A gripping real life tale of rival F1 racing drivers

Rating: 9/10 (7 September 2016)

This film tells the story of the rivalry between two very different racing drivers; Austrian Niki Lauda and Briton James Hunt. The former is very precise, studying the track in detail and doing everything he can to optimise his car and his performance; the latter is a bit of a playboy, living life to the full and willing to take a chance if it might net him a victory. This isn't set in the modern era, where serious accidents are rare, but in the seventies when crashes were common and every year saw drivers killed on the track.
We see how Hunt and Lauda first meet in Formula Three before finding their way to the top flight in Formula One. Once there Lauda has the better car and becomes world champion first. By 1976 they are both in great cars but Lauda still takes a large early lead but after a horrific accident in Germany he is hospitalised and Hunt starts to close the points gap; it looks like, barring accidents, Hunt can't fail to overtake Lauda's point score. Then Lauda defies all the odds and medical advice to return to the race track it looks as though the championship will be much closer than expected.
Director Ron Howard does a great job of capturing the '70s feel and the tensions between the two rivals; somewhat exaggerated for the film. Chris Hemsworth and Daniel Brühl are great, as Hunt and Lauda respectively, they make their rivalry and subsequent growing respect utterly believable. As well as seeing the pair compete on the racetrack we are also shown their personal lives and how that affects their performance and attitudes on the track. The race scenes are utterly gripping and even those who know what happened in 1976 will feel the tension. These scenes felt real; something helped by the fact that the English race commentator sounded just like Murray Walker, possibly the most famous F1 Commentator. Overall I'd recommend this to anybody looking for a great story with plenty of excitement; being a fan of F1 certainly isn't essential.