Rush

[TeamOxford]

Ron Howard's F1 masterpiece "Rush" was released today in DVD and Blu-ray formats; available for sale at retailers, and for rent at your local Redbox.

If you missed this great slice of '70s racing history, at a time "when sex was safe, and motor racing was dangerous", now's your chance to see it.

TO

[Slate 01]

Wow, how times have changed, 2014 Racing History, "When sex is dangerous, and motor racing is dangerous"

[Perfectlap]

^isn't that "when sex was safe and racing was dangerous"?

[pothole]

I gave up after 30 mins. Great slice of motor racing history? More like horrendous b movie thinly disguised by modern production quality.

Remain baffled by the love for this film. I assume because of the latent sentiment for the subject matter, but how bad would the film have to be...?

I'd love to see a great film about Hunt v Lauda. Rush isn't it.

[AP328]

Originally Posted by pothole

I gave up after 30 mins. Great slice of motor racing history? More like horrendous b movie thinly disguised by modern production quality.

Remain baffled by the love for this film. I assume because of the latent sentiment for the subject matter, but how bad would the film have to be...?

I'd love to see a great film about Hunt v Lauda. Rush isn't it.

Couldn't agree more - had to stop after about 35 minutes!

[mikesz]

I saw it last night and thought it was terrific. Had some exciting racing footage and an interesting story to it also.

[coreseller]

Originally Posted by AP328

Couldn't agree more - had to stop after about 35 minutes!

You guys gave up too early, it got better imo as it went on.

Rush was made to be a Movie, not a documentary about F1. It was based upon the titanic struggle between polar opposites; Hunt and Lauda. I thought for what it was and meant to be (a movie to draw maximum box office turn out) Ron Howard did a pretty good job.

[schnellman]

As a movie, I think Ron Howard did a lousy job. He didn't begin to catch the feeling of a Formula 1 race. Playing sappy music at times, and trying to add excitement via loud music really sucked. Having said that, it was fun going down the 1976 memory lane. Who can forget the six wheeled Tyrrell? Or, the crepes with Grand Marnier at the Paul Ricard Circuit, or climbing the trees at Zolder? I had the great good fortune to meet Niki Lauda in 1984 at Monte Carlo. He will always be a champion, at racing, business, and at life. If you have any concerns about seeing the movie, check out one of the interviews with Niki found on You Tube.

[schnellman]

For those fans of Niki Lauda who'd like to know more than the movie told about his entry into F1, I'd recommend "Niki Lauda: Meine Story." It's available in English and covers a lot of material the movie skims over.

[pothole]

Originally Posted by coreseller

You guys gave up too early, it got better imo as it went on.

Rush was made to be a Movie, not a documentary about F1. It was based upon the titanic struggle between polar opposites; Hunt and Lauda. I thought for what it was and meant to be (a movie to draw maximum box office turn out) Ron Howard did a pretty good job.

I didn't want it to be a documentary. I wanted it to be a movie. Which it was. Just a painfully crap movie.

It was utterly generic, brain dead, bland Hollywood drivel. It could have been about just about anything. I agree Hunt v Lauda is a fascinating contrast. But this infantile, cliched nonsense was so cartoonish in execution, it just became a standard off the peg yarn about the flamboyant extrovert vs the icy introvert. Yawn.

It may have gotten better. But the casting of Hunt was fundamentally idiotic, and everything about the first half an hour was so utterly cheesy and cringeworthy, the rest of the film was beyond rescue, even if it may have improved.

Sorry to be such a grouch, but this movie frankly pissed me off.

[TeamOxford]

Apparently, your historic knowledge, or "recollection" of a time when you weren't even born yet, surpasses that of those who were present at the time.

I do, however, admire your profuse use of colorful adjectives.

TO

Lighten up my friend, and have a pint.

[Mark_T]

Couldn't disagree more. Loved the movie. Saw it first on the Imax and then watched it again at home.

[Perfectlap]

Not the greatest script. However and more importantly, Olivia Wild was smoking hot as a blonde, in fact she's tied with Margot Robbie (Wolf of Wall St.) for hottest blonde in a movie in 2014.
The guy who played Lauda (who we remember from Tarantino's Inglourious Basterds) did a tremendous job, much better than Jonah Hill who actually got his second Academy award nomination. They should have spent much more time showing how totally different is to drive these tin cans than today's automatic F1 cars. For instance Jackie Stewart's drive around the N-ring in a Rolls Royce in 'The Quick and the Dead' where he tells you how utterly insane it was to drive a 1970's single seater on that track should have been worked into this script somehow as it's the most important race of the whole story.

I would have really loved to see Michael Mann do this film instead of Ron Howard.
Mann did an amazing job with Public Enemies (Christian Bale, Johnny Depp), another historical film.

[pothole]

The guy who played Lauda was good, agreed. But Chris Hemsworth was laughable casting for Hunt and as soon as you saw that choice, you knew the people behind this film either didn't have a clue or didn't care. And so it proved.

[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.