[critical] RUSH

RUSH traces the thrilling and breathless battle between two of the greatest rivals in the history of Formula 1 has ever known, that of James Hunt and Niki Lauda competing for the illustrious stables McLaren and Ferrari. From the haute bourgeoisie, charismatic and handsome boy, all between the playboy englishman James Hunt to Niki Lauda, his opponent austrian, reserved, and methodical. RUSH follows the frenetic life of these two drivers, on the circuit and outside, and relates the rivalry since their beginnings.

Author’s Note

[rating:7/10]

• Achievement : Ron Howard

• Scenario : Peter Morgan

• Main actors : Chris Hemsworth, Daniel Brühl, Olivia Wilde

• Country of origin : United States, United Kingdom, Germany

• Output : September 25, 2013

• Length : 2h03

• Trailer :

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Films sports are not legion, and the good even less. Those on the motor sport, yet eminently cinégénique, can be counted on the fingers of both hands and regarding the F1, it is an event so they are rare. The SENNA Asif Kapadia has marked the spirits, but it was a documentary. Fiction sports, more than any other genre, suffers from the syndrome of “fake”: the viewer does not forgive the many twists and turns scripted (“as if by chance, it happened that”…) as they are a source of great emotion in the “real” sport (nothing like a goal in the stoppage time).

One solution : the re-enactment. If the scenario is suddenly no surprise since “we know the end”, the author is at least not suspected to have added. Only remains to find a director capable of bringing the breath to the whole. And there is bad news: it’s Ron Howard, who will stick. On the one hand he’s an American, and as everyone knows Americans don’t understand anything about the F1, they are just good at yelling in front of cars that grow on an oval. On the other hand, it falls into the category of filmmakers firefighters. Not only because it has BACKDRAFT, but because that is the kind of guy to press the violins when the little Brian mourns the death of his dog Toby in the arms of his mother.

The choice of the rivalry between Lauda / Hunt leaves also doubtful. Far from being emblematic of the F1 as could be that of Prost and Senna, it lasted really only a year, that of the 1976 season, which in fact occupies the major part of the film. It seems to have mostly been chosen for its manichaeism: the playboy blonde head burned that pilot to the instinct against the brown taciturn, calculator, and allergic to risk (which will still end hothead, but for other reasons). A bargain for a hollywood director. The casting, Chris “be beautiful and shut up” Hemsworth, cartoonish and not always convincing; and Daniel Brühl, austrian accent cut with a knife, in the role of ungrateful of the sucks who gets treated rat all his life.

But against all odds, Ron Howard is doing it in style by making it perfectly the atmosphere of the race. His film, very noisy, plenty of climbs in regime rageuses. It is composed of plans that regale the fans of cars, with tires slipping on the rain, close-ups of every nook and cranny of the body or even the inside of the engine and provides that broadcast TV can’t do: the eyes of the pilots, their discussions or chambrages on the grid or in the paddock and a few shots of battles in the race are impossible to turn “true”. The races, however, are abbreviated so as not to tire the non-fans, who may constitute the majority of the public. Insiders, themselves, will enjoy an exceptional film that feels good castor oil and populated by evocative names : Nürburgring, McLaren, the Commendatore…