Pretty good entertainment

Rating: 7/10 (20 January 2016)

Chris Hemsworth, playing playboy British 1970s Formula One driver James Hunt, is the poster boy for this film and sure, he is charismatic and really takes his role well. But the real star is Daniel Bruhl, who has the meatiest role as the forthright, stubborn, super-confident, ultra cool rival Austrian driver Niki Lauda. Director Ron Howard has a tough task, balancing the need to satisfy motor sport fans' need to see all that sweaty racing up on the big screen. But Howard also tries to portray real life events and people in a faithful and meaningful way, while keeping the scenes coming at a cracking pace. And he does a great job. The script is excellent. Apparently the writer dined with Lauda 30 times, and won his trust, and so the movie is filled with little details that make the characters seem human, as opposed to the two dimension, superhuman idols they could have been. It's really interesting to realise that Hunt and Lauda both rebelled against their families, and both had an almost insane desire to win. And the film also explores, very well, the extent to which both of them were willing to ignore the normal warning signs of extreme danger to their lives in exchange for fame and fortune. Hunt did it in driving in extremely wet conditions in the Japanese Grand Prix, and Lauda did it in the German track where he crashes and almost dies, and then, during his comeback, when he ignores the pain from his burn scars to get back into racing again. But as the film makes very obvious, to drive Formula One in the 1970s was very much to risk death. Everyone accepted it, and on any given day, either your number might come up and you die, or you win the race and get international praise and a big payment.