Superb

Rating: 10/10 (27 September 2013)

I rarely eulogise about big –budget cinema nor do I exalt the virtues hyped-up films with big marketing budgets, I find them all too often under-cooked. Rush is certainly the exception to the rule.
The characters are fully formed, the plot is purposefully driven and the script is nicely punctuated with recurring humour and clearly developed acts that move the story forwards while retaining a sense of it's self.
If you don't know the story already, then you're in for a treat. If you do; then you've the opportunity to get the full visceral fly-on-the-wall experience of what was happening behind-the-scenes (artistic licence seems to be within a fair margin of error).
Ron Howard seems to flit between the sublime and the ridiculous, with Rush most definitely being the former rather than the latter.
The casting of Hemmsworth as Hunt was always going to cause ructions, but to my taste he manages to effortlessly embody everything about the racing "superstar"; from the 70s swagger to the clipped speech pattern Hemmsworth delivers a memorable and driven performance.
The real star of the show however is neither Howard or Hemmsworth, but the excellent Daniel Bruhl as Austrian racing legend Nikki Lauder. Having been an admirer of talents for a while, it was only a matter of time before the promise shown in Goodbye Lenin, the Edukators, Inglorious B's etc led to leading roles in major international productions. His performance in Rush is as measured as it is passionate and (admittedly helped by the story) it's Bruhl who comes out with the most credit.
With an admirable lack of profanity Ron Howard and counter-parts have skilfully delivered the best racing movie in many a long year.
Rush is a film made with enough craft to draw you in and entertain you, and far more than enough guile to keep you intrigued long after the credits have rolled.