Excellent Racing Film That Feels Like an Actual Race

Rating: 9/10 (27 September 2013)

Being a fan of Ron Howard as a director, I would say his best films are his historical dramas such as Frost/Nixon, A Beautiful Mind, Apollo 13, and Cinderella Man. You can now add his newest film, Rush, into that group.
James Hunt (Chris Hemsworth) and Niki Lauda (Daniel Brühl) are both Formula One race car drivers with wealthy backgrounds. Hunt has proved himself to be a hard working and winning driver. Hunt is a Brit who has a habit of vomiting before every race and is a well known drinker and ladies man. Lauda first bought his way in to being a driver in the Formula Three circuit, and is a technical genius who knows what works best for the cars he races. Hunt and Lauda meet after a Formula Three race where both of their cars spin out of control and Hunt eventually wins the race. Immediately, they don't like each other. Both of them go their separate ways, only to meet again when they each join the ranks of Formula One. Hunt lands a deal to race for McLaren, while Lauda buys his way into a team that races Ferrari's. The film's primary focus is on the 1976 season, and shows us what Hunt's and Lauda's lives were like on and off the race track. Hunt is seen as a ladies man, who settles down with Suzy Miller (Olivia Wilde), while Lauda meets Marlene Knaus (Alexandra Maria Lara) at a party she is ditching. Both racers are very competitive of each other, but don't necessarily have hatred toward each other. They do trash talk to each other, and do their best outdo the other.
Ron Howard's direction of this story, is crisp, rapid, and makes some nice choices that make Rush a very exciting film. Howard is great at showing us various shots of what's going on and gets very creative with the camera. Howard does a great job at keeping us interested in the lives of James Hunt and Niki Lauda. Howard also gets excellent performances from his cast. Peter Morgan, who previously collaborated with Howard on Frost/Nixon, delivers a fast paced and crisp screenplay. I like how Morgan managed to make the script feel like a race in itself when combining Hunt's and Lauda's stories.
The standouts from the cast of Rush are the two leads, Chris Hemsworth and Daniel Brühl. Hemsworth excellently portrays James Hunt as more than a drinker who parties and hooks up with the ladies. Hemsworth makes Hunt to be a man determined to win and is ambitious to be the best. Chris Hemsworth gives the best performance of his young career. Daniel Brühl also gives the best performance of his career. Brühl shows Niki Lauda to be a sophisticated and knowledgeable driver who knows his cars. Brühl is also excellent at showing a man who wants to win, but eventually knows when to stop racing.
Rush also has a lot of great technical aesthetics to it. One of them is a lot of very unique shots captured by DP Anthony Dod Mantle. Mantle does best at getting the races shown and things happening in the cars and especially point of view shots from the drivers' eyes. The editing by longtime Howard collaborators Dan Hanley and Mike Hill is fast and well put together to tell the story. The makeup department does an excellent job with making Daniel Brühl look like the real Niki Lauda. The music by Hans Zimmer is fast and electric and makes the races more exciting. The sound department does an excellent job of putting together everything, from the actors' dialogue to the music and the sounds of the cars.