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“Rush” is old-school demolition derby movie

By Lou Gaul calkins Media Film Critic 2 min read

With eye-popping car-crash footage that shows sleek Formula One vehicles floating through space and exploding into deadly balls of flames, Ron Howard’s “Rush” sometimes seems closer to an old-school demolition derby than a legendary race.

For the R-rated film, Howard, working from a relatively modest $30 million budget, centers the narrative on two characters, leaving all of the other drivers, mechanics and significant others in the shadows. With “Rush,” the filmmaker shows a preference for mounting cameras in the Formula One vehicles and getting them going around the track as soon as possible.

That approach works extremely well, since it seems probable that most audience members will visit theaters to go to the races and judge whether the main characters are better drivers than the fan favorites from “The Fast and the Furious” franchise.

The main characters consist of two highly driven track rivals.

Britain’s James Hunt (Chris Hemsworth of “Thor”) has a life fueled by sex, drugs and rock and roll and is enjoying every moment of being a charismatic playboy with a huge following. However, his downbeat, self-obsessed rival, Austrian Niki Lauda (Daniel Bruhl of “Inglourious Basterds”), remains the type joy-challenged person who sucks all the air out of a room.

Hollywood, of course, has mounted similar racing films, notably John Frankenheimer’s “Grand Prix” (1966) with James Garner and Lee H. Katzin’s “Le Mans” (1971) with Steve McQueen, with mixed results.

Howard, who won a best-director Oscar for “A Beautiful Mind,” captures the college-boy swagger of Hunt and the frosty personality of Lauda as he tells what’s basically a racing picture with little exposition outside the track.

What makes “Rush” entertaining and sometimes enlightening is watching how far the main characters are willing to go during races that claim the lives of at least 20 percent of those who climb behind the wheel.

It is fueled by two extremely gifted drivers willing to wrap their vehicles around a steel pole in a quest to finish first in a competition where second place means nothing.

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