The tagline for “Rush” is “Everyone’s Driven by Something”. I was driven to see Ron Howard’s latest because of the very promising trailer (even though it gives away too much). “Rush” has a good cast, a well-respected director and an Oscar nominated screenwriter – Peter Morgan. And I was driven by something during the film: I was driven CRAZY by the constant blathering of race announcers.
Howard’s decision to rely so much on announcer voice over (make that corny announcer voice over) in telling this true story of rival Formula One drivers James Hunt (played by Chris Hemsworth) and Niki Lauda (Daniel Bruhl) was a BIG mistake. The commentator audio consistently takes you out of the moment, and Howard uses the technique throughout the entire movie. For some reason, (maybe because he felt general movie audiences don’t know much about auto racing) Howard has the announcers stating the obvious and often repeating the same facts over and over. This dumbing-down of an already straight-forward story drains the enjoyment out of the film.
On the plus side, the camerawork in “Rush” is impressive. The racing scenes are visually compelling. And from the start, Howard captures the look and feel of the 1970’s, perfectly placing us in that time. Morgan’s screenplay is solid. Interestingly, it includes parallel elements from his “Frost/Nixon” script. That film, which Howard also directed, was packed with much more drama and suspense. I went into “Rush” knowing very little of the real-life story of these two men and their famous battle in ’76 for the Formula One championship. I thought that was going
to be an advantage, but the only true excitement comes in the final few minutes of the movie’s final race.
Hemsworth, best known as “Thor”, the God of Thunder, gives his best acting performance to date as the playboy Hunt. Bruhl is also very believable in the more demanding role as the serious and determined Lauda. Their confrontation scenes make for the film’s best moments. Olivia Wilde has a little more than a cameo as famous British model Suzy Miller, who becomes James’ wife, but then leaves him to marry actor Richard Burton and break-up his relationship with Elizabeth Taylor. Apparently this was a huge scandal at the time. I can only imagine how the TV and radio announcers described that. Let’s hope Howard doesn’t make a movie about it so we won’t have to find out.
“Rush” is rated R for some adult content, nudity, language, drug use and disturbing accident images. It’s appropriate for teens and up.
On The Official LCJ Report Card, “Rush” gets a C+. There was hope that this could have been in the race for a Best Picture Oscar nomination.