Directed by : Ron Howard
Imdb link -> http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1979320/
Read at your own risk, the post may have some spoilers.
Films based on real life people have been on a rise lately, and I have seen some very good ones, Rush tops the list.
Plot is about the rivalry between Britain's James Hunt (played by Chris Hemsworth) and Austrian Niki Lauda (played by Daneil Bruhl), 1970's Formula 1 racers. The rivalry is limited to the races and attempts to get above each other in championships. In personal life, they don't really treat each other as enemies.
I have never seen a single Forumla 1 race even on T.V, so clearly someone who has no interest in this sport. Still, the film succeeds in creating a large impact, and the reason is the film focusses more on the emotions and drama.
The film begins with that deadly Aug 1, 1976 race when everything went wrong for Niki Lauda (Daniel Bruhl) who describes 'I was chasing him like an asshole'. Director sets up formula one environment, and the relation Niki shares with James during races.. before he cuts abruptly to begin the flashback, telling the story of both racers when they were amateurs and trying to reach the Formula One stage.
The screenplay is impressive, it keeps a balance between the races and the pre-post races events in both racer's life. The championship montage is well done, covering most of the important aspects while leading to the two main races.
There are many sub plots in the movie, like James Hunt who lives a life of playboy suddenly marries Suzy (Olivia Wilde) probably to get his focus on the sport as is seen in the pre-wedding scene where he tells Suzy how he has changed from the old James practising for next race and keen to make a mark in Formula 1. Special mention to the marriage scene which happens right after James out of no where asks Suzy for marriage, probably one of quickest propasal-marriage sequence I have ever seen. The narration is always pacy only time it slows down is when James faces 'no races' phase, and he shows his frustration and anger on Suzy. A key scene happens here when Niki Lauda after winning a race during a party asks James 'I heard you got married, where is your wife ?'.
On the other hand, Niki Lauda's backstory is setup with him telling his father that he will become a champion racer one day. He uses his talent, first with the owner of Formula 3 to help build speedy cars with the perfect knowledge he possesses. And later joining Ferrari, one funny scene comes here when Niki mimics the person's reaction who says 'it was a good car'.
Niki's relation with Marlene (Alexandra Maria Lara) interests me most, as he was more honest towards her. They meet by chance when Niki asks her for a lift, only to find later that she gave lift to one of well known Formula 1 racer. When Marlene complains that he has got no looks and way of driving that resembles a formula 1 racer, Niki replies 'There's no need to drive fast right now, why take risk'. Its a point shown at various places in the film that Niki had lots of talent but he never drove in rash manner as he felt there's a 20% risk of getting killed in such a sport. Special mention to the editing here, how he cuts the scene to championship race.
My fav scene between Niki and Marlene happens right after their marriage, when Niki feels that now he has got something to lose, therefore happiness is his enemy now. To which Marlene very well replies, 'If you feel its your enemy, then you have already lost'.
I was more tilted towards Niki Lauda's story, as he was much more serious towards his goal. In a scene he tells James 'I am a serious guy, I go to work, come back home.. I don't go to parties that are full of assholes'. Plus, party lovers never attract me which James was. Infact, for most of his career as is shown in movie, James comes across as a careless racer who has the talent to win when he gives his best like that final race.. but he's never serious about it unlike Niki. That is one more reason, why you feel to support Niki in every race, that he should win and not James.
Cinematography is excellent, the way it captures all the racing sequences, especially the cloudy and rainy ones. Love the feel given to Aug 1st race. Hans Zimmer's background score is fantastic, the main theme has a rivalry plus emotional feel to it and very. How his background gives a signal that something bad about to happen in final two races. Also, it doubles the tension because they are the only two times a complete race is shown to us.
Good build-up to the Aug1 race, firstly using a fan asking for Niki's autograph with a date as 'who knows it could be his last', and then Niki's request to cancel the game owing to poor weather getting cancelled since James has more people's support, 'You know Niki, sometimes its good to have people who like you' is what James tells Niki. The accident sequence is disturbing, especially the follow up hospital scenes. Its as tough to watch them as it is for Marlene in the movie. There's a scene where Niki wants to get back to racing, as James who until then was behind Niki is now winning races to jump up the ladderboard. While doctors give vaccum to Niki, he watches James snatching his points making him desperate to return. He tells James in next race 'If you were responsible for what happened to me, then watching you win those races, while I was fighting for my life, you were equally responsible for getting me back into the car'. That's the kind of rivalry they both shared, it was never ugly one. I was actually happy to see Niki come 4th and not 1st in that race after accident, simply because making him come first would had been over-dramatic. If you go by facts, he did came 4th only.
The press scene isn't taken from real life, therefore James getting angry at a journalist question and beating the hell out of him, was only to add 'the care' feeling into James character as we never see both of them share light moments in movie until ofcourse the last dialogue scene.
Final race is presented dramatically, with lots of slow motions, the tension for Marlene to see Niki race in what is much worse weather than it was during accident race. James still feeling guilt for last time, tries to cancel the race but the representatives don't agree. And therefore, when race is about to begin on the field, James turns behind from his car to watch Niki, and both wish each other good luck. Its the only time they do in any of the races shown in entire movie. Perfect moment chosen for it though. Visually, this was the best race, as a viewer you wonder would Niki risk his life at such a race, with Marlene not able to stop him after Niki told her 'if you love me, you won't say anything to me'.
You feel bad for Niki, watching him not win the championship.. but just as he says 'No regrets', you know he would had most likely lost his life had he continued. In the final dialogue scene, we see a happy smiling picture of real James and Niki, where Niki says 'I always liked him'.
Chris Hemsworth and Daniel Bruhl both deliver excellent performances. Personally, I loved Daniel much more, specially with the accent he had while speaking the dialogues and all the mannerisms. Both females playing supporting roles did great job too, and both looked very beautiful, Alexandra Maria was my pick though. Another interesting thing to note is, the make-over for these 4 actors resembled completely with the real life characters.
Rush is the best Hollywood movie I have watched this year. And its gonna be tough to beat this film. From performances to narration to technical aspects, the film is a big winner in all regards.
Imdb link -> http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1979320/
Read at your own risk, the post may have some spoilers.
Films based on real life people have been on a rise lately, and I have seen some very good ones, Rush tops the list.
Plot is about the rivalry between Britain's James Hunt (played by Chris Hemsworth) and Austrian Niki Lauda (played by Daneil Bruhl), 1970's Formula 1 racers. The rivalry is limited to the races and attempts to get above each other in championships. In personal life, they don't really treat each other as enemies.
I have never seen a single Forumla 1 race even on T.V, so clearly someone who has no interest in this sport. Still, the film succeeds in creating a large impact, and the reason is the film focusses more on the emotions and drama.
The film begins with that deadly Aug 1, 1976 race when everything went wrong for Niki Lauda (Daniel Bruhl) who describes 'I was chasing him like an asshole'. Director sets up formula one environment, and the relation Niki shares with James during races.. before he cuts abruptly to begin the flashback, telling the story of both racers when they were amateurs and trying to reach the Formula One stage.
The screenplay is impressive, it keeps a balance between the races and the pre-post races events in both racer's life. The championship montage is well done, covering most of the important aspects while leading to the two main races.
There are many sub plots in the movie, like James Hunt who lives a life of playboy suddenly marries Suzy (Olivia Wilde) probably to get his focus on the sport as is seen in the pre-wedding scene where he tells Suzy how he has changed from the old James practising for next race and keen to make a mark in Formula 1. Special mention to the marriage scene which happens right after James out of no where asks Suzy for marriage, probably one of quickest propasal-marriage sequence I have ever seen. The narration is always pacy only time it slows down is when James faces 'no races' phase, and he shows his frustration and anger on Suzy. A key scene happens here when Niki Lauda after winning a race during a party asks James 'I heard you got married, where is your wife ?'.
On the other hand, Niki Lauda's backstory is setup with him telling his father that he will become a champion racer one day. He uses his talent, first with the owner of Formula 3 to help build speedy cars with the perfect knowledge he possesses. And later joining Ferrari, one funny scene comes here when Niki mimics the person's reaction who says 'it was a good car'.
Niki's relation with Marlene (Alexandra Maria Lara) interests me most, as he was more honest towards her. They meet by chance when Niki asks her for a lift, only to find later that she gave lift to one of well known Formula 1 racer. When Marlene complains that he has got no looks and way of driving that resembles a formula 1 racer, Niki replies 'There's no need to drive fast right now, why take risk'. Its a point shown at various places in the film that Niki had lots of talent but he never drove in rash manner as he felt there's a 20% risk of getting killed in such a sport. Special mention to the editing here, how he cuts the scene to championship race.
My fav scene between Niki and Marlene happens right after their marriage, when Niki feels that now he has got something to lose, therefore happiness is his enemy now. To which Marlene very well replies, 'If you feel its your enemy, then you have already lost'.
I was more tilted towards Niki Lauda's story, as he was much more serious towards his goal. In a scene he tells James 'I am a serious guy, I go to work, come back home.. I don't go to parties that are full of assholes'. Plus, party lovers never attract me which James was. Infact, for most of his career as is shown in movie, James comes across as a careless racer who has the talent to win when he gives his best like that final race.. but he's never serious about it unlike Niki. That is one more reason, why you feel to support Niki in every race, that he should win and not James.
Cinematography is excellent, the way it captures all the racing sequences, especially the cloudy and rainy ones. Love the feel given to Aug 1st race. Hans Zimmer's background score is fantastic, the main theme has a rivalry plus emotional feel to it and very. How his background gives a signal that something bad about to happen in final two races. Also, it doubles the tension because they are the only two times a complete race is shown to us.
Good build-up to the Aug1 race, firstly using a fan asking for Niki's autograph with a date as 'who knows it could be his last', and then Niki's request to cancel the game owing to poor weather getting cancelled since James has more people's support, 'You know Niki, sometimes its good to have people who like you' is what James tells Niki. The accident sequence is disturbing, especially the follow up hospital scenes. Its as tough to watch them as it is for Marlene in the movie. There's a scene where Niki wants to get back to racing, as James who until then was behind Niki is now winning races to jump up the ladderboard. While doctors give vaccum to Niki, he watches James snatching his points making him desperate to return. He tells James in next race 'If you were responsible for what happened to me, then watching you win those races, while I was fighting for my life, you were equally responsible for getting me back into the car'. That's the kind of rivalry they both shared, it was never ugly one. I was actually happy to see Niki come 4th and not 1st in that race after accident, simply because making him come first would had been over-dramatic. If you go by facts, he did came 4th only.
The press scene isn't taken from real life, therefore James getting angry at a journalist question and beating the hell out of him, was only to add 'the care' feeling into James character as we never see both of them share light moments in movie until ofcourse the last dialogue scene.
Final race is presented dramatically, with lots of slow motions, the tension for Marlene to see Niki race in what is much worse weather than it was during accident race. James still feeling guilt for last time, tries to cancel the race but the representatives don't agree. And therefore, when race is about to begin on the field, James turns behind from his car to watch Niki, and both wish each other good luck. Its the only time they do in any of the races shown in entire movie. Perfect moment chosen for it though. Visually, this was the best race, as a viewer you wonder would Niki risk his life at such a race, with Marlene not able to stop him after Niki told her 'if you love me, you won't say anything to me'.
You feel bad for Niki, watching him not win the championship.. but just as he says 'No regrets', you know he would had most likely lost his life had he continued. In the final dialogue scene, we see a happy smiling picture of real James and Niki, where Niki says 'I always liked him'.
Rush is the best Hollywood movie I have watched this year. And its gonna be tough to beat this film. From performances to narration to technical aspects, the film is a big winner in all regards.
0 Comments