Rush: review
Worth the wait or an over-hyped, CGI'd caricature?
The movie opens with Lauda recalling that, on average, two of the 25 drivers who started the year would be killed before the season's end, before posing the question: 'What kind of people do this job?' Accidents are recalled in all their gory detail and the depiction of Lauda's burns following his Nurburgring crash is not for the squeamish. This harsh reality is offset by hedonism of the period and voyeuristic enjoyment of Hunt's rapacious sexual appetite, with Hemsworth convincing as Hunt, even if the portrayal is undeniably sympathetic.
Saying that the Lauda character, played by Daniel Bruhl, travels further. We're presented with a complex, driven man who rebels against his family, borrows money to buy his way into Formula 1 and then clings to the coat tails of Clay Regazzoni.
The action scenes are also some of the best since Le Mans. Some of the crashes rely on CGI but the Nurburgring sequence successfully captures the fear and desperation of the moment as fellow drivers Arturo Merzario, Brett Lunger, Guy Edwards and Harald Ertl fought to pull Lauda out of the burning wreckage.
Given that so much time and effort was spent recreating these pivotal scenes, it's a shame Howard couldn't resist the schmaltz. There is, for instance, a classic Top Gun/Days of Thunder moment when Lauda, struggling on his return to the cockpit, instinctively dodges an accident and is instantly returned to his former glory.
These scenes are frustrating because they make you question the astonishing things that really did happen, such as Lauda's return to the grid just six weeks after his accident. You get the impression the director tried to retain the authenticity, but then, at the last minute, couldn't quite restrain himself.
Maybe there should be a director's cut for purists that dispenses with the nonsense because at heart this is a great racing movie that successfully captures the glamour, bravado and brutality of the time.
See here for PH's trip behind the scenes and more on the making of Rush.
I think it looks OK, if the alternative to CGI being smashing up old GP cars it seems a fair trade off to me (there are only so many things you can replicate ala the Lauda crash at Nurburgring).
I am looking forward to seeing it, yes it will be hollywoodised to an extent, as it is a film, and it has to be accessible to more than petrolhead and history nerds. If you want the last word in detail and accuracy, there are documentaries and books for that.
I just anticipate a lot of the feedback being competition between people who want to prove they are the biggest petrolhead by pointing out how st they think everything is...
It's a Movie, made for entertainment. It's not a documentary and I don't think it should be categorised alongside films like Senna.
Personally, I can't wait to see the mid 70's cars thrashing it out, regardless of how "hollywood" it may be.
I'm sure there will be loads of people who'll say "that's not quite right" or "it didn't happen like that", but who cares!
The same people who comment on films like Gone in 60 Seconds with "the mustang in the film wasn't a Shelby GT500, but a standard fastback modified by a hod rod company"
Who cares! the car looked almost as hot as Angelina Jolie crawling out from under a fezza !
Kids will hopefully learn from this film a bit about the real gladiators of F1, and appreciate it's progression and development over the years.
Popcorn at the ready !
No point going to see it now if we know Lauda survives.
did anyone see the recent BBC documentary on it was good, will be interesting to see how they compare, docu vs film (i'm not expecting them to be the same apples/oranges etc)
No point going to see it now if we know Lauda survives.
Not entirely unrealted, that reminds me of Lord Hesketh's very nice venture into motorbikes at that time, the V1000.
Back to Rush... Interesting to hear Lauda's reaction to the watching the Nurburgring crash and what allegedly happened to him in hospital - it seemed to quite shock him.
Looking forward to seeing it...the blokes antidote to enduring chic-flics on a Fri/Sat.
PF
Someone remind me, that doesn't sound quite right.
Chris.
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