Rush

The film is just over 2 hours long, but when it was over it seemed like I had been in the cinema about 30 minutes.

The film centres on the battle for the 1976 Formula 1 World Championship, and the rivalry between the Austrian "professor" Nikki Lauda and the British playboy James Hunt.

The two are depicted as enemies, but in actual fact they were good friends who trusted and respected each other on, as well as off-track. This bit of artistic licence does not spoil the film and is reasonable in order to make the battle between the two for the F1 crown more intense.

The film is nicely paced. We are introduced to both characters through their own narrative and scenes that leave the watcher in no doubt as to their background and philosophy on life.

The two are first seen in competition in 1970 at a Formula 3 race at Crystal Palace (where they have a coming together) and sets the scene for the rivalry throughout the film. I'm not sure if this is further artistic licence. The two definitely did race each other in F3, but I am not convinced as to whether this actual incident occurred.

After that we are given a whistle stop journey between 1973 (when Hunt came into F1) to 1975. We are shown the dangerous nature of F1 at the time with the Francois Cevert accident at Watkins Glen in gory detail – although this does not seem like gratuitous, but necessary to bring home just how unforgiving the sport was back then – and it truly was (of the top 12 points scorers in 1976, F1 cars were to claim 3, 1 ended up in a wheelchair and 1 had his career ended by a leg crunching crash).

We are then taken to 1976 and that titanic struggle for the World Crown. Only one real issue here – the British Grand Prix result, but I suspect this was simplified in the interests of time.

The casting is superb. Chris Hemsworth, an Aussie, does an excellent job on public schoolboy James Hunt, while Daniel Bruhl both sounds and looks frighteningly like the Austrian. There is little room for a supporting cast amongst the drivers which is a shame – only Clay Regazzoni has a part of any real substance. Peterson, Watson, Depailler, Scheckter, Andretti et al could have featured a little more I think. What did their contemporaries think of the two protagonists? The supporting cast is mainly required for Hunt – Lord Hesketh, "Bubbles" Horsley and Teddy Mayer / Tyler Alexander of McLaren, while the Ferrari team principals are rarely seen.

The love angle is perfectly catered for by Olivia Wilde (Hunt's first wife Suzy) and the gorgeous Alexandra Maria Lara - of Downfall fame – as the future Marlene Lauda. Both give quality performances.

The attention to detail is superb. Although the tracks are not the actual ones (for understandable reasons) the cars, the helmets, the sponsors are all authentic. The film "feels" like it's happening in the 70's.

For anyone interested in great personal stories, F1, the 70's, cars or just like to see a great film, then Rush is for you.

Mr. Ron Howard is a great story teller, this movie is about human nature, love and tears.

It is difficult to make a good movie about car racing, especially to make one for the time period from 1970 to 1976. I don't know how they did it to bring those old F1 cars back to life. You will feel like you are really there watching the racing, it's really unbelievable.

It is truly touching to see each character played their perfect role for this movie, Chris Hemsworth did a great performance, he is such a talented and devoted actor. Daniel Brühl also did a great job on portraying the eccentric and unsociable legendary F1 driver Niki Lauda.

A great movie is like having a great meal, a good starter, a good soup/salad, a good main course and a good dessert, well balanced. Rush is that good meal, it's a fun ride!

I have to say I really enjoyed watching this movie. Thank you Mr. Ron Howard for making this masterpiece.

This is an amazing film. I can't recommend it highly enough for F1 fans like me, sports fans, or anyone interested in a story of rivalry i.e. something different to the unoriginal junk movies which get churned out each year.

All the crew involved should pat themselves on the back. They've done a fabulous job making this film critique, explore and honour two memorable F1 drivers.

James Hunt's fun, party lifestyle along with his brash and raw driving talent. This is contrasted against Niki Lauda's methodical thinking, technical brilliance and professional lifestyle. These two characters are total opposites but as their lives are explored it also acknowledges the value of an enemy, i.e. something to beat. I believe this is a commentary on human nature in that the best of us shines when we have something to beat or overcome.

Do yourself a favour and see it now.

In 1976, the rivalry between two brilliant racing car drivers, the British James Hunt and the Austrian Nikki Lauda, came to a head in the almost literally life-and-death struggle of the Formula One championship. American director Ron Howard ("Apollo 13", "A Beautiful Mind", "Frost/Nixon") and British scriptwriter Peter Morgan (both play and screenplay of "Frost/Nixon") have done a terrific job bringing the titanic struggle to the big screen, aided by some excellent casting and powerful sound and cinematography. Those were the days when most years a couple of drivers would be killed, so the stakes could not be higher.

Sensibly the car racing does not over-dominate, since this is essentially a character- driven conflict, but when the racing is on screen - notably in the final race - the excitement is visceral. The Australian Chris Hemsworth (previously best known as "Thor") and the Spanish-born German Daniel Brühl ("Inglourious Basterds") are so good as the British and Austrian drivers respectively that the dialect coaches should receive a special commendation. Arguably Brühl gives the stronger performance which should auger well for his future career.

A great strength of this tale is that there is not a hero or a villain. Both drivers had privileged backgrounds and were superbly talented, but both were flawed. although in very contrasting ways, including styles of thinking, driving and womanising (Olivia Wilde as model Suzy Miller and Alexandra Maria Lara as aristocratic Marlene Knaus respectively).

I never saw the recent film "Senna" (2010) so "Rush" reminded me most of the much older "Grand Prix" (1966), but what is stunning about "Rush" is that it all happened. A season of the fastest sport in the world decided in the last race by one point - you couldn't make it up. Rush to see the movie.

Despite not being an auto racing fan, the stories of the rivalry between James Hunt and Niki Lauda and Lauda's accident are well known and on research was big news in the 70s.

'Rush' did seem intriguing, Ron Howard has done some good work in the past and my sister and her boyfriend absolutely raving about it. However having no knowledge of auto racing and having never found it my cup of tea there was a touch of intrepidation. As well as the worry as to whether there was going to be any bias and whether it was going to stray from the facts. After watching 'Rush', this viewer is so glad that she gave it a chance because it was a gripping and entertaining film from start to finish, and quite easily Howard's best work in some time.

Some occasional rushed pacing and some weak dialogue, that lacked flow, sounded awkward and stuck out like a sore thumb against everything else that was done to such a professional level, were the only drawbacks to overall one of 2013's better films. The time period is very evocatively depicted, there is a real sense of time and place, there is wonderful vibrant colour throughout, the editing is slick, clever and gives the race scenes the thrills they need and the photography is similarly audaciously slick and like the cinematographer was part of the action itself, especially good in the climactic Japanese race sequence. Hans Zimmer's score is not his best work by all means, but it went with the racing theme remarkably well and does capture the mid-70s time period and the atmosphere of the sport to such great effect (again the final race in Japan stood out). The sound effects also help, having a real authenticity.

For a film about auto racing, one does have to talk about how 'Rush' deals with the race sequences. The good news is that they are absolutely thrilling and keeps one to the edge of their seat, while all of them are brilliantly done, showing how glamorous and also dangerous the sport is (not many sports films I've seen have properly and fully captured the spirit of the sport it's portraying in the way Rush did) the highlight is the climactic Japanese race, which was both exhilarating and moving (masterful if having to sum it up in one word). Howard not only depicts the mid- 70s as if the viewer were transported back in time and part of the period (such was the evocativeness of the atmosphere) and adopts a visual style that never looks cheap and as said like the cinematographer was there part of the action, but he shows here that he knows how to tell a story. The storytelling is always compelling, thoughtful, informative and thrilling with a surprising amount of emotional impact, found myself really identifying with Lauda.

The film is faithful to the facts, the rivalry between Hunt and Lauda is genuinely engaging and are shown a lot of respect and dimension here. Neirher Hunt or Lauda are one-dimensional here and, although Lauda is the more sympathetically drawn of the two, one does not takes sides with one or the other. It also is tightly paced and assured, never getting bogged down in too much back story, too much soap- opera, too much sentimentality or technical jargon/minutiae (that would likely have gone over the heads of first-time viewers or non-fans of the sport). All the supporting performances are well-done, though some with not much to do, with Olivia Wilde and Christian McKay faring the strongest.

It is however the two leads that carry 'Rush' cast wise, both of them as close to perfect as one can get. Daniel Brühl gives Niki Lauda a real brooding intensity and genuine poignancy, making it very easy to feel sorry for him, while swaggering Chris Hemsworth has never been better as Hunt.

All in all, a gripping and hugely entertaining film. Has its imperfections but they are far outweighed by the number of things 'Rush' does right. 9/10 Bethany Cox