A Great Movie for F1 Fans and non-F1 Fans

Rating: 9/10 (30 September 2013)

I was waiting for this movie to appear for several months, ever since it was mentioned in Road & Track magazine.
Really the only 2 great racing films are, in my opinion, John Frankenheimer's Grand Prix (1966) and Steve McQueen's LeMans (1971).
This movie makes 3.
I do like Senna that came out in 2010, but in my opinion it's more of a documentary on the late racing great Ayrton Senna.
So 40 years later comes another racing movie. The difference between this move and the previous 2 is that racing is really a backdrop to the clash of 2 very different personalities who came to respect each other.
In one professional interview with Niki Lauda the UKs Guardian I believe, it was suggested that Hunt was Lauda's foil - I agree but if it is possible from a screen writing perspective Lauda was also a foil for Hunt.
It has been said that the film highlights Lauda - I don't agree - it highlights the both with their contrasts.
To me - even more than Lauda's brilliant driving, I will always remember him for his courage after his accident (hardly a spoiler alert since this is common knowledge).
In Road & Track's interview with Ron Howard, Howard detailed the effort that he went to insure that this was an accurate portrayal - consulting people directly involved from Lauda himself to Ron Dennis and a dozen others.
It has, from what I understand, been well received in the F1 community.
Above all it is a fantastic film on 2 very different personalities and how they came to respect each other.