Rush

Rating : 9/10
Release Date : 4th October, 2013
Time : 123 minutes
Director : Ron Howard; Writer: Peter Morgan; Music : Hans Zimmer
Starring : Daniel Bruhl, Chris Hemsworth, Alexandra Maria Lara, Olivia Wilde, Natalie Dormer, Julian Rhind-Tutt, Christian McKay, David Calder

Sex : Breakfast of the Champions

The pure genius of this film lies in showing the contrast between two dramatically different characters and showing where the life choices they made, ultimately lead to…Its enthralling, gripping, nerve-wracking, slick, fast-paced (and how!) and thanks to the interplay between the characters, immensely entertaining and funny !

The closer you are to death, the more alive you feel. It’s a wonderful way to live. It’s the only way to drive.

Hemsworth plays Hunt : gorgeous looking, witty, likeable, lives life to the full, a rare Brit with flair. Bruhl plays Lauda : calculating, blunt, calls a spade a spade, without care of consequence or sentiment, brilliant, understands cars and how to set them up, lives life via making the right choices, playing the percentages, a classic, Germanic Austrian. Their rivalry is sealed when they clash in a Formula 3 cars at the inception of their careers. And is carried on to the Formula One tracks through the Seventies. Hemsworth marries the gorgeous Olivia Wilde after a whirlwind romance, while Daniel makes a most unromantic proposal to wed Alexandra. And then things come dramatically to a head at Nurburgring, Germany in 1976…

Happiness is the enemy

The photography and background sound is so good that this is the closest you can actually come to experiencing F1 without going to a track…the visuals of engines firing up, levers turning, gears meshing, rain flying off tyres and the overtaking manouvers are skillfully done. These visuals contrast well with the drama happening on the tracks as our two protagonists leave no stone unturned to gain an advantage…their individual lives going through many ups and downs even while their career is on a permanent upward trajectory

A wise man can learn more from his enemies than a fool from his friends

The entire sequence where Bruhl meets Alexandra – the ‘ wonderful ass’ comment, her refusal to believe that he is a Formula 1 driver, the people who give them a lift, the whole ‘Its Italy’ remark, the exchange between Alexandra and Bruhl about driving fast…its funny and charming beyond belief. Hemsworth lives the life we all dream of living – born with a talent which means he has to simply roll off the bed, and despite drinks, no practice, sex all night, he can still be the fastest man on the track.

I accept that everytime I get in my car, there is a 20% chance I might die

The end of this film is just about perfect…the two lives and lifestyles coming to a head, at an airplane hangar of all places…its important that right till the end, neither stops being who they are, even for an instant, with Hemsworth’s interaction with a particularly offensive journalist being a moment to savour, where you realize there is more than just animosity between these two champions.

The risk of death turns people on

I loved the choices made by the film-makers here – their choice of incidents, the aspects of the characters highlighted, the mix of professional and personal events shown and also the inspiring message underlying it all…if you’ve not seen the film yet, and there is a chance to catch it on the big screen – please go and see it – you don’t have to be a lover of automobiles or of F1 racing – there is plenty to keep you hooked from the first frame till the last…