Ron Howard's "Rush"

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Sorry for not agreeing with all here, but I just returned home from a midnight sceeening and I found it, in every possible aspect, underwhelming. With the exception of Hemsworth, he did a fantastic portrayal of Hunt, something I didn't expect. Oh well, we'll always have Le Mans I guess. Amazing how the racing scenes from a 1971 movie aare more believable than the ones from a 42 years younger film. I guess the cars became so revered that every overtake shouted by the narrator as amazing was a "car pulls over, another gets in front" situation.
 
Hun200kmh
Sorry for not agreeing with all here, but I just returned home from a midnight sceeening and I found it, in every possible aspect, underwhelming. With the exception of Hemsworth, he did a fantastic portrayal of Hunt, something I didn't expect. Oh well, we'll always have Le Mans I guess. Amazing how the racing scenes from a 1971 movie aare more believable than the ones from a 42 years younger film. I guess the cars became so revered that every overtake shouted by the narrator as amazing was a "car pulls over, another gets in front" situation.
Click to expand...

In regard to the racing footage, Le Mans did have the advantage of being both made and set in 1970/71, and as such was able to record (with the same cameras and film stock) a substantial amount of footage of the actual race.

Rush could have used more period footage, but it would have been almost impossible to accurately match it with the old aged reels from the '76 race.

Teh main difference between the two however for me is the focus, Le Mans is not a great film (from the point of view of a film alone) and will bore the hell out of most non-race fans who watch it. Its a film about the race and the cars more than anything else. Rush is a film about two people and the rivalry they had, as such the 'races' are less of a focus, but its appeal will be wider and as a result its arguably a better 'film' for it.
 
About the footage, even if you compare the "movie" footage from Le Mans and fom rush you'll notice the 40+ year old movie is better. In Rush they use a kind of filming we see nowadays in many action movies depicting fights (Jason Bourne is a good example, but it's a general trend now). To enhance the "action" you get successive millisecond shots filled with sound but you actually see nothing, apart from the knowledge that something's happening, of which you get flashes and nothing else.

When Rush leaves these extremely short, blurred, close up shots and we actually see the cars, we see nothing special. With exceptions, three came to mind as I write: The Ferrari jump, the Ferrari crash, the Brambilla spin (very well executed considering the closeness of both cars).

In Le Mans you are treated to a festival of amazing shots, both in car, outside, close range, wide view, you name it.


About the story, I did find the characters a bit stereotypical but that I was expecting already. My complaint isn't about that. Also, I was expecting a fantastic portrayal of Lauda, and a poor one from Hunt (difficult to imagine Thor being Hunt, eh? :D ) and maybe my low expectations about Hemsworth made his acting more impressive to my eyes. I really think he did a great job.

Special mention to Alexandra Maria Lara, the portrayal of Lauda's wife made also for a great character. I had to laugh at the "lift" scene, nicely done (although last time I checked italians don't look like gipsies, but I guess that's again the stereotypical view in mainstream films made for general audiences).

Olivia Wilde, sad to say, got older. I watched Rush at midnight and right before I saw TRON: Legacy at home, so her face was fresh in my memory. Maybe it's the characterization, maybe not, but the difference is ... big.
 
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Hun200kmh
About the footage, even if you compare the "movie" footage from Le Mans and fom rush you'll notice the 40+ year old movie is better. In Rush they use a kind of filming we see nowadays in many action movies depicting fights (Jason Bourne is a good example, but it's a general trend now). To enhance the "action" you get successive millisecond shots filled with sound but you actually see nothing, apart from the knowledge that something's happening, of which you get flashes and nothing else.

When Rush leaves these extremely short, blurred, close up shots and we actually see the cars, we see nothing special. With exceptions, three came to mind as I write: The Ferrari jump, the Ferrari crash, the Brambilla spin (very well executed considering the closeness of both cars).

In Le Mans you are treated to a festival of amazing shots, both in car, outside, close range, wide view, you name it.
Click to expand...

I think a lot of that is just disguising the fact that the cars would be travelling noticeably slower than race speeds during filming for insurance reasons, and that the producers really didn't have much access to circuits that would pass as 70's grand prix circuits. So footage had to be cut to make it look like the circuits where possible. The Italian Grand Prix scene was quite jarring to watch as a racing fan because they didn't film at Monza, and it didn't look like they did either. The Ferrari jump was quite enjoyable however.

Some details were glossed over and some parts were sensationalised, but overall I enjoyed the movie.
 
Finally saw Rush this evening, wasn't disappointed. Essentially, they didn't miss many important storylines, and although they jumbled the order a little, nothing that really alters history.

As for the theater, it was called Monaco Theaters. Couldn't have asked for a better name...
 
I saw it today as well and absolutely loved it. I wasn't totally familiar with how their "rivalry" began and how it actually played out, so this movie answered a lot of questions and was still thrilling to watch. Even my non-race fan of a friend enjoyed it.

And my theater was called NCG, which I think stands for "Noobs Controlling everythinG". The movie started 10 minutes late because they were having issues with the projector, then when it started the lights didn't go out until someone went out and complained. Then about 45 mins into the movie the lights came back on and the picture went out, but the sound was still going. So we're sitting there, annoyed and pissed off because a major part of the story took place and we got to have it spoiled. We alert the staff and they say they're trying to fix it, but after 20 minutes of no picture but all the sound they finally figured out how to pause it. And when we finally finished the movie, people from the next showing were starting to wander in and were like "lol wat is goin on in hurr".

TL;DR noobs in the projector room nearly ruined an amazing movie
 
Finally got to see it today - I agree with most of what has been mentioned:

1) Hemsworth and Bruhl were fantastic, both as doppelgangers and in their portrayal.
2) The theme of 'what drives us to pursue danger' was a little absent, but that this was a movie about the rivalry and the character flaws of each man rather then just cars was well balanced.
3) Agree with Hun - too much quick editting to give mop up the lack of genuine footage. CGI wasn't overdone, but I felt they could have used more archive footage.
4) Would have been a nice touch if the actual Lauda had done the narration at the end, unless he did, in which case ma' bad (searched, but couldnt get confirmation).

Overall, I will watch again for sure when it is released on DVD.
 
Finally saw it yesterday and will watch it again before its "rushed" out of theaters for sure. I thought it was well done, the story was great, the sounds were awesome, many thanks to Ron Howard for making this film.

SPOILER TEXT
My favorite part had to have been the 2 Italian guys who picked up Lauda when hitchhiking, lol so funny.
 
Saw this on Sunday and I thought it was great. From the trailers, I had thought that Bruhl's Lauda would outshine Hemsworth's Hunt, but Hemsworth was excellent too.

As long as you can overlook the things that only motorsport geeks like us would notice, (ie, "that's not Paul Ricard, that's Brands Hatch", and "that's not Monza, that's still Brands Hatch...") and the CGI recreation of Lauda's Nordschleife accident being shown to be slightly different from the real footage that "Hunt" watched in his trailer after the race.

But that's just being really picky. Can't wait for the Blu-ray with the inevitable extended director's cut.
 
Went to see the film tonight going in with an expectation of an overly americanised piece of rubbish, so that I wouldn't be disapointed. Pleasantly surprised though, it was bloody awesome and they didn't ruin it. Not much to really say other than I loved it, will definitely be buying a copy and that is not something I do with many films, most movies I will never watch more than once.

Comparing to LeMans is silly, it was a film about a specific race and it was shot during the actual race. Rush is a film about two people, recreating something that happened 37 years ago.
 
I really liked this movie!!

I went in know that I was going to see a really well done telling of a big sports story. This time Motorsport!! That the re-creation of the time period and the events would all be well done.

And yes all that was there, but what really took it to another level was the great acting, all around. I've seen Hemsworth as Thor in 2 movies, he was good enough at that, but really that was just stand heroically and talk in a manly way.

But in Rush he really impressed me with his performance!! There were the subtle moments where he'd be sitting there, no dialogue but with stuff running through his head. And you could read it all from the look in his eyes, that's just really good acting.
 
It's taken a month but I finally had a free evening to go and see this.

I went in expecting the F1 geek in me to be appalled, but it wasn't too bad for accuracy. Sure, Monza and Paul Ricard apparantly had more hills than I remember, but overall I was quite impressed with some of the details - Howard could have not bothered, knowing the majority of people who would see it would have no knowledge of F1, so it was nice to see an effort made.

A few things:

I felt such a graphic depection of Francois Cevert's fatal accident was unecessary, and a touch disrespectful. I understand it was put in to show the extent of the danger in F1 at the time for audiences who aren't F1 enthusiasts, but I still felt it could have been shot more sympatheticly. I wondered what Jackie Stewart made of it when he saw it, if he has.

There seemed to be a minor obsession with the Tyrrell P34s, cropping up in almost every on track scene and once in the commentary. It came across a bit as 'Look at this really wacky F1 car with 6 wheels! Have you seen this F1 car with 6 wheels? Look, here it is again, just in case you missed it!'. Maybe I just noticed it more than the Lotus, Ligiers etc. but it did seem to crop up a lot.

On the whole, really enjoyed it. Definate Blu-Ray purchase when it's released.
 
Saw it a few weeks back, my thoughts in spoiler:

Figures it was Ceverts accident, don't recall his name being mentioned. Thought it was a bit too morbid, I did cringe and look away a little at that moment. Also what was that accident at Nurb on the weekend dawning?

From the start I was worried it would get into a rut of "Hunt gets it on with woman in OTT sex scene, Lauda moans and become a scientist stereotype."

Happily it broke that, though the sex was a bit over the top at times. Yes, 1970's and all but come on... Also did Hunt really assault that reporter? I know the question being asked itself is well known.

Ironically, I think your better off seeing this movie as less of a motorsports fan. Inner race fan kept saying to me "Oh thats Brands Hatch Grand Prix loop! That's Cadwell Parks final corner!" Obviously the actual tracks can't be filmed at, and they did a good job as much as they good.

Car scenes I was kinda half half with. Its difficult, with the fragility of the cars and lack of locations sometimes detracted from it. CG wasn't too bad though.

Yet Rushs greatest feature for me is the look and soundtrack. That opening F3 meeting, (was F3 right, Crystal Palace? Memory hazy..) I immediately felt plunged into the 70's. The colours, the camera tints, the music was fantastically in place as well. It was fantastic.

But one audio track stood out above all others. The opening, with a grid of F1 cars racing way. My god that stuck with me. Especially as the Cinema was showing it on the biggest Screen #1 with the ultra deep sound system. :D


Definitely enjoyed it, a worthy purchase it for me.
 
Roo
I went in expecting the F1 geek in me to be appalled, but it wasn't too bad for accuracy. Sure, Monza and Paul Ricard apparantly had more hills than I remember, but overall I was quite impressed with some of the details - Howard could have not bothered...
Click to expand...

Brands Hatch seemed to be both circuits. The start/finish line isn't on a downhill curve at Paul Ricard; although if you squint...the section of the Kent circuit which "caught out our hero" almost looked like one of Monza's Lesmos. Otherwise, an excellent job staying true to most details; considering the additional expenses and time of travel, this can be forgiven.

I suppose with a Potential Cevert Movie in the works (or on hold), they didn't want to mention his name. That was about the only omission which seemed odd...since they went through so much other trouble with his crash.

Considering the best racing movie in my generation (Grand Prix and Le Mans were a few years before I was born) was Talladega Nights (Days of Thunder? Driven? Nooooooo!), I really liked Rush.
 
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Pupik
I suppose with a Potential Cevert Movie in the works (or on hold), they didn't want to mention his name. That was about the only omission which seemed odd...since they went through so much other trouble with his crash.
Click to expand...

Didn't know of that being planned.
 
Watched it with my best friends on the night of the 28th of september (I'll never forget it lol :lol:)... and I absolutely loved every second of the film...from the beginning to the end of it. This has to be the best film I've seen in about 4 or 5 years, or maybe ever... It's one of those movies (very, very few in these days) that can still be considered art.

I think Hunt himself would have loved it...

WILL buy it as soon as it hits the stores :)👍
 
Barely caught this before it goes off theaters, what an awesome movie. It presented the rivalry 'tween both men very well and the pacing was superb. Even my wife loved it and she didn 't even know who they were before entering the theater.

Another deffo "will buy Bloo ray" guy here.
 
Finally saw it on Sunday with the GF. I absolutely loved it! She liked it a lot, too. Great flick. I'll no doubt buy the Blu-ray for this one.
 
Spoilers, kinda.



Not quite what I had hoped for, but it was what I expected.

Racing scenes were meh, good sounds, but too many Hollywood effects in it.

Best part by far was when his manager told him "His reputation precedes him." And then he asks what that means as the slot car flies off the track.:lol:
 
Same here as soon as it's out on DVD (end of this month) i'll order it.
Hope the actor that portrays James Hunt got his gentleman accent good.

Did he?
 
Seems the UK is the only one getting a steelbook version (see this a lot, pretty miffed) and the movie is being published to Blu-ray by a company that region locks their stuff. :grumpy:
 
Got to see it finally, loved it very decent movie, Sex scenes were a bit OTT ish (Not a movie you'd see with your parents around) and the CGI was kind of meh (Expected though You can't race the real cars)

Thought Hunt and Lauda's rivalry was the film's best plus really enjoyed learning about these 2 greats who are from a different time period.

Will see it again no doubt one of the most enjoyable movies of the year.
 
Watched it last night with my wife, whom has little knowledge about motorsport, and it pleases me to see how Howard was able to construct a film to satisfy and even excite both sides of the fence in this case, racing and non-racing fans, which is to me the true test of a good racing movie.

At first I also felt the animosity was going to be a little overcooked on Hemsworth and Bruhls part, but they did just fine as the movie went forward. I can easily overlook the CGI and editing because the story holds it all together very well for the audience. Cinematography is good enough to make you want to pause the movie just to keep taking in all the detail of some scenes. The scene at the hangar towards the end of the film for example, beautiful lighting.

Sound, well, F1 engines from the 70's and Hans Zimmer on the score... not much else to say there. 👍

(SPOILER)Looked through the credits but there's nothing saying who the narrator was, so, unlikely it was Lauda himself, though that would have been something else. Excellent wrap up with seeing him and Hunt in the old footage just towards the end however.(SPOILER)
 
Also just watched it.

Very good work, I reckon. The film moved quickly enough that even as a motorsports fan you could suspend disbelief where some of the races had been filmed on British circuits rather than on location, and it was very easy indeed to picture Bruhl as Lauda - Hemsworth did well but Bruhl was absolutely fantastic.

Despite being portrayed as the less likeable character you really warm to him through the film too, for his wit and for how hard he fought after his accident. Even if you're very familiar with what happened that season (I bought and watched the 76 DVD a few months back) it's still quite humbling at several points.

Generally thought the racing action was okay too. Only bit of CGI that stood out too much as CGI was Hunt and Lauda's tangle in the F3 race at Cadwell near the start of the film - the spin looked very computer-generated.

Have to say too, looking at pics on google - one of the most impressive things about the film is that you frequently double-take to determine film footage from the real thing. The details are pretty impressive.
 
Watched it for the first time since the cinema and still absolutely adore it. The soundtrack is second to none.
 
Just finished it, & t'was superb! The rivalry panned out exactly how I imagined it. The racing itself stood out too much on the CGI side but as someone else said on this thread it'll be pretty boring to the non-F1 fan audience. I didn't mind it because the pacing worked out quite well. Bruhl was amazing, too. He and Lauda were pretty much doppelgangers. Hemsworth was excellent as well. Pretty interesting that he has a likeness to the real Hunt, and ironically enough he plays as Thor, so that was a good selling point for this film.
 
I finally watched this over the weekend.

First I would like to say I don't follow F1 racing AT ALL. So I didn't know anything about the characters. However, I thought this movie was incredible!! The motivation, inspiration, and drive of Niki Lauda was simply riveting!! The entire burn scene was gut wrenching. To endure so much pain like that and get back into the seat is something of pure will power. Loved this movie! 👍
 
Just watched it as well, awesome film. Really got into it. Heaps of wheel to wheel stuff and a few tits here and there which never goes amiss, as us lads all agree. Great story 5 stars.
 
This is what i wrote in the other thread some time ago:

Well i was looking forward to this, and yesterday i finally saw it, but i was disappointed, Hemsworth and Bruhl do a convincing job, the first getting James Hunt's Oxfordian accent down, and the latter obviously having studied Niki Lauda a long time as to get his way of talking and accent perfect, although he overdoes it a bit sometimes.

Apart from that it's a bit of a cheesy movie; insulting your intelligence with background scores as to make scenes more "emotional", and to be honest the plot is a bit hasty and overly dramatized. We start off 6 years before the '76 season but we go from F3, to Niki's first championship in '75 in about 10 minutes and the same treatment is reserved for the '76 season, a hasty recap and directly off to those key moments.

Also the action sequences are badly done; a quick shot of a hand changing gear, followed by a quick shot of them passing by at full speed, followed by a frontal shot of both of their cars 'fighting' but you can see they are going slowly so the crew car that was riding in front of them could shoot the scene... There was one part where Hunt was leaving the pits at the ring, and 2 seconds later you already saw him going through the caroussel :lol:

6/10
 

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