Rush

[Perfectlap]

Thor was not the best choice but I give him credit for losing 100 pounds to play Hunt.
I think Jude Law would have been a better choice for pompous and "posh" racing driver.

And I would have given Cristoph Waltz a shot at playing Lauda. But at the end of the day these racing films never do well because racing drivers with a couple of exceptions like Senna, aren't that interesting in real life. It has to be an interesting story first, which you certainly had here, but the script has to be very gritty and raw. This was more a PG-13 type of a thing. You could only do so much with this script no matter the casting.
Downton Abbey has more interesting script-writing and that's about a bunch of rich unemployed people eating dinner in tails every night.

[Porsche9]

I am generally harsh critic of anything anything from Hollywood but have a soft spot for racing/cars movies so I tend to look the other way. I enjoyed Rush even with its warts.

[silver-S]

Originally Posted by Porsche9

I am generally harsh critic of anything anything from Hollywood but have a soft spot for racing/cars movies so I tend to look the other way. I enjoyed Rush even with its warts.

For sure. The scripts of "Le Mans" and "Grand Prix" weren't anything great, either, but the racing was so exciting that the silly subplots didn't really matter. Now, if you tell me there's no good racing in "Rush", I'll take it out of my Netflix queue.

[mikesz]

I loved Grand Prix the filming at speed was great. I was 8 years old made my mother and cousin take me. My cousing got sick. LeMans, terrible story but I live anything with Porsches especially the mighty 917's! Ordered Rush looking forward to seeing it. I am suprised Hunt casting was not to your liking.

[pothole]

Originally Posted by Perfectlap

It has to be an interesting story first, which you certainly had here, but the script has to be very gritty and raw.

Agreed. But the first 30 mins of Rush were chronically derivative, cliched claptrap, not gritty and raw. The film really could have been about anything. That's the real pity. The real story is so good, the atmosphere and the way they went about things back then so different. To make it into a generic racing b movie, full of idiotic dialogue and voice overs, was just depressing. Which is why I couldn't get through it.

It's all very subjective, of course. I just found it a deeply naff (nearest translation in US english = tacky) film.

[Auf los!]

I loved it, saw it on a bigger than normal screen in the theatre, pre-ordered the DVD, received it today. Can't wait to watch it again!

I thought Daniel Bruhl's performance was actually Oscar-worthy. I didn't think Hemsworth did nearly as well portraying Hunt, but Hunt was such a complex and larger-than-life character, WHO, really, could have played him?

Even after all these years, I still respect Niki greatly, and I really miss James.

[Johnny Danger]

I'm glad everyone enjoyed it. As a favor to Ron, I did some of the stunt driving.