A much better movie than I expected, but I didn't know what to expect...

Rating: 9/10 (17 September 2013)

I went in there really not knowing anything about the film other than it was a racing movie. I was really hoping it was not something along the lines of "Days of Thunder', luckily it wasn't. I was very entertained as the movie caught my attention at the start and held it all the way through. Nothing exceptional about the acting but some very good, believable performances. Daniel Brühl played in my opinion an excellent Niki Lauda and Hemsworth seemed to be right on in his portrayal of James Hunt (and not too out of character if the tabloids are right, lol). To be honest there was not a lot of room for them to show their acting chops as this was based on real people and actual events and staying in character was important. Some decent car racing scenes but it wasn't about that as much as the story of the people involved. It is not filled with or overwhelmed by actual racing scenes or CGI. It had a great balance of action, acting and human interest. SPOILER ALERT: During the scene with the car fire you could actually feel the audience getting drawn in and hushed whispers abounded, "oh my god", "did that actually happen?", "is he going to die?", etc. And when the movie ended (at just the right time, not too long or too short of a film) the people in the audience in the theater I was in started applauding. I don't remember the last time I saw that happen. But I joined in as I had just been impressed and entertained...