Rush

Real life men on the right, movie counterparts on the left. All kinds of cool.

Gone are the days when Formula One drivers could be called real men, or more than mere men. In the golden days of F1, in the 60's and 70's, the cars were louder, devoid of the safety features demanded by modern safety regulations, and the tracks on the race calendar demanded drivers with balls of steel. The drivers flirted with death every day, and their lifestyles off the track reflected this: they lived as they raced; fast, loud, and occasionally way over the top.
Rivalries resulted in fistfights and brawls in the pit lanes, but the real men fought it out on the track. The 1976 season saw one of the most well remembered rivalries in F1 history: James Hunt of McLaren versus Niki Lauda of Ferrari. Now that spectacular season of dogfighting between these alpha males of the racetrack have been recreated in rose tinted 70's glory, in a film made by Ron Howard.
Rush shows the roots of British driver James Hunt and Austrian Niki Lauda, as they face off in Formula Three. The rivalry that spanned the peaks of both men started here, and expanded into Formula One after Hunt “The Shunt” humiliated Niki and took his win from him by literally shoving him off the track. Enraged and ever determined, Niki bought his way into the BRM team in Formula One, bullying and convincing, till he made it into the top flight. Partnered with Clay Reggazoni at BRM, he wowed his team with his immense talent at setting up the car for maximum efficiency, and when Clay was signed for the giant in F1, Ferrari, Clay had one condition for them: hire Niki Lauda as well.
On the other side of the fence, James Hunt, boiling because the man he humiliated is moving up the ranks, was desperate to get a big break. That break came when Lord Hesketh, close friend and owner of the Formula 3 team Hunt raced for, decided to compete in the top division and use Hunt as the driver. Hesketh never stood a chance against the bigshots, but Hunt managed a best overall 4th in the standings even with an underpowered car. Hunt was finally given a level playing field when Emmerson Fittipaldi left McLaren, and Hunt, desperate for a drive (since Hesketh pulled out after running out of money), went and begged them to give him a chance.
The rest, as we know it, is one for the history books. The movie shows the lives of these two men in 70's technicolor, with their love-lives and their fiery encounters with each other. The racing isn't shown to that great a detail, but even then the movie stretches to almost two hours long. Overall, the cinematography isn't all that great, but considering it's a relatively low budget film, its actually quite good.
Why would you watch it if you aren't an F1 geek? Well, for the ladies you have Chris Hemsworth being badass as James Hunt and Daniel Bruhl as the resilient, one woman family man. For the men, you have loud cars, a ton of heavy, manly inspiration, and loads of women who happen to be extremely nice to look at. Now that we think about it, hardcore F1 geeks will shun the movie in favour of a proper documentary.
Rating: 7.5/10