Guys, guys! It's Daniel Brühl being antagonized by a handsome blond. This time - unlike The Fifth Estate (sorry, Batch), the parts are all there for an entertaining Rush. Pun intended.
Daniel Brühl plays Austrian race car driver Niki Lauda, whose rivalry with British party-boy driver James Hunt captured the attention of Formula One fans across the globe in the mid-seventies. On paper it sounds like the predictable story of two opposites competing for attention and validation, looks versus brains, instinct versus knowledge - and to some degree, that's what this is. But Hemsworth and Brühl each brings much-needed humanity to their role, grounding his character to a fundamental need to survive, the only way he knows how.
I'd forgotten that Ron Howard was the director behind the racing film, but who other than Richie Cunningham could get us to invest in these two utterly unlikeable lead characters? The answer is in the casting of the leading men, Chris Hemsworth and Daniel Brühl. These exceptionally talented actors (as laughable as Thor and The Fifth Estate may be for examples) share the weight of the film. Thankfully, the performances are strong enough to get us past the somewhat clunky intro. Too many films, especially recently, employ an opening and closing narration when they might more simply show us what's happening, and let the story take us where it will. It's a lack of faith in the audience, I believe, and a filmmaker's expectation of audience's impatience. Not to mention the pressure of producing a film that lives up to the title of Rush. In fact, Drive might have been a more suitable title, but Gosling and Refn used it already.
Rush kicks into gear pretty quickly, and makes a rather impressive show of things. I can hardly claim to be interested in Formula 1, but the character-driven film succeeds in a way many films don't. This trivia bit from IMDB.com helps to explain why the film works so well: "Peter Morgan wrote the script of Rush (2013) 'on spec', or speculation, meaning there was no one waiting to buy it. So he wrote the first draft assuming there might not even be any racing sequences at all, because the prospective film would probably have a very low budget. 'If you grow up in England, that's how you think', he said. Instead, he structured the film as a race of sorts between the two main characters." Imagine that.
As is the fashion with many based-on-a-true-story films, actual footage of Lauda and Hunt was used toward the end of the film. The likeness of Hemsworth to Hunt, and Brühl to Lauda, I found rather uncanny. If you don't see it in the images, wait until you see the footage. Seldom do you get to find such good actors with such strong resemblance. Just look at Pain & Gain or The Monuments Men - better yet, don't.
While Hemsworth is a bona fide box office star here in the states, it's going to be a little more challenging to see Brühl without doing a little work. It's especially surprising, considering the fact that Brühl was nominated for his performance as Lauda, up for the BAFTA, SAG, and Golden Globe Best Performance by an Actor in a Supporting Role. There are two things bizarre about this - one, that Brühl was not nominated for an Oscar, and two, that the role of Lauda was considered a 'supporting role.' The film was nominated for a slew of other awards, but only the Santa Barbara International Film Festival saw Brühl with a win - one aptly named the Virtuoso Award. And for anyone who doubted Hemsworth's ability to be anyone other than Thor - check out Rush. You may be pleasantly surprised.
