I Was Genuinely Gripped From Start To Finish

Rating: 10/10 (17 September 2013)

I am a huge F1 fan and have been since the early 80s. It is very rare that I find any film that I can find little fault with, but this is one such movie.
Historical nuts may take umbridge that the film is not 100% geek-accurate and correct (most films seldom are) but I was very happy with what Ron Howard has done here (I am one such geek!). The casting is so spot on that you genuinely believe that it is Niki Lauda and James Hunt. Chris Hemsworth was never going to quite get Hunt's public school boy accent absolutely bang on but he's done a cracking job nevertheless, and Daniel Bruhl is quite simply spectacular as the matter of fact, calculating Lauda.
The race scenes are particularly realistic and it's great to see that genuine period F1 cars were used in the filming rather than the generic "racing cars" one normally sees. The film brings home the danger that these drivers put themselves in during the 70s; Lauda's crash is particularly graphic, being seen from both an outside vantage point and the driver's point of view. There are enough grisly bits to make you wince but you do realise the driving force behind why they did it.
The support cast is also fantastic; Lord Hesketh is EXACTLY like real life, and the likeness of the actor playing Clay Regazzoni is uncanny. Olivia Wilde, playing Hunt's wife Suzy, is smouldering and has an excellent English accent.
Ron Howard has always been about telling an accurate true-life story which keeps you glued to your seat, and here he tells a story of two World Champions the way it should be done. Even if you don't like Formula 1, this is a MUST SEE film. It will be worth it - it is the best film I have seen in 10 years.