I eat my humble pie Mr. Howard...my apologies

Rating: 9/10 (23 October 2013)

You may wonder what the title of my review means? I think Ron Howard is a brilliant director obviously. However, when I first saw trailers for Rush it did nothing for me. I sort of turned up my nose and thought this was pretty low on the Ron Howard totem pole. I will see pretty much anything in theatres and yet I had no desire to go see this one. For one reason or another that I won't bore you with I ended up at Rush on a cheap night at the theatre. I should have put more faith in Mr. Howard. This was an incredible film. The acting was first rate (Oscar worthy even?) the story was terrific, the action riveting and being based on a true story made it all the more fascinating as it covers what sounds like one of the greatest sports rivalries in history that I had never even heard of. I am not a racing fan, I have never even sat down to see more than ten seconds of a car race and yet this story could impress anyone. This is about two larger than life characters that have this rivalry that leads to this incredible level of respect between them. At times it had a little bit of a Rocky feel to it as many sports films do but it was all around and excellent and very entertaining experience.
A big part of that is Chris Hemsworth who literally gives the performance of his young career. Hemsworth was brilliant. Hemsworth was Oscar worthy. Best of all to me he proved he is more than Thor or a pretty face because he was amazing. His cocky and determined James Hunt was one of the best character portrayals I have ever seen. Not to be outdone Daniel Brühl is also extremely good as Nicki Lauda. It sounds like he really nails this portrayal of the former racing champion. The film is somewhat from his perspective and he narrates some of the film. The character of Lauda is fascinating as he has an almost anti-social, mildly autistic vibe to him and yet like Hemsworth's James Hunt you gain such a respect for him as a racer and what he goes through. The chemistry between Brühl and Hemsworth is perfect for the film and both men give A+ performances. The supporting cast are all decent though no one particularly stands out. Thank goodness Olivia Wilde is only given a small role as Hemsworth's wife. Wilde is not a great actress in my opinion and even in her small screen time she comes across as silly though she does alright and their chemistry is decent enough. Alexandra Maria Lara also does decently as Lauda's wife and she manages to do quite a bit in a very small role showing what she goes through as his spouse.
Ron Howard is a storyteller. I should have remembered that. He has done some amazing based on real life stories that have been instant classics. Somehow he always knows how to capture the human spirit and the human condition and characters that are as vibrant as fiction. From the drama and emotion to the edge of your seat thrilling races he nails this. He also cleverly manoeuvres his way around showing countless and seemingly never-ending races by highlighting certain aspects of many different races and covering them fairly. Now my loss of a point to him is the adult content in the film. I am not a prude, and I can watch just about anything and it does not offend me. This film did not offend me but was the adult content necessary? No not even close. The gratuitous nudity and obscenities (mostly in the first half of the film) was completely unnecessary to earn an R-Rating. My issue is that it is distracting to a very good story and it also means a certain demographic shouldn't see this and it is a great story in sports history that teens, kids or even adults that don't enjoy that sort of content might miss out on because of the extremity of the R rating. That really disappointed me. Nonetheless this was a brilliant movie that seems to be a little under-rated at the moment which is unfortunate because both lead actors deserve accolades for their performance. Check this one out, you won't be disappointed!! A surprise gem for me that will likely land on my best 2013 list. 9/10 (three 9/10 films for me in the last week...impressive!!)