as Lauda are perfectly believable as their characters, I found it hard to root for either one—although Brühl’s charisma-impaired Lauda is closest to being a sympathetic Salieri-like underdog.” Generally, therefore, it is my belief that the film Rush succeeds to live up to its title by inducing plenty of adrenalin in the audience through its racing scenes that are superbly loud and cut-lightning fast, especially in the death-defying close-ups.
Directing and editing
The greatest plus for Rush directing has to be the overwhelming success of giving first priority to characters above the spectacle of the film. Director Howard is notable for his character-focused pictures; equally he has directed Rush with the same much care and devotion as his previous projects such as Frost/Nixon, Apollo 3, A Beautiful Mind, and Cinderella (Abrams 1). It needed expert directing to place characters to the front and centre with the racing scenes coming distance second. This makes Rush to be a biographical action-dram that is way more than fast cars and accompanying glamorous lifestyles. The brilliance of the film’s directing and editing is particularly evident in the thrilling final championship race, which achieves the same impact as the live TV race in 1976.
The pacing of Rush varies considerably, occasionally reaching an perfect stride that balances the action especially on the track along with drama off it. However, I think it often makes the blunder of letting a single element too much screen time such on the races. The spotlighting of one aspect breaks the earlier connections the audience formed with characters, resulting in half-hearted and messy narration.
Several times, the camera gets so close to either Hemsworth’s or Brühl’s eye that the viewer can take not of each trembling lash of the driver. This achieves both a startlingly beautiful and naked image that leaves no room for the actor to hide when the camera gets too close, thus enabling the audience to cross the border between fiction and documentary and get a clear idea of what’s going on in the character’s head. Kenigsberg asserts, “The editing keeps each grand prix remarkably clear; especially as the clock winds down, it’s almost possible to feel the grinding motors and splashing mud.” The directing and editing manages to make the two adversarial driver to do as much to push one another too their respective more than any coaches and supporters ever could.
Cinematographer Anthony Dod Mantle shot the film in exhilarating fashion, managing to make the audience feel they at the heart of the action. Mantle, who also shot several Danny Boyle films such Slumdog Millionaire and 127 Hours, mounted about three dozen cameras on cars and inside drivers’s helmets during the race scenes to achieve a jolting immediacy not possible from a safe distance shooting.
Art Direction
According to Stacy Grouden of the Film Ireland, Rush “the film looks beautiful throughout, with every detail, from the cars, costumes and clubs to the lighting and filters effortlessly evoking the 1970s.” Costume designer Julian Day. Given that hunt and Lauda were rivals and with contradicting personalities, the costume designer captured it well in their costumes by choosing the flamboyant Gucci to outfit Hemsworth’s Hunt whereas Brühl’s Lauda was outfitted by the slightly more conservative yet beautiful Salvatore Ferragamo. The race scenes correctly pop with color while more muted colors are used in the off the track scenes. The race suits expressed verisimilitude by having heavy protective suits with layers of flame-resistant Nomex and fireproof underwear – same as the original Formula One suits.
Conclusion
Rush is a skillfully executed film to recreate the rivalry between motor racing legends of the 1970s, Hunt and Lauda. It takes specially skilled filmmakers to recreate a project based on real, historical characters of a specific tournament no longer in public consciousness. The director does an excellent job at making the audience to develop care for fascinatingly cinematic personas of a larger-than-life adventure and tragedy. Generally, Rush is an enticing, exhilarating mixture of drama and character development which remains consistent both on and off the track. As such, Rush lives to its title.
References:
Abrams, Bryan, Building the Perfect Engine: The Filmmakers Behind Universal’s Rush, September 19, 2013. Web. September 27, 2013. [http://www.thecredits.org/2013/09/building-the-perfect-engine-the-filmmakers-behind-univerals-rush/].
Dayoub, Rony, Movie Review: Rush (2013). September 27, 2013. Web. September 27, 2013. [http://www.cinemaviewfinder.com/2013/09/movie-review-rush-2013.html].
Fine, Marshall. Movie Review: Rush. September 23, 2013. Web. September 27, 2013. [http://www.huffingtonpost.com/marshall-fine/movie-review-irushi_b_3974874.html].
Gritten, David. Rush, review. September 12, 2013. Web. September 27, 2013. [http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/film/filmreviews/10281663/Rush-review.html].
Grouden, Stacy. Cinema Review: Rush. September 12, 2013. Web. September 27, 2013. [http://filmireland.net/2013/09/12/cinema-review-rush/].
Kenigsberg, Ben. Rush. September 19, 2013. Web. September 27, 2013. [http://www.avclub.com/articles/rush,103071/].
Lane, Anthony. Fast Moves: “Rush” and “Thanks for Sharing.” September 30, 2013. Web. September 27, 2013. [http://www.newyorker.com/arts/critics/cinema/2013/09/30/130930crci_cinema_lane].
Macnab, Geoffrey. Film Review: Rush – the ultimate road movie pits playboy James Hunt against ruthless genius Nikki Lauda. September 2, 2013. Web. September 27, 2013. [http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/films/reviews/film-review-rush–the-ultimate-road-movie-pits-playboy-james-hunt-against-ruthless-genius-nikki-lauda-8795377.html].
Wloszczyna, Susan. Rush. September 20, 2013. Web. September 27, 2013. [http://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/rush-2013].
