Rush

director: Ron Howard
year: 2013
with: Chris Hemsworth, Daniel Brühl, Olivia Wilde, Alexandra Maria Lara, etc.

plot: Set against the sexy, glamorous golden age of Formula 1 racing in the 1970s, the film is based on the true story of a great sporting rivalry between handsome English playboy James Hunt, and his methodical, brilliant opponent, Austrian driver Niki Lauda. The story follows their distinctly different personal styles on and off the track, their loves and the astonishing 1976 season in which both drivers were willing to risk everything to become world champion in a sport with no margin for error: if you make a mistake, you die.

what I liked: At the beginning Hunt and Lauda both get portrayed very disagreeable in their own way, at the end you sympathise with both of them. The two different characters are played convincingly by Hemsworth (ed. if Sex and the City would be filmed now, he would definitely be Samantha´s next absolute hunk ;-)) and German favourite Daniel Brühl. The latter does an absolutely amazing job speaking English while imitating Lauda´s characteristical Austrian accent.

what I didn´t like: I always have troubles if fictional scenes "enhance" the story in order to make a more entertaining and convincing film out of true facts. This was clearly the case here, Niki Lauda probably never raced around Italian vineyards with some cheering Italians on the backseats to impress his future wife...but well, dramaturgy has it´s own rules and needs, even a purist like me has to accept that sometimes. Alexandra Maria Lara as Lauda´s wife would have deserved a better script than just standing in the pit lane/hospital corridors/anywhere else and looking worried.

verdict: If someone who has never heard of James Hunt before, never overly worried about the persona of Niki Lauda and is only vaguely interested in Formula 1 enjoyed those two hours a lot, it means the film was good!