'Rush' is a well oiled machine

Rating: 7/10 (5 April 2014)

Like many Americans, I know next to nothing about open-wheel/Formula-1 racing beyond the Indianapolis 500, so names like James Hunt and Niki Lauda meant nothing to me up until a few days ago. In many ways, I wonder if that wasn't to my advantage going into Ron Howard's 'Rush', a sleek, well tuned film that focuses on the brief, but intense rivalry between these two very different men.
Though the film is tightly focused on Hunt and Lauda, I still found it to be a somewhat superficial examination of them. Like the cars they drive, the movie races by at breakneck speed, rarely taking a pit stop. It's a gorgeous looking film that totally immerses you in its time and place, and the performances are all top-notch, but if I had one complaint it would be that it's just a tad too shallow in its observations and characterizations of these two men and the compelling rivalry they shared.