Go see Rush

Good racing movies are hard to come by. Unless they follow a strict documentary type format, they just seem to offend motorsports enthusiasts with inaccurate representations of the technical side of the sport. Or maybe that is just me.

Case in point…Talladega Nights, Driven, Days of Thunder…

But every once in a while, a great racing movie comes along.

Proof? Le Mans……..

May be I am just sheltered, but I haven’t seen anything in my 25 year history, 8 of which have been head-over-heels in love with all things racing , other than Le Mans that has really struck me as a GREAT racing movie.

Until now.

I finally got to see Rush. No fancy pre-screenings for this media member, I stood in line at the front desk, ordered my ticket for the film on its second night of release. Luckily, my fiancé is a motorsports nut herself and did the duty of standing in line for popcorn, so the necessary snacks were in line for our evening.

This film has had tremendous hype. Maybe it was the fact that they found a pair of actors who resemble the stars depicted in the movie to a tee, or maybe it was because Ron Howard directed it. Either way, I had high expectations and was incredibly pumped for the movie.

The story of Niki Lauda and James Hunt and the 1976 season will never be forgotten. It will be immortalized by those who lived it, in text form in books and now in Rush.

Ron Howard and his team did a fantastic job placing the viewer right in the cockpit with the drivers. As a photographer of motorsports myself, I was jealous at the different camera angles he was able to create with the film. The sounds of racing were outrageously accurate, and while I was long from living back in 1976, that’s exactly how I figure life would have felt on the motorsports circuit.

The story was well done. The only negative I will give any film is the amount of “dramatization” that goes into it. This is necessary for Hollywood unfortunately, but this is coming from a guy who has filmed and produced two documentaries about racing…it’s just what I have come to love and hope for.

Howard’s way of telling the story of these two drivers was impeccable. Both drivers faced monumental personal and professional challenges. Between the urge for Hunt to get that title despite a love for the “fun” in life, and Lauda’s calculated attack on his racing career, and his horrific accident at the Nurburgring and recovery, both character’s struggles were conveyed well for anyone without prior knowledge of the real life story.

I would love to hear what a non-motorsports fanatic had to say about the film. Knowing all the player’s stories from Lord Hesketh, all the way down to Suzy Hunt I feel like I had a hand up on the casual viewer…but I feel like many who are not racing aficionados will go home with an appreciation for these two drivers, the terrifyingly dangerous years of Formula One, and motorsports in general.

So, as I don’t want to give anything away (not that the motorsports crazed readers of Motorsport.com don’t already know how it ends) I want to wrap up by saying this movie is great. Like I said above, it’s not often you can sit down and enjoy a racing movie, without getting stuck picking out the inaccuracies here and there.

Go see Rush. You will love it!

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