A well told sports story that was engaging and makes great use of sound to draw in the viewer

Rating: Null/10 (21 January 2014)

On the day I watched Rush I had just been listening to a film review show from Mark Kermode and Simon Mayo from early January 2014 in which they had discussed an acceptable moratorium for spoilers. Kermode's reasoning for always being careful is that even if something happened in real life, it is unfair to assume everyone knows this, so it is worth avoiding details of the ends of movies. At the time it was a discussion I just listened to but it came back to me when watching Rush because many months prior in their review, the pair did not talk about the outcome of the story or the fates of the characters involved. This was important to me because I did not know of these guys apart from their names – I was born in the 1970s and really only watched F1 for a few years when Hill and Schumacher were going at it, so for me this was a real thriller and not just a dramatic retelling of stories I knew already.
And I watched it as such although I acknowledge that for those in the know, perhaps the film will have a different impact. For me though I really enjoyed it because one of the main things it does is to show how totally life and death the sport was back then, how unforgiving the conditions were and how everything was being driven right on the edge of what was possible. As it is an American film there is perhaps more explanation than was necessary, plus the races themselves are really cut down to be a handful of sequences of overtaking and dramatics; again this may annoy some, but as someone who drifted away from the sport after watching one too many processions around a track, this was fine by me. That said, the racing action is shot with urgency and quick edits around the cars and the driver POV to put the viewer in the middle of the action, although this is not the main weapon, because that is the sound editing.
By another coincidence I had recently watched a show with Idris Elba about his passion for cars and speed and one of my complaints had been that the sound of these powerful engines had been impacted upon by unnecessary music, losing a bit of the sense of the power and speed. With Rush the opposite is wonderfully true – the music can be easy to miss because the main soundtrack is that of the engines. I can only imagine the impact of seeing it in the cinema but even for me the sound effects were great. Outside of the races the creation of the characters is solid – not deep or detailed but more than enough to make the point and engage the viewer. Hunt and Lauda are shown in broad but effective strokes and their rivalry and begrudging respect is clear – this is important because although it is a race, the film needs us to be on side with both of them, recognizing the flaws of each but also respecting them.
The performances from Hemsworth and Brühl both work well at this level. I don't know the people from real life but from the clips and summary at the end it seemed like they got it pretty well as it needed to be. The supporting cast continues the "broad strokes" approach and are good enough to engage the viewer. Howards' direction is brisk and, although F1 purists may not appreciate the rapid edits and shots, I thought the approach helped build tension. I do think that knowing all the details of the true story will limit the impact of the film at a dramatic level, but I think it is strong enough to hold the interest anyway thanks to how well it tells the story full stop. It may not have a lot of depth and detail, but in the focus on the rivalry and these two men it is engaging with a good hatful of moments which were thrilling and moving.