Stylish but lacks a real emotional connectionother than racing scenes, movie lacks urgency

Rating: 5/10 (2 November 2013)

Ron Howard is the rare Hollywood auteur that doesn't have a distinctive style (how did the guy that gave us "Frost /Nixon" give us Jim Carrey's "How the Grinch Stole Christmas"?!). In his latest film "Rush", we get a glimpse of Howard playing with some Danny Boyle-esque flair, especially in the racing scenes. Unfortunately, outside of this visceral, kinetic spirit, "Rush" lacks an emotional connection with its audience, leaving us in the dust with only a memory of what just sped past. The amazing true story about the on-and-off-the-track rivalry of racers James Hunt (Hemsworth) and Niki Lauda (Bruhl) should be ripe pickings for good filmmaking. The story has some unexpected turns that are enlivened by their being true. Add to that some decent performances and a strong middle section involving a hospital, this should be a no-brainer success. Sadly the film fails in a number of other ways: the dialogue, while not bad, is unoriginal and boring, clichéd and overly-Hollywood. This along with some silly, overwrought Hollywood moments ("We may hate each other, but at least we respect each other") hurt "Rush" immensely. Admittedly, I am not a racing fan of any kind, and this is clearly a movie made for them. Nonetheless, I think Howard is trying to reach beyond this demographic but comes up short. "Rush" is by no means a complete failure, but when it steps away from the formula 1 racing and slows down, it really putters outpun totally intended.