Rush [Film Club Extra 02]

[LimeGreenLegend 4,173]

Our second Film Club Extra choice is the film Rush, suggested by @Beez, @djw180 and @Fido_le_muet to commemorate the life of legendary Formula 1 driver, Niki Lauda, who recently passed away.

Directed by Ron Howard (Apollo 13, A Beautiful Mind), the film tells the story of the heated rivalry between Lauda, played by Daniel Bruhl (Inglourious Basterds, Captain America: Civil War) and James Hunt, Chris Hemsworth (Thor) in the early to mid 70s.  

This film was critically acclaimed for it's race sequences, which are shot to show the pure power and danger of the sport, especially in those days.  The performances by Bruhl and Hemsworth were also well reviewed, both  really embodying their characters, and playing off of each other well, highlighting just how different Hunt and Lauda were as people.  

Really looking forward to watching this one after reading some reviews.

"A lot of people criticise Formula 1 as an unnecessary risk.  But what would life be like if we only did what is necessary?" - Niki Lauda 1949-2019

 

Edited May 31, 2019 by LimeGreenLegend

[Con 5,703]

Cool. Thanks Film Club as this is something I was not planning on watching in 2019 and now I will.

[LimeGreenLegend 4,173]

17 minutes ago, Con said:

Cool. Thanks Film Club as this is something I was not planning on watching in 2019 and now I will.

Same.  I don't really rate Ron Howard as a director, so I never keep up with what he's been up to.

[Squirrel 5,180]

Love this film. I could probably write a review without watching it again but I don’t need much of an excuse to put it on. 

[Manny 109]

 

[LimeGreenLegend 4,173]

Here's a short interview with Niki Lauda, and his review of the film.

 

[djw180 6,833]

Without a doubt the best racing film I have seen, although I haven't seen many. Probably the best Ron Howard directed film as well. A very good cast all round but the leads' similarity to the people they play is amazing. I really like Julian Rhind-Tutt and Steven Mangan as the engineers. The fact they are both more known, to me, as sit-com actors adds a sense of 'even though this is serious stuff, we're still mainly in it to have fun'. Watching just after Nikka Lauda's death makes it more poignant as well. I really like the scene where he and his future wife hitch a lift and the car stops not for the beautiful lady needing assistance but the Ferrari driver with her, and they insist he drives. When he agrees to drive the car faster, the way he accelerates and smoothly shifts up gear with the passengers getting thrown back in the seat is great. You can almost feel the acceleration.

The one down side is I am not sure how much I believe the script at times. I don't expect films based on a true to story to be 100% historically accurate, but at one point Nikki Lauda says something like “I know every time I race there is a 20% chance I will be killed”. Well that is rubbish. F1 at the time was far more dangerous than today but did not have a fatality rate of 1 in 5 drivers killed every race. If that was true every driver would know their chance of surviving a whole season was pretty low. I think it was more like 1 or 2 fatalities per season. So with that sort of exaggeration, and the director may be to blame for that, it does make me suspicious of other things. But the basic story of Hunt and Lauda's rivalry and the latter's come-back from what could easily have been a fatal accident is true enough.

 

4/5 from me.

[LimeGreenLegend 4,173]

I can easily say that this is the best film Ron Howard has made.  I'm not a huge fan of F1, or motorsports in general, but everything about this film had me hooked from the start.  Bruhl and Hemsworth are both hugely charismatic leads, and really seem to embody the real people that they are portraying.

The film starts ominously, huge, broiling storm clouds cover the sky and we see Niki Lauda (Daniel Bruhl) watching them intently from his car.  If you know what happens to him during this race then you would really feel the tension, but even without knowing that this was the race that nearly killed him you still get a real sense of foreboding.  Hunt, in contrast, is seen hanging out with models in the pit lane, having a laugh.  We also get a good sense of their rivalry from this first scene, when Lauda is asked if he wants to change tyres because of the weather, his immediate reply is "has he changed?"

We then flashback a few years, and get our first proper introduction to James Hunt (Chris Hemsworth), swaggering into a doctors office, bloodied nose, huge grin on his face, seduces the nurse in half a second.  This guy is charisma personified and you really get a sense of that.  I also like that this film is about Lauda and Hunt, so we get narration from both characters, hearing both sides of the story.

Despite all of his confidence and charisma, we see his flaws, as he is seen vomiting before a race, clearly nervous.  Maybe the bravado is a bit of front?  The noise becomes dampened and we see his POV, which is blurred and unfocused.  He is then seen drinking champagne and toking on a joint to calm his nerves, his lifestyle overlapping into his professional life.  This is when he sees Lauda for the first time, from across the track.  He is wearing a mask and helmet, so is a mysterious figure to both Hunt, and us.  He is then told that this newcomer has "been here since 5am walking the track" so we can immediately see the differences in their characters.  

Before this race we see the team owner soliloquising about cars, proclaiming at the end "above anything else, men love cars" before a smash cut to the race with the song Gimme Some Loving playing.  I thought this was a nice edit.  In fact, all of the editing during the race scenes is excellent.  It's pacy without resorting to incoherent quick-cuts, and it's always clear what's happening.  We also get immediate conflict between Hunt and Lauda during this race as they have a collision.  After the race Lauda is seen admonishing Hunt, calling him an asshole, and setting up his abrasive character.

We then see why he might be like this.  His father doesn't want him to be a driver, and doesn't support him in any way, so he has had to take out a loan, and really go it on his own.  Meanwhile, we see that Hunt has a rich backer, and all of the charisma and good looks that Lauda lacks.  So despite his brashness, he actually starts the film as the protagonist, with Hunt as antagonist.  This is something that switches a couple of times during the film, and it really keeps things interesting, not having one character as protagonist for the entire duration.  

Hunt is winning races and awards in F2, but despite all of this, he isn't happy to learn that Lauda has basically bought his way into F1.  This really fits his character, his ego can't stand that this goofy looking foreigner who got under his skin is now racing a level above him, so he is forced to go to F1 himself.  Maybe something he wouldn't do otherwise, he would probably be happy winning everything in F2 and partying for a couple more years, if not for Lauda.  

 Lauda's contract has the team mechanics reporting directly to him, and when we see him look over the car he knows what he wants to the most exact detail, he also seems to know more about the car than the mechanics.  This is something I can't see Hunt doing at all.  There is then a montage of them all working on the car overnight, and in the morning Lauda is still full of energy, while all of the mechanics look absolutely shattered.  This shows us his drive and work ethic.  This work also seems to be something he enjoys.  He would rather be doing this than partying with models, again giving us a nice contrast with Hunt.

At the test track he has full confidence that his car will be two seconds faster, and it is.  Lauda then makes huge contract demands and again his arrogance shows through, but he has also shown he has the talent to back it up.

After seeing Lauda working out of a pretty normal looking garage, it was quite funny to see Hunt's team working out of a stately home.  This is extended to race day, where they have a butler serving champagne and caviar in the pit lane.  This really gives Hunt's team the feeling of a jolly boys outing, just a bunch of rich toffs having a laugh.  This doesn't seem to be affecting his performance on the track though, just giving him more reason to live it up.  This party atmosphere is quashed pretty bluntly by a serious crash on the track.  Again, Hunt reacts strongly to this, vomiting, while Lauda is cold and seemingly unaffected.  He even says "it was his fault" before criticising the driving of the crashed driver.  This is the start of Hunt becoming the protagonist, a nice subtle shift that is cemented in a few scenes time.

In the next scene we see Hunt practising for the next race, visualising the track in his head.  This is the first time we see Hunt taking his job seriously, and not joking around.  The effects of his visualisation of the track is stunning, the colours are really bright and vivid, and it feels so fast.  It really shows us what Hunt sees and feels while he races, how much brighter and more exciting it is compared to reality.  He is then interrupted by Suzy Miller (Olivia Wilde), and they flirt for a while before she asks about his feelings on settling down.  "Sounds fucking awful".  Then a cut to their wedding day.  This is another great edit that got a laugh out of me.  

While Hunt's personal life is on the up, Lauda is doing the same professionally.  At the Ferrari test track, with, I'm assuming, Enzo Ferrari himself sat at the side of the track, watching, Lauda has enough gall to call the car a "shitbox", one of my personal favourite swear words.  Even though he is driving for Ferrari in F1, he doesn't seem to have a passion for it, even telling his team mate "if I could make more money doing something else, I would".  So he is driving only because he is good at it, not that he really has a desire to do it, whereas Hunt seems to be doing it for the thrill.  Again, we have a big contrast in our main characters.  I made a note at this point that even though he is being incredibly blunt, to the point of being an asshole, Bruhl has so much charisma that you still can't hate the guy.  

Lauda's teammate invites him to a party, but he doesn't enter, we see him looking in through the window from the outside, a visual metaphor for how he feels.  He does meet Marlene (Alexandra Maria) outside the party, and this leads to one of the best scenes in the film.

Lauda and Marlene are driving through the beautiful Italian countryside, casually flirting.  Lauda talks about his "talented ass" being able to feel everything about a car, telling Marlene everything that's wrong with it.  She replies that "this car's as good as new" before another comedy cut to them broken down at the side of the road.  They then get picked up, not because of Marlene's beauty, but because of Lauda's fame.  This astonishes Marlene as, up until now, she had no idea who he was.  As he's driving the rescue car, at the owner's joyous insistence, she says "look at the way he's driving, like an old man" and he gives us another insight into his character, that will pay off in a vital scene later, when he replies "we're not in a hurry, I'm not being paid, why take the risk?" showing how he views the risks of his job.  She then says "because I'm asking you", and she is gorgeous so he gives it the full beans.  Again there is a great sense of speed as he moves up through the gears, passengers screaming with joy.  Again, this is a brilliant scene, which has a nice transition to then next one, the dust kicked up on the country roads fading into the tyre smoke on the starting grid.  

I like how this next scene is from the perspectives of Hunt and Lauda's significant others, their nerves and tension is palpable as they watch their men fight for the championship.  This also keeps the race scenes fresh, having them presented to us in different ways.  We don't see much of this race, cutting to the celebrations.  Lauda is champion.  There is a great slow motion shot of Hunt walking away from the celebration, champagne spray falling in front of him like a rainstorm, matching his gloomy mood at having lost the season.  Lauda stops Hunt before he leaves, and Hunt, typical race driver, blames his car, saying that if they had equal cars he would win.  Lauda then needles him about the fact the his wife isn't there.  This really felt like a low blow, and Hunt's shift to full protagonist is almost complete.

Hunt, with renewed drive, goes to the stately home to prepare for next season, but he is informed that they are out of money.  I found the fact that this was said in very lavish settings to be ironic, getting another chuckle out of me.  There is then a montage of Hunt just getting drunk and stoned, learning that no one will hire him because of his reputation.  This real low point cements him as the protagonist of the film for now.  We see him arguing with his wife, resenting her job because he doesn't have one.  I like how under-dramatic this scene was.  There was no screaming or objects being thrown, it felt like two people having a real argument.  It ends with a shot of Hunt's birds in their cage, Hunt framed behind the bars, showing how he feels like a caged bird now he doesn't have a car to drive.  

We don't linger on this low point for long, which I like, as those points are usually the slowest moments of films like this, moving on to Hunt having an interview for a new race team.  I like how off put the American team owner was to Stephen Mangan's swearing, we Brits love to swear  Hunt tells him that he is willing to put on a tie and smile for the sponsors, "just give me the drive".  I love that line, how he describes it as "the drive", very evocative.  We're then in Brazil for the race at Interlagos, and there is a nice carnival montage full of colour and movement.  There's a great shot of ice being heaped onto steaming tyres to keep them cool, I could really feel the heat.  There was also a slight haze to every shot, like the heat is radiating off of everything.  We see Hunt dancing with the carnival dancers, back in his happy-go-lucky mood now that he's on a team equal to Lauda's.  

Another nice race montage here, keeping these races short to spend more time on the important races later, which means that we won't tire of seeing them by the end.  Hunt finally wins a race, but his elation doesn't last long as Lauda gets him DQ'd on a technicality.  The celebration and carnival mood has gone now, and we have a scene with Hunt's team in a gloomy garage trying to figure out how to make the car race legal.  The lighting is great in this scene, especially on Hunt as he walks off through a puddle at the end of the scene.  In the next race his car sets on fire, everything is going wrong for him just as he thought he had the upper hand over Lauda.  The music in these scenes was great at matching the mood, very bassy and aggressive.  

In the next scene Hunt and Lauda are signing autographs together, and you can see that Hunt is trying really hard to keep a smile on his face for the public, despite wanting to punch Lauda's teeth in.  Directly after this, Hunt finds out that his wife has left him from the paper, devastating him.  He meets up with her for dinner, paparazzi watching through the window.  She tells him "you're not terrible, you're just who you are", which I think he found freeing in a way, kind of giving him permission to be himself.  He did say that settling down "sounds fucking awful", and he seems genuinely happy later in the film when he's back to having fun.  In the moment, however, he does seem upset, though he plays it off with a joke to the paparazzi.  On the plane he is seen nervously twitching, before seducing the stewardess in the toilet in a quite sad sex scene, Hunt grimacing at himself in the mirror as he tries to figure out who he is.  

The next scene cuts to a shot of pistons in an engine pumping away, mirroring Hunt's pumping just a few seconds earlier.  A nice closeup of some internal combustion smash cuts to the next race, Hunt is driving with anger and aggression and the fast and ragged editing matches that.  However, he does start winning races again, so maybe he's back on the right track, at least professionally.  

While Hunt's private life is falling apart, Lauda and Marlene get married in a very small ceremony at a registry office, in stark contrast to Hunt's lavish wedding.  We also see Lauda smiling and laughing, playing chase with his wife, a side of him we've not really seen much so far.  Later that night, Marlene finds Lauda looking pensive, and he tells her "happiness is the enemy, it weakens you".  But we'll see this attitude change later, when he realises that it doesn't weaken you, but it may shift your priorities.  

We're now back where we started, pitch black storm clouds rolling in over the Nurburgring.  There is a graphic crash during qualification and there's a grisly shot of a compound fracture, bone sticking out through the leg.  A dick of an autograph hunter gets Lauda's autograph, but wants him to sign it because "it could be your last".  This is followed by ominous shots of the clouds, the rain pounding down on the track, a spider in it's web.  A reporter refers to the track as "the graveyard".  If this ain't foreshadowing, I don't know what is.  But, obvious as it is, it's all beautifully shot.

At the driver's meeting before the race Lauda wants to cancel the race because of the dangerous conditions.  Hunt, because he doesn't like him, takes the opposite stance, and thanks to his charisma, and Lauda's arrogance, the race goes ahead.  There is more build up on the starting grid, the sound of the engines mixing with the roar of the rain, and again there is real tension before you see the green light.  The camera work during this race is great, much shakier and more frenetic representing the danger of this race.  

Lauda is blocked coming out the pit lane, setting him back, so when he comes out of the pit he is being more reckless.  Just before he crashes all of the sound cuts out and choral music, almost angelic, starts to play, like this really is his time to go.  The crash itself is visceral and real, looking just like the actual crash.  The fireball that engulfs the car is also just like the real thing, it is so amazing that he survived this.  We see Marlene in her car listening to the race on the radio, and when she hears about the crash he expression reads like she was waiting for this day, like it was inevitable, and that gives a small glimpse at what she must go through every time he gets in a car.

Shots of his injuries and surgery are quickly intercut with shots of the crash in a very dreamlike way as he slips in and out of consciousness, as if the only thing on his mind is the crash and the pain he's in.  We see him receiving the last rites, his POV of the priest out of focus and drifting.  Hunt is very remorseful after the accident, blaming himself, and we see him affected by the crash, more than he was earlier.  

The nurse in the hospital informs Marlene that Lauda is awake, he said "tell that priest to fuck off, I'm still alive", which was hilarious.  As Marlene visits with him, the light bleeding in through the blinds is a vivid orange and yellow, bathing them both like the fire bathed Lauda earlier.  This is the first time that Marlene, and the audience, sees the full extent of his injuries, and it is an unsettling sight at first, but you have to respect the man for having minimal plastic surgery, preferring to remain himself, despite the reaction of others.  The scene of him having his bandages removed, the skin bleeding and sticking to them, was something straight out of a horror movie.

While Lauda is in hospital, Hunt is racing, and catching him up, which provides Lauda with all the motivation he needs.  The scene where he gets his lungs vacuumed was brutal to watch, but you really see the steel of his determination when he tells them to do it again, get him better quicker.  From now on, we also get more closeups of Lauda, really showing off how dangerous this sport is.  

Next is a short scene, but another one I really like.  Lauda is in his hospital room trying to put on his helmet, but can't because of his burns.  He is in excruciating pain, his wife tries to stop him, but he tells her that if she loves him she'll let him do this.  And she does.  Finally, with great effort, he is able to get the helmet on, and there is a brilliant shot from inside the helmet where we see Marlene in the background, out of focus, and out of Lauda's mind.  All he can think about now is getting back on the track.  

To everyone's astonishment, Lauda is back incredibly quickly, only missing three (I think) races.  When he meets with Hunt, who is apologetic, Lauda tells him that the crash was his fault, but watching him win races while he was in hospital helped him to recover faster, "you were equally responsible for getting me back in the car", a nice bit of mutual respect, the first instance in the film, and well deserved by this point, it doesn't feel forced or unearned.

At the press conference Lauda is still calm and unflappable, seemingly unaffected by his crash.  However, there is one douche reporter who asks if he thinks his wife will still be attracted to him.  Lauda rightly tells him to fuck off and the press conference is ended.  Afterwards, Hunt finds this reporter and says he has a scoop about Lauda and his wife, but it was just a ruse to get him alone and brutally beat the shit out of him.  This was a great way to show how Hunt's feelings have changed towards Lauda, and exactly how Hunt would have reacted.  It's also satisfying to just imagine that the reporter works for The Sun, every punch gets so much sweeter.

The start of the next race is near.  Very somber music to the build up to this race, unlike the other races in the film where the music is more exciting.  You can feel the anticipation as Lauda walks down the starting grid.  The focus starts to shift, and there is another shot from inside his helmet, feeling very claustrophobic, his breathing is heavier.  These are the first signs of nerves that he's shown this entire film.  I love the shot of Lauda sat in his car, and when he slides down his visor all of the outside noise instantly fades as his focus intensifies.  The race starts badly for him, losing places easily, driving nervously.  He is behind a couple of cars who crash, and in slow motion it looks fantastic.  Lauda manages to weave between them, and as he does this the music swells to a huge crescendo as he gets his confidence back and starts to really race.

He finishes fourth, but it is celebrated like a win.  Everyone is happy to have him back racing again, and watching the film, I was cheering too.  By this point I was firmly behind this guy, and, at this point in the film, both Lauda and Hunt are protagonists, a role that has switched subtly a few times during the film, and is very well done.  

We're now in Japan for the final race of the season, and Lauda is again watching the sky, as the weather is even worse than it was in Germany.  There are some gorgeous landscape shots here, huge banks of clouds of varying ranks of black painted over an amber orange sunrise, all bathed in rain.  Before the race, during the press conference, Hunt seems more nervous than Lauda.  All throughout the film this has been a theme, and you might be expecting some payoff for that before the end of the film.  It is actually Hunt who wants to cancel the race, despite being three points behind Lauda, but the race goes ahead.  He is very nervy here, vomiting again.  

The build up to this race really feels important.  If you told me that this was the most important race in F1 history, I would believe you after watching this film.  Most of the crowd in this scene has a black umbrella, giving the whole thing a funereal feel.  Lauda and Hunt salute each other before the race, a nice show of respect that each has earned from the other.  This whole scene is gorgeous, the slow motion turning every raindrop into a crystal suspended in the air.  When the race starts, the spray from the tyres hangs in the air like a fog, and you wonder how anyone could race in that.

While Lauda is going round the track he has visions of Marlene, and decides to retire from the race after just two laps, because of the conditions.  His happiness hasn't made him weaker, but it has changed his priorities.  He isn't willing to risk his life more than he finds acceptable, he loves his wife too much to do that.  But Hunt is still in the race, and still has motivation.  He needs to conquer his nerves and he needs to win the championship, to prove that he is as good as Lauda.  He has to pit late in the race to change tyres, and one of his team tell him to take it easy, and just try again next year, but Hunt's having none of that.  Flashes of Lauda as champ spur him on to finish the race in third, a good enough position to secure the title.

There is a bit of artificial tension here, where there is confusion over who finished in what place, but it feels forced, and I don't know if this is something that actually happened, but like I said, it felt artificial.  When he sees that Hunt has won the championship, Lauda gives a slight smile, he wouldn't have wanted anyone else to win it if it couldn't be him.  He asks Hunt what he's going to do now, "I shall be getting drunk".  And he seems truly content.  

Next up is a montage of Hunt living the party boy lifestyle set to the Bowie song Fame, and it's great.  He really wasn't the type to settle down, but he does seem slightly jealous of Lauda's structured life.  They meet by chance at an airport and have a really good dialogue.  Hunt tells Lauda that "I was willing to die to beat you", with Lauda telling him that that's stupid, and talking about percentages.  Hunt doesn't like the talk about odds and percentages, saying "don't be a pro, you'll kill the sport", perhaps a dig at modern F1, which doesn't seem as fun as it used to be.  At the end of the scene, they aren't friends, but Lauda says "a wise man gets more from his enemies than a fool from his friends", really telling you how much they needed eachother at that point in their lives.

The film ends with a nice montage of real footage and photographs of Hunt and Lauda, with Lauda talking about Hunt, who died in 1993.  Hunt retired only a couple of years after winning the championship, and Lauda says of that "he had proved what he needed to prove".  The very last quote of the film is beautiful, "he was among the very few I liked, and the very fewer I respected, and in the end, he was the only man I envied".

I absolutely loved this film.  I'm not usually one for sports films, but this has to be one of the best I've seen.  It looks great, it has a slight grain to it which gives it a real 70s feel.  The direction is brilliant, easily the best Ron Howard film, (although the only other ones I like are Apollo 13 and Splash!) and the acting by Hemsworth and Bruhl was top notch, they really felt like their characters.

I also like how this film didn't really have an antagonist.  Hunt and Lauda both played that part for short stretches of the film, but in the end it was all about two incredible talents, and one of the greatest rivalries in sports history.  My only real negative is the soundtrack.  Being set in the 70s I was expecting to hear some more big tracks from back then, but it's not a big deal to me.

9/10

[Spinnaker1981 974]

@LimeGreenLegend that is a spot on review of this awesome movie. 

And that forced feeling you had really was forced... there was no confusion on who had finished where on that GP, but he did have a tire puncture late in the race that made him lose positions and had to fight to get ahead again. 

 

 

 

[LimeGreenLegend 4,173]

1 hour ago, Spinnaker1981 said:

@LimeGreenLegend that is a spot on review of this awesome movie. 

And that forced feeling you had really was forced... there was no confusion on who had finished where on that GP, but he did have a tire puncture late in the race that made him lose positions and had to fight to get ahead again. 

 

 

 

I thought all that tension was artificial.  When I read about the event after watching the movie there was no mention of anything like that.