Rush - F1 on the big screen

Caught up on another of last summer's blockbuster releases over the weekend; Rush is the Ron Howard-directed film that dramatises the events of the 1976 Formula One World Championship, in which Nikki Lauda (Daniel Bruhl) and James Hunt (Chris Hemmsworth) battled for the title.  The season was particularly notorious for the crash at the Nürburgring where Nikki Lauda was permanently disfigured as a raging fire engulfed his car.  Lauda returned to racing after only a month out of the sport recovering, and the battle for the championship went right to the final race.

Rush focusses on the personal rivalry between the two drivers.  Hunt was a notorious playboy while Lauda was a perfectionist.  Each came from wealthy backgrounds and effectively bought their way into Formula One.  They quickly moved up the ranks and Lauda became the champion in 1975 as a Ferrari driver.  Though the difference in approach by each driver made them natural enemies, they were in fact remarkably similar in their determination and focus to become the champion.  As is traditional for stories like this, each of the two men eventually learn something from each other and form a grudging respect.

The best thing in this film is definitely the recreation of the Formula One races.  You're right in there with the drivers as they bounce along the asphalt in the ludicrously unsafe cars of the 1970s.  The sounds of the engines and tyres are brilliantly recreated and there is at least one nice touch for Formula One aficionados to spot (the famous 6-wheeled Tyrrell is shown in the background in the grid, I assume there are more for those paying attention).  I assume that the sound team on the film went to real races to record actual sounds of engines and those iconic F1 gear changes.  It makes sense that Rush just won the BAFTA for best editing; these sequences inside the F1 cockpit are outstanding.  Should have won best sound too, but then I've not seen Gravity yet so maybe that deserves it.

In terms of downsides; apart from being mildly miffed that they couldn't find an English man to play the iconic Englishman Hunt, the film only disappointed me in its final scene by providing a spoon-fed morality that explained what everyone was thinking.  I guess it might be that they wanted to provide the still-alive Nikki Lauda with a platform from which to tell the audience his real views on the now-dead James Hunt, but I think that the film itself was enough to get that across.

Rush is a film that fares very badly on the Bechdel test.  Female characters are reduced to objects of affection for either Hunt or Lauda who sit helplessly worrying when their husbands are putting their lives on the line to win races.  Natalie Dormer makes a brief appearance at the start of the film as a nurse who falls for Hunt while he's in his Formula 3 phase.  Is she under contractual obligation to get her boobs out in everything she's in?  At least we get to see Alexandra Maria Lara again, first time I've seen her in anything since she played Hitler's secretary Traudl Junge in Downfall.  But this is very much a story told from the point of view of two highly-strung male petrol heads trying to kill themselves to go slightly faster.  I think we can forgive a certain level of anonymity in its female characters.

Notwithstanding these small negative things, Rush is a very enjoyable if formulaic film with excellent visual effects and sound.  It successfully brings Formula One racing to life for both the casual viewer and the avid fan.