Rush

Morgan is the man. He conceives the sleek façade of roaring engines and their tamers in fire-proof overalls as an epic drama, with passionate dialogue and a sense of fair play playing a central role. We get all this in the perfect coat of Ron Howard's directorial tricks, for whom the task of creating an atmospheric visual composition is as demanding as preparing breakfast in the morning. The editing camera orgy and the riveting acting (Daniel Brühl is eyeing the Oscars) are so sovereign for two hours that it smacks a little of (traditional) "Howardian calculus," which entertains you for two hours but, like gasoline vapor, wears off by the second day at the latest. That it leaves a very strong and specific odor, I do not deny. 4 ½. (01/01/2014)

This is exactly the kind of film you can successfully recommend to everyone. Rush is, a little paradoxically, a terribly safe movie about a terribly unsafe (at the time) sport. The performances and the direction are great, but unfortunately I can’t share the enthusiasm. It didn’t win my heart. (17/12/2013)

Ron Howard is evidently good at making biopics. Even if you don’t grow fond of Niki Lauda or James Hunt, there is still the final scene that simply launches everything a mile high. But if you’re naturally open-minded when it comes to good movies, you will definitely appreciate that the actors who portray these two characters exactly pinpoint the meaning of the term rivalry as such. Niki Lauda or James Hunt were no idiots, but they were definitely not normal, either. Whatever was between them was something that is no longer fashionable in sports today. It was mutual hatred that was supported by a great deal of respect for one another. This movie captures this perfectly. I cannot but give it a five-star rating. Niki sure must convince you of that at the end of the movie! (11/02/2014)

Howard is more like Niki Lauda - cool, calculating, like a professor with a flair for fine design. Because of this, Rush accelerates incredibly in the racing sequences and stiffens a bit where the film tries to name the destructiveness of racing passion. James Hunt looks like a poster boy (something like a gasoline-smelling pin-up boy) and the best parts aren't the wooden dialogues, but rather the moment when the heroes make a face or gesture after them. Otherwise, Rush is actually a fresh affair in terms of "sports lemonade". It is customary that in sports dramas, the hero has to sacrifice something and deny a piece of himself. Given that the film Lauda has what the film Hunt does not have, and vice versa, the final victory is in fact absolute. Everyone has their truth and their piece of triumph. The moment when, in the end, one cannot decide to whom to cheer for more is quite rare. I would like to point out that Rush idealizes the whole sport like knights, and according to them, it is not possible to perfectly reconstruct the case of "Lauda vs Hunt". I've been waiting all year for a blockbuster that pushes me into my seat and pumps me up with adrenaline. I had Rush as a black horse (don't hit me, I know it's basically on an indie budget). They did their job perfectly. [80%] P.S. Thumbs up for Brühl... Lauda has never been this cool. Cold and sharp as a razor. (24/09/2013)

I don’t remember them. It’s set in 1976 which is ten years before I was born. But thanks to Howard, it doesn’t matter, because he is great at intimating the atmosphere of a time when car racing wasn’t just based on math (the great closing conversation digs a lot at this fact) and when people like hunt were our heroes - knights in shining armor. A perfectly balanced screenplay that has something to say, devoted direction, precise, while it’s clear that this is a labor of love. Hemsworth has never acted so well (or he wasn’t acting and that’s what he’s like) and Brühl simply became Lauda. Rush is a picture that refuels faith in car racing, in movies about car racing and about well-told stories from real life as such. The dialogs are polished, the visuals are somewhere between a modern style and faithfully capturing seventies style, the tension can be cut with a knife and there is no chance to get bored during those two hours. I expect at least three Oscar nominations. The best movie this year so far. Zimmer risks nothing in terms of topic. P.S.: Girls will like this too, even if they don’t like racing, because the racing takes up only about a quarter of an hour of the movie. Happiness is your biggest enemy. (10/10/2013)