The Niki Lauda story

Rating: 6/10 (25 April 2014)

In many ways this reminded me of those biopics that were made in the early 1950s. An undercurrent of fact mixed with a large dose of hogwash. The reality of the Hunt vs Lauda battle was a cracking story and I remember following it at the time, but most of the film left me cold - possibly because of a truly abysmal portrayal of James Hunt, but also the rather paltry amount of awfully CGI track action and the fact that every facet of the story was portrayed in a very naff stereotypical fashion. In fact were it not for a masterful performance by Daniel Brühl who really does capture some of the essence of Niki Lauda, I'd have probably scored the film a couple of points lower. I was hoping this would be a racing film that might finally outshine Grand Prix, instead, its really only slightly more watchable than Bobby Deerfield.