Rush (2013)

At some point in every critic’s life, you find yourself isolated by your inability to appreciate something everyone else is appreciating. It is a completely different feeling than enjoying something that is consensus hated. But as I look at the positive roughly 90% of Rotten Tomatoes users, all I can do is simply breathe in deeply and state, “My name is Susan and I am an ‘Rush’ hater.” 

Not a dislike though, no one can fully concentrate on completely what I consider to be a dreadful movie involving any one of those hunky Australian behemoths called the Harmsworth’s (He has Chris, aka Thor, not Liam, aka Miley’s ex). I do commend a good car chase, be it in “Smokey and the Bandit “ or even the vintage “The Fast and the Furious” and my double digit views of “Slap Shot”, “North Dallas Forty” give evidence of my love for sports films, but only if the drama off the field between the participants is as interesting as the battle on the field. It was evident to me while watching “Rush” that there was a thin, formulaic veneer plastered all over this cinematic road trip, and that is a turnoff for me. 

This movie explores the real and very famous rivalry between hunting professional formula one racers James Hunt, a Brit with bad boy swag, and Niki Lauder, an Austrian with no social skills and a jingoistic attitude who literally wears his ego on his sleeve, during the high octane, action packed era of the mid 1970s when they competed for the world championship title.

If you know anything about these two not-quite-gentlemen, it’s that one of them will be sorely put to the test when calamity strikes at velocities approaching 200 mph. Because of his cinematic pursuits in both the directing: ‘Grand Theft Auto’, and acting: ‘American Graffiti’, significant acclaim has already been showered upon Ron Howard who strives to capture the visceral thrill of the sport.

Knowing his prior filmography, it’s somewhat surprising to me that ‘Rush’ suffers from the same issue many racetrack blunders seem to. Admittedly there have been attempts to give the audience a seat behind the wheel, but as physically stimulating as racing is, it is cinematically near impossible to portray as anything but repetitive. ‘What’s onscreen’ is a bunch of helmeted drivers in cramped vehicles chasing each other in circles, mixed with a few hairpin turns, until the finish line appears on the horizon, but, as with all other pre-determined circles, the results are already known.

If I only covered my ears, perhaps I would have enjoyed this film a little more. The use of voiceovers is way overblown. In his accentuated phrases and jubilant exclamations, you can tell that he is a cartoonishly flamboyant macho man. The cartoon feeling picks up where the narrative ends. Withee playing a elbow looming over the entire action, pre-race boasting, excessive show-off press conference clips, overtaking the other racers, defensive blocking during the race, and post-race strutting have all been covered in painstaking detail. It is only at the end that we hear a rough voice that starts ‘get your motor running’, and ends with an enthusiastic vroom alien. It almost feels like there is rough voice termination at the start of the file but I am just giving him the benefit of the doubt. It gets pressed directly one of the overhyped gm smash hits of the 60s gimme some Lovin. 

There is far more glamour and realism in the other box, but Hunt and Laura’s pre race spats were I more cringed during the chase sequences in golden eye than amused and for all their circus dramatics, they were not all that brilliant without the bugs and Elmer banter.

“Rush” isn’t so much about a friendship as it is a rivalry between two people competing with each other for success in this case, both are characters who are driven to mighty extremes. While I do believe them, and Buhl’s almost emotionally devoid Lauda comes closest to being a sympathetic underdog, I found it difficult to enjoy rooting for either Anthony as Hunt or Daniel Buhl as Lauda. However, later on, Howard and screenwriter Peter Morgan depict how these harsh competitors earn a bond of respect which can only be formed when an individual is willing to sacrifice absolutely everything. However, this moment comes too late to make any difference. There is simply too much focus placed on alpha self-congratulatory boasting, destroying and battering their vehicles.

The film receives an R rating as a result of constant womanizing actions by Hunt, who has a personal motto, “Sex: Breakfast of Champions.” This rating is brought about due to a mix of factors including the word “F**k,” which is a favorite of a grimacing Lauda and hostility. Violence seemed to loom over every scene. Throughout the performance, violence was flagged and Howard unapologetically depicts the consequences of such behavior on metal and flesh. It is a known fact that bits and pieces of bones attached to skin are never spared and in Hunt’s words, “It’s just a little coffin, really, surrounded by high-octane fuel all around for all intents and purposes, it’s a bomb on wheels.”

“Rush” takes a particularly nasty dive at love and marriage and suspense note. Olivia Wilde certainly looks the part of runway siren Suzy Miller who inspired Hunt to marry without thinking, but adds people with little more than eye candy. She gets more interesting when she dashes off with actor Richard Burton. Even worse off is Alexandra Maria Lara, who plays Lauda’s first wife Marlene Keanu’s. She a concerned statue trying to impersonate one of the lesser nuns in The Sound of Music. How on earth do you fix someone like Niki?

At least one scene did grab my interest, which was the moment when Knauss’s car breaks down while being driven by Lauda. The two are left stranded on a quiet road in Italy. As both of them are trying to hitch a cane, the scene brings out a clever twist to an attempt made by Claudette Colbert and Clark Gable back in 1934’s film It Happened One Night. 

Other press members who watched ‘Rush’ the same way as I did which was during a Toronto International Film Festival screening have compiled a serious list, and based from this certain information, ‘Rush’ MIGHT be an Oscars candidate. I mean it could figure in, but once again it will depend on how it performs at the box office. For me personally, this glorification of the portrait of manly boldness in ‘Rush’ was a much less performance than how Howard and screenwriter Morgan’s previously collaborated in “Frost/Nixon”, which also was about a competition between a very strong set of opponents, which is a dull and disgraced politician and a ‘lightweight’ media type. When these deeply contrasting characters took part in those numerous contests of words, the rush came but the rush was different, it was within one’s mind.

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