Rush (2013)
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Critics Consensus: A sleek, slick, well-oiled machine, Rush is a finely crafted sports drama with exhilarating race sequences and strong performances from Chris Hemsworth and Daniel Brühl.
Critics Consensus: A sleek, slick, well-oiled machine, Rush is a finely crafted sports drama with exhilarating race sequences and strong performances from Chris Hemsworth and Daniel Brühl.
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Two-time Academy Award (R) winner Ron Howard (A Beautiful Mind, Frost/Nixon) teams once again with two-time Academy Award (R)-nominated writer Peter Morgan (Frost/Nixon, The Queen) on Rush, a spectacular big-screen re-creation of the merciless and legendary 1970s Formula 1 rivalry between gifted English playboy James Hunt (Chris Hemsworth of The Avengers, Thor) and his disciplined Austrian opponent, Niki Lauda (Daniel Brühl of Inglourious Basterds, The Bourne Ultimatum). (c) Official Site- Rating:
- R (for sexual content, nudity, language, some disturbing images and brief drug use)
- Genre:
- Drama , Action & Adventure
- Directed By:
- Ron Howard
- Written By:
- Peter Morgan
- In Theaters:
- Sep 27, 2013 Wide
- On DVD:
- Jan 28, 2014
- US Box Office:
- $26.9M
Cast
-
Chris Hemsworth
as James Hunt -
Daniel Brühl
as Niki Lauda -
Olivia Wilde
as Suzy Miller -
Alexandra Maria Lara
as Marlene Lauda -
Pierfrancesco Favino
as Clay Regazzoni -
Stephen Mangan
as Alastair Caldwell
Related News & Features
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RT on DVD & Blu-Ray: Rush, Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs 2, and More
– Rotten Tomatoes
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– Rotten Tomatoes
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Critic Reviews for Rush
All Critics (209) | Top Critics (45) | Fresh (186) | Rotten (23)
An entertaining movie with two solid performances that only occasionally stalls because of its sometimes heavy-handed treatment of Hunt and Lauda's differences.
Considering the subject matter, Rush delivers the expected visceral jolts; what's surprising is how endearing it is, even when its two protagonists are behaving like little more than boys with very fast toys.
The script is another Peter Morgan special. Like, say, The Queen and Frost/Nixon, it's a speculative duet built around a moment of newsworthiness.
If you don't already know the story of that season, lucky you; even now, it exerts a ridiculous thrill.
Rush is an outsize Hollywood spectacle about two outsize personalities in conflict, a sleekly assembled thrill machine that makes up in excitement for what it lacks in nuance.
Rush is not a particularly deep film. But more importantly, it is not a film that mistakes itself for deep. And this self-knowledge makes Rush, in some ways, a wiser film than many that aspire to loftier goals.
"Rush" does for Racing what "Rocky" did for Boxing.
Howard's good sense on Rush is to repeat his Frost/Nixon success by surrounding himself with superior writing and acting talent
Rush is pure 'print the myth' stuff -- but since both its heroes really are myths, it gets away with it, with more grace and vigor than you might expect.
One of the best looking and sounding films of the year on top of being one of the most exciting.
Hemsworth and Bruhl quickly develop a rapport, and even though they don't share much screen time together their relationship as Lauda and Hunt is convincing, funny, cool, and often emotional, and the same goes for the rest of Howard's [movie].
This is still an exciting story about competition, but without that stirring moment of humanity that helps sports movies win over the audience, Rush comes up a lap short.
It's a duel of dualism, with audiences leaning into the corners to decide whether to ally themselves with Hunt's hedonism or Lauda's hard-headedness. Howard's triumph is that the choice is never an easy one.
Morgan's talent for dramatizing recent history remains unimpaired, the race scenes are harrowingly exciting, and Howard gets fine performances from all, especially Brühl in a showcase breakout role.
Ron Howard understands how to frame intense action sequences, but frequently lacks the emotional leverage to avoid cliché.
...a satisfying biopic that gets the job done efficiently and without much fanfare
Howard and Morgan call the movie Rush, and that's pretty much what it delivers, to no greater purpose than one of those five-hour energy shots you can buy at a deli counter, but certainly with no less of a kick.
Even if you don't know your Formula One from Baby Formula, director Ron Howard has fashioned a powerful drama that will thrill even novices to the sport.
Contains plenty of hairpin curves, but its most welcome twist is the way it reverses expectations in its presentations of the rival drivers, Hunt and Lauda.
The thriller tells us all we need to know about the real-life champion Formula 1 rivals in the early 1970s.
Howard opts for excitement over subltety in his Formula One movie. Why not?
As well as brandishing his usual mastery for pacing gutsy dramas, [director Ron] Howard's command over his division of digital artists results in some great sequences once the action moves to the track.
Really snappy entertainment, and the great art of making slick entertainment for adult audiences has been too long forgotten.
Rush will find your inner petrol head as you're faced with the reality that there's a knife's edge between death and glory.
Audience Reviews for Rush
Absolutely riveting, Rush pits two drivers with polar personalities against one another but manages to have the audience cheer for both sides equally as their nail biting rivalry grows throughout the film.
Rush isn't just an adrenaline fueled competition between two larger than life racers though, It's more so a poignant character study as they're both sorely flawed yet romantically idolized. Hemsworth and Bruhl are simply magnificent in their roles, truly convincing us that these people lived and breathed.
If you love a great character study and a plot that manages to intertwine it with action packed tension then this film is most definitely for you. It's smart, exciting and a real treat to look at.
Super Reviewer
A superb drama by Ron Howard about rivalry between two greatest F1 racer in history, James Hunt vs Niki Lauda.. And to tell you the truth, I'm kinda amazed with Chris Hemsworth performance in this movie because before this movie I always look at him as the actor who depends on his look but I was wrong.. While Daniel Bruhl came and gave a stronger performance as Niki Lauda, the way he portraying him were outstanding.. Overall, it's a great movie that been overlooked by the academy this year..
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Super Reviewer
A supremely entertaining adrenaline charged film about two rival Formula One racers (Chris Hemsworth, Daniel Bruhl), and how each battled each other in the mid 70's for the title of world champion of their sport. Director Ron Howard shows plenty of muscle in the flash department, and deserves a ton of credit for putting together some startling, awesome race sequences. The acting is also phenomenal, and although Hemsworth might get top billing due to his movie-star persona, it is Bruhl who shows just how talented and great an actor he is, in an Oscar-caliber performance. This film does a great job borrowing from the "Warrior" style of how to tell a sports story, where you go back and forth from pulling and sympathizing from these two characters. This is a special sports film, and one that effortlessly moves through its two-hour time frame.
MoreSuper Reviewer
Everyone's driven by something.
Very Good Film! The camera work is spectacular, none less so than with some very creative angles of the beautifully filmed on track action. The brief in-helmet camera shots are inspired, giving you a glimpse of the drivers world. It is difficult to make a good movie about car racing, especially to make one for the time period from 1970 to 1976. I don't know how they did it to bring those old F1 cars back to life. You will feel like you are really there watching the racing, it's really unbelievable. It is truly touching to see each character played their perfect role for this movie, Chris Hemsworth did a great performance, he is such a talented and devoted actor. Daniel Brühl also did a great job on portraying the eccentric and unsociable legendary F1 driver Niki Lauda. A great movie is like having a great meal, a good starter, a good soup/salad, a good main course and a good dessert, well balanced. Rush is that good meal, it's a fun ride! Go see it!
Set against the sexy, glamorous golden age of Formula 1 racing in the 1970s, the film is based on the true story of a great sporting rivalry between handsome English playboy James Hunt (Hemsworth), and his methodical, brilliant opponent, Austrian driver Niki Lauda (Bruhl). The story follows their distinctly different personal styles on and off the track, their loves and the astonishing 1976 season in which both drivers were willing to risk everything to become world champion in a sport with no margin for error: if you make a mistake, you die.
Super Reviewer
Rush Quotes
- Peter Hunt:
- What's the point of having a million cups and medals if you don't have any fun? How is that winning?
- Lord Hesketh:
- They could never have imagined, those pioneers who invented the automobile that it would possess us like this, our imaginations, our dreams. Nursie, men love women, but even more than that, men love cars.
- Niki Lauda:
- I'm not in a hurry, I'm not being paid, why would I drive fast?
- Niki Lauda:
- Of course he didn't listen to me. For James, one world title was enough. He had proved what he needed to prove. To himself and anyone who doubted him. And two years later, he retired. When I saw him next in London, seven years later, me as a champion again, him as broadcaster, he was barefoot on a bicycle with a flat tire, still living each day like his last. When I heard he died age 45 of a heart attack, I wasn't surprised. I was just sad. People always think of us as rivals but he was among the very few I liked and even fewer that I respected. He remains the only person I envied.
- James Hunt:
- Now go home to your wife and ask her you look.
- Niki Lauda:
- A wise man gets more use from his enemies than a fool from his friends.
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