There was little riding on this Formula 1 movie about two racecar drivers, played by Chris Hemsworth and Daniel Bruhl, which made it all the more shocking when it turned out that Rush was actually a brilliant, exciting, competent and thrilling slice of filmmaker from hit and miss maestro Ron Howard - who would have guessed? Set in 1976, Hemsworth plays F1 driver James Hunt, whose real-life rivalry with Niki Lauda (Bruhl) forms the centrepiece of the movie. Though it occasionally dips into cliche, for the most part Rush is downright exhilarating filmmaking. Which means, of course, that the racing sequences are some of the best ever committed to film - watching them, you really get the sense that you're right there inside the cars. One could certainly argue that there's a certain Oscar-bait feeling to parts of Rush, but to focus on that aspect alone might be stretching things too far: Ron Howard has created a fine film here, his best in a long time, and one that is more focused on spectacle than anything else. Best of all, both Hemsworth and Bruhl do justice to their real-life counterparts. And hey, you don't even need to like F1!
