The High Octane Rivalry of Rush

If you showed me Rush cold, without knowing who the director was, I don’t think I’d have ever guessed Ron Howard. Depicting the true life 1970’s rivalry between Formula 1 drivers James Hunt and Niki Lauda, Rush marks a dramatic stylistic evolution for Howard.  After all the Dan Brown adaptations, I was admittedly losing interest in Howard’s choice of subject matter. With Rush, Howard has grabbed my attention.

Rush is a strikingly involving picture. It’s definitely one of the most cinematic feeling pictures Howard’s made since Apollo 13, possibly due to his collaboration with cinematographer Anthony Dod Mantle (28 Days Later, Slumdog Millionaire, Wallander, 127 Hours and Dredd, among others). Mantle is a Danny Boyle veteran, and Howard uses him here to phenomenal advantage. The film feels like a real descendant of John Frankenheimer’s Grand Prix, visually. The camera is in extremely tight with the drivers and their machines. Extreme close-ups of eyes and exhausts. There are moments where we’re actually part of the slipstream in the waving grass beside the track. There must be plenty of digital trickery here to make these races seem this authentic and immediate, but it never shows. There’s a gritty aesthetic throughout the film that serves to constantly remind the audience that this is an incredibly unforgiving and dangerous sport, as Lauda horrifically proves.

Howard gives equal time to both Hunt (Thor’s Chris Hemsworth) and Lauda, played hypnotically by Daniel Brühl (Inglorious Basterds). The contrast between these two is fascinating and compelling. Hunt is the golden god, who does everything with effortless prowess. Lauda is more internal, more pedantic and exact. His brain is relentlessly focused on improving his chances on the track. Both men are equally driven with an obsessive need to be the best in Formula 1 – both are also equally aware of the fact that death is right there with them on every lap of the track.

Formula 1 isn't as huge of a sport in the states as it is in the rest of the world. So you might be tempted to skip Rush, dismissing racing as tedious and dull. That would be a huge mistake. Rush is a sensational drama about two very different men, each cavalierly risking life and limb in the pursuit of something that must be proved – to the world and to themselves. To have such an engaging duel wrapped up in such an amazingly well made film elevates rush to can’t miss status. There's been renewed action on Howard's long-gestating quest to turn Stephen King's Dark Tower books into a series of films. After seeing Rush, I'm hoping more than ever that the movie gods see fit to let Howard take them out and open up the throttle. He's a driver at the peak of his game.