Have you ever watched a football game where you didn’t give a shit who won? You don’t love or hate either team, you just feel vanilla-neutral about both. It might even be a tight and exciting game but as each side trades the lead back and forth, it’s impossible to get emotionally invested either way. It’s impossible to care.
This is exactly how Ron Howard’s new film “Rush” made me feel and it must have been by design. It seems that Howard purposefully relays the true life story about the 1976 rivalry between two Formula One racers- hot-shot playboy James Hunt (Chris Hemsworth) and the cold, calculated Niki Lauda (Daniel Brühl)- without favoring either one. This may come from a mutual respect for both men as they chased each other while cheating death but it makes for a very anti-climactic ending. A sports movie about racing should end with a couple pumps of the fists in victory, not a casual shrug of the shoulders. You don’t watch “Rocky” and come out saying, “Cool that Creed won. I would have liked to see the tiny Italian guy win but this way works too”.
That is not the only flaw here. When it comes to the characters and performance, there is truly only one reason to see “Rush” and that is Brühl’s take on Lauda. His work is subdued and difficult as Lauda is a man of few words and those words are usually quick and emotionless. But Brühl digs into the meat of the man and delivers a flesh and blood performance that makes Lauda human. These are all achievements that Hemsworth cannot claim. He is given James Hunt, a real life jet setter who thinks himself a superhero. He introduces himself like Bond (“Hunt, James Hunt”) and is soaking in groupies and booze. Our golden locked Thor only plays the veneer and comes off as laughable in some scenes. Hunt drinks through his sorrows but Hemsworth cannot deliver the angst, shallow sipping from a bottle and never seeming drunk. He smirks his way through the difficult moments, helping Brühl shine alongside him.
The rest of the peripheral characters follow Hemsworth lead and are only caricatures. Olivia Wilde is all too briefly seen as Suzy Miller, Hunt’s wife, as the relationship is a side note, a blip, that adds nothing to the film. Lauda’s love life is presented as a speechless affair as Niki stays true to his ways and never verbalizes much with his wife, Marlene (Alexandra Maria Lara). This quiet love is affective in a couple moments- Niki’s confession to her before they get married is nice and sweet- but it can’t shake off the rest of the wrong around it.
Ron Howard gives the film a grainy glow that makes “Rush” look like a 70’s car movie. He should know, as his first feature film he directed was a 1977 B-Movie called “Grand Theft Auto”. While everything is presented with this retro look, the car footage is shot contemporary and modern. It’s a sore match up that doesn’t jive. Why not be consistent and mirror the throwback visuals of James Gardner’s “Grand Prix”? Or, if you must keep the race footage modern, don’t merely steal from Tony Scott and give us footage we’ve seen over 20 years ago in his “Days of Thunder”.
“Rush” is being touted as an early Awards contender based on Mr. Howard’s pedigree alone. Save for Brühl, there is nothing to award here. This is an interesting story that would make a great piece in the pages of Sports Illustrated but fails as movie. Unfortunately, it is mishandling of the material that makes “Rush” a failure.