Rush

Faustus · Post by **Faustus** » 04 Sep 2013, 08:35

I watched 'Rush' last night. Cineworld had an advanced preview at some cinemas, only for Unlimited subscribers.
It's definitely worth watching, so go see it as soon as you can.
Where to begin? The portrayal of the main characters is very good, as is the acting. Daniel Bruhl is great and has nailed Lauda perfectly. I've met Lauda once and I can tell you that it's spot-on. Chris Hemsworth is good too, but the role is just not as captivating as Lauda. The re-enactment of the racing scenes is great! The cars look great (both the real ones and the replicas), the photography is great and so is the sound editing. At one point I found myself focussing a bit too much on the tracks that were being used to substitute for other tracks, so there is a shot of Brands Hatch being used as Monza which will be really obvious for us. I had to stop myself from doing this because it was distracting me. I'll go see it at the cinema again when it's on general release to concentrate on the people (Hesketh, Horsley, Regazzoni, Ghedini, Mayer, Caldwell, Reutemann, Postlethwaite, etc.) and the tracks.
There are events that have been added for the sake of the story and the relationship between Lauda and Hunt is nowhere as close as they actually were. If you have read Lauda's autobiographies, you will know that they knew each other since Formula 3 but they were quite close and had spent time together off-track. This is alright, because the story is still there and it works well on-screen. The respect between them is there to see and the rivalry is as well.
When we left the cinema, some people were saying that it felt too much like a love letter to Lauda. I can see their point, but the film is mostly seen from Lauda's perspective and it easy to forget that he did go through the ordeal.
There was one scene that I wish had been done differently, which is when Hunt pulls into the pits after the finish of the 1976 Japanese GP. The way it is shown is fine, but I think the real events would have been better and more in keeping with the character. We can talk about this one later when more of you have watched the film.
There a couple of things changed from the real events at the start of the film, such as Lauda's time at March and BRM and a race at Crystal Palace that never actually happened, but overall it works.
I think it is without a doubt a much better film than 'Driven' and 'Days of Thunder' and I think it's better than 'Grand Prix'. I won't compare it to 'Senna' because that is a documentary.
There is some potential for reject-watch, by the way. I easily picked out Harald Ertl in the drivers' briefing and you can clearly see some reject cars and drivers on track.

dinizintheoven · Post by **dinizintheoven** » 04 Sep 2013, 11:11

We are the priests of the temples of Syrinx...

...hang on, wrong Rush...

Faustus · Post by **Faustus** » 04 Sep 2013, 11:24

dinizintheoven wrote:We are the priests of the temples of Syrinx...

...hang on, wrong Rush...

I thought it was Rush, but I can't remember which song it is.

AustralianStig · Post by **AustralianStig** » 04 Sep 2013, 11:28

It was 2112! And what an epic song it is...

CoopsII · Post by **CoopsII** » 04 Sep 2013, 11:42

dinizintheoven wrote:We are the priests of the temples of Syrinx...
...hang on, wrong Rush...

Post by **Ataxia** » 04 Sep 2013, 12:00

f1-gast · Post by **f1-gast** » 04 Sep 2013, 12:40

Well the movie has been made more romantic so probably 70% of the movie is real the other 30% of the movie has been added to it.

I still don't understand why they all have watches they didnt had back in the 70s.
Though i just saw 30 minutes of the movie.
Will see the full movie in the cinema as soon im back from my holiday.

Post by **tommykl** » 04 Sep 2013, 18:32

For some reason, the movie only comes out on October 2nd in Belgium. I'll be certain to make the trip to Hasselt just to watch it in English :mrgreen:

Nessafox · Post by **Nessafox** » 04 Sep 2013, 21:34

tommykl wrote:For some reason, the movie only comes out on October 2nd in Belgium. I'll be certain to make the trip to Hasselt just to watch it in English

Is that really the closest place they play it in english? You crazy Walloons! Anyway, you know who lives in that town

Faustus · Post by **Faustus** » 06 Sep 2013, 12:11

Review from Racetach magazine:

http://www.racetechmag.com/william-s-bl ... -film.html

Post by **tommykl** » 06 Sep 2013, 15:21

This wrote:
tommykl wrote:For some reason, the movie only comes out on October 2nd in Belgium. I'll be certain to make the trip to Hasselt just to watch it in English

Is that really the closest place they play it in english? You crazy Walloons! Anyway, you know who lives in that town

Indeed I do

And I believe you need to go to 'art theaters' to see anything in English, and those aren't likely to be playing Rush anyway.

nome66 · Post by **nome66** » 06 Sep 2013, 16:07

i have not seen it yet, because in 'MURICA we don't get the decent films until like two damn weeks after europe does.

UncreativeUsername37 · Post by **UncreativeUsername37** » 06 Sep 2013, 17:17

nome66 wrote:i have not seen it yet, because in 'MURICA we don't get the decent films until like two damn weeks after europe does.

Europe get video games later, they're the ones who really suffer.

FullMetalJack · Post by **FullMetalJack** » 06 Sep 2013, 21:39

UgncreativeUsergname wrote:
nome66 wrote:i have not seen it yet, because in 'MURICA we don't get the decent films until like two damn weeks after europe does.

Europe get video games later, they're the ones who really suffer.

At least we're getting F1 2013 first, unlike the previous three games. That's how it should be, since the game was made in England.

DOSBoot · Post by **DOSBoot** » 06 Sep 2013, 22:15

Sounds like it's a good one. Look forward to seeing it.

dr-baker · Post by **dr-baker** » 10 Sep 2013, 14:22

Faustus wrote:At one point I found myself focussing a bit too much on the tracks that were being used to substitute for other tracks, so there is a shot of Brands Hatch being used as Monza which will be really obvious for us. I had to stop myself from doing this because it was distracting me.

On this, Brands Hatch have a short article on their circuit being used in the film. They don't confirm Brands being used as Mona, but the drivers' conference pre-Nurburgring was filmed at Brands in their hospitality suites. Hope I'm not trying to spot this when I go to watch Rush...

dr-baker · Post by **dr-baker** » 13 Sep 2013, 17:55

OK, so I have just been to see Rush, and here are my thoughts (spoilers below as to what the film covers from 1976, so don't read if you are off to see the film soon):

1. I was not distracted by "spot the circuit" as described above, although I was able to identify Brands Hatch a couple of times. Often the cameras focused too closely on the car to be able to able to make out much of the background.

2. The Tyrrell P34 is easily in my top-3 of favourite non-reject F1 cars, so nice to see it on screen several times - probably as much as you would expect from a film in which the focus is not on it. Still gets a mention from a race commentator at Fuji though! But I wish they had made a passing mention of it winning the Swedish GP. Minor quibble though, considering the film is not about it.

3. The British race commentator during the film appeared to bear a strong resemblance to Simon Taylor. Coincidence, deliberate, or just me thinking that?

4. Loved the final conversation between Hunt and Lauda at the end, plus the addition of some archive footage.

5. Coverage of the controversy at the Spanish GP, but absolutely nothing on this seemed a bit strange.

But otherwise, a great film, and I look forward to seeing the film again, whether it be at the cinema again next week during Freshers' Week (my final one for some time) or on DVD. Up there with Senna and TT3D: Closer To The Edge in my opinion.

As an aside, I saw it at a Vue cinema, and In their freebie magazine/brochure, they talk about other motor racing films in a sidebar alongside the review of the film. They entitle it "More from the front of the grid", implying other good films. The four are Senna, Days of Thunder, Talladega Nights and Le Mans. The first and last I can agree with, but no mention of Grand Prix, TT3D or Michel Vaillant! OK, so the last was not on British release, but it is still a great film (better than the others they list). At least Driven was not there...

WeirdKerr · Post by **WeirdKerr** » 13 Sep 2013, 18:13

I am just back from seeing it too, A very good Film, Daniel Bruhl was very believable as Lauda, but there was something about Chris Hemsworth that I wasn't getting Him as hunt so much but I guess that come from hearing so many James hunt commentaries from the grand prix I watched from '87 - '93 ( showing my age :roll:

) And yes it is a good film though like others have said the use of brands for monza is I bit noticeable in some scenes and skipping the whole british gp controversies was odd.. I give it a solid 9 out of 10

Barbazza · Post by **Barbazza** » 13 Sep 2013, 18:57

It is Simon Taylor in the film. I can't remember what it was on (possibly the pre-race coverage on Sky for the last race) but he was talking about how difficult it was recreating the commentary - he did the radio commentary at the time - and that he was pleased to get on-screen briefly.

dr-baker · Post by **dr-baker** » 13 Sep 2013, 22:35

I meant to ask: the press conference on the morning of the Italian GP, did it really play out as in the film, or was that pure drama?

WeirdKerr · Post by **WeirdKerr** » 14 Sep 2013, 09:59

dr-baker wrote:I meant to ask: the press conference on the morning of the Italian GP, did it really play out as in the film, or was that pure drama?

I don't think it actually happened quite that way...

dr-baker · Post by **dr-baker** » 14 Sep 2013, 21:17

WeirdKerr wrote:
dr-baker wrote:I meant to ask: the press conference on the morning of the Italian GP, did it really play out as in the film, or was that pure drama?

I don't think it actually happened quite that way...

But I imagine that there was actually a press conference that morning? And that it did involve Niki Lauda? But where is the difference? Was James Hunt actually there? I imagine that question was not asked? And I imagine the decking did not happen?

rachel1990 · Post by **rachel1990** » 14 Sep 2013, 22:03

Just saw the film I thought it was incredible.
Daniel Brühl as Niki Lauda was the star for me- He really stood out as the Austrian.
The cinematography was amazing as well- Great work from Ron Howard there
Chris Hemsworth was less successful in my opinion- he didn't capture me in the saw way that Daniel Brühl did.
However I was surprised to see that it was Niki lauda's story instead of James Hunt's- the advertising almost told me a different story.
Overall it was a great film and formula 1 should be proud of it- With this and Senna it sets the benchmark for more f1 films.

pasta_maldonado · Post by **pasta_maldonado** » 15 Sep 2013, 00:05

Although I havent seen Rush yet (unfortunately), I dont understand why people rate Senna as a good film.

I didn't feel it shed too much more light into his life, and the fact that several key people and things in his career, including 0 mentions of Gerhard Berger as his own team mate, angered me. I understand it was a film about Senna, but the fact that anyone/thing not named Senna, Prost or McLaren didn't even get a passing mention is a bit ridiculous for a serious documentary about F1.

Nessafox · Post by **Nessafox** » 15 Sep 2013, 01:22

pasta_maldonado wrote:Although I havent seen Rush yet (unfortunately), I dont understand why people rate Senna as a good film.

I didn't feel it shed too much more light into his life, and the fact that several key people and things in his career, including 0 mentions of Gerhard Berger as his own team mate, angered me. I understand it was a film about Senna, but the fact that anyone/thing not named Senna, Prost or McLaren didn't even get a passing mention is a bit ridiculous for a serious documentary about F1.

I agree that it doesn't have much added value. At least not for people familiar with the history of F1, i think it could be a good movie for people less familiar with f1, though. A good introduction movie, let's say.
Anyway, let's wait until i've seen Rush, that sounds promising.

AustralianStig · Post by **AustralianStig** » 15 Sep 2013, 03:28

This wrote:I agree that it doesn't have much added value. At least not for people familiar with the history of F1, i think it could be a good movie for people less familiar with f1, though. A good introduction movie, let's say.
Anyway, let's wait until i've seen Rush, that sounds promising.

Agreed, I took my then girlfriend (now wife) to see Senna to try and show her why F1 means so much to so many people. She almost got it after seeing it!

Post by **mario** » 15 Sep 2013, 05:52

dr-baker wrote:
WeirdKerr wrote:
dr-baker wrote:I meant to ask: the press conference on the morning of the Italian GP, did it really play out as in the film, or was that pure drama?

I don't think it actually happened quite that way...

But I imagine that there was actually a press conference that morning? And that it did involve Niki Lauda? But where is the difference? Was James Hunt actually there? I imagine that question was not asked? And I imagine the decking did not happen?

I'd heard that there was a scene which involved Hunt punching a journalist - is that the scene in question then? If so, then no, that never happened in real life - if anything, it's one of the points of the film that I have seen criticised as being especially out of character for Hunt.

Faustus · Post by **Faustus** » 15 Sep 2013, 08:58

mario wrote:I'd heard that there was a scene which involved Hunt punching a journalist - is that the scene in question then? If so, then no, that never happened in real life - if anything, it's one of the points of the film that I have seen criticised as being especially out of character for Hunt.

Yes it's in there and as you say, it never happened. It works dramatically within the film's story but it is out of character for the real Hunt.

dr-baker · Post by **dr-baker** » 15 Sep 2013, 09:33

Faustus wrote:
mario wrote:I'd heard that there was a scene which involved Hunt punching a journalist - is that the scene in question then? If so, then no, that never happened in real life - if anything, it's one of the points of the film that I have seen criticised as being especially out of character for Hunt.

Yes it's in there and as you say, it never happened. It works dramatically within the film's story but it is out of character for the real Hunt.

Yes, that's what I was on about. It did seem a bit out-of-character, even in the film, although I suppose it is a film narrative way of demonstrating the respect that Hunt had for Lauda at that point of the film...

leywso · Post by **leywso** » 15 Sep 2013, 20:33

Really enjoyed the film, you never grow tired of seeing a bunch of F1 cars revving up on the startline even in movie form! I too was surprised at how Lauda-centric it actually was, but then again the fact that he is still alive today probably influenced matters and so his side of the story could be covered more truthfully perhaps.

As a Bromley boy I was very excited to see scenes from Crystal Palace, even if the events never even took place in real life! There is so little of the circuit left today, it's great that it may live on oh so slightly through this film (even if the CP racing scenes looked suspiciously like they were Brands Hatch...). I wonder whether inspiration for that part of the film came from the rare footage of Hunt at Crystal Palace in F3 in 1970, where he (as in the film) ends up in a last-corner tangle:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DSCDucychzA

Apart from that, I must say that...

~ the race scenes were impressive, although I'd welcome input from anyone with a bit more knowledge as to how historically accurate they were, especially the portrayal of Lauda's Italian Grand Prix (was he really slow as a pig, masterfully dodge a coming-together and then be amazing?)

~ Simon Taylor's voice still irritates, especially when he is getting overexcited and is so obviously scripted. It's a shame they couldn't get the well-known BBC commentary for the key moments from the Japanese GP

~ was it me or were the start/finish straights in the film really narrow? Particularly Fuji. Maybe I have rose-tinted-everywhere-is-20-metres-wide-nowadays spectacles!

Faustus · Post by **Faustus** » 16 Sep 2013, 08:41

I think the best aspects are:

the sound editing
the sound mixing
the production design
editing
Daniel Bruhl

Post by **DemocalypseNow** » 19 Sep 2013, 23:20

Faustus wrote:I think the best aspects are:

the sound editing
the sound mixing
the production design
editing
Daniel Bruhl

Having just seen the film tonight, I have to agree with this. With most racing films, the sound is totally mismatched to the action, or the specific car involved. For example, I remember watching something (but no idea what anymore) where a Ferrari Tipo 044 3.0L V12 engine sound was pasted over a goddamn road car. Here, they seem to have taken special care to make sure the engine notes matched the visual action, that the engine sounds were true to their original. While the movie is by no means perfect, I can at least appreciate that the people involved in this prodction went to great lengths to reproduce the on-track action as closely as possible, rather than not making it a priority whatsoever as many other films seem to.

And yes, Daniel Brühl did an excellent job as Lauda. I see a few people uneasy about the fact Lauda is the focal point, but frankly, it's as it should be.

Aerospeed · Post by **Aerospeed** » 19 Sep 2013, 23:22

I don't get why the movie got an R rating, to be honest. I think Howard overdid it on the "quality scenes..." Hahaha :lol:

14 Hundred Hours · Post by **14 Hundred Hours** » 21 Sep 2013, 21:13

I noticed how a few of you have said that Daniel Bruhl's portrayal as Lauda was better than Chris Hemsworth's of Hunt, and after seeing the film tonight I agree. I found this article though, which offers one reason for it. http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/h ... rth-632490
Obviously it didn't hurt Bruhl having Lauda still around to gain the insight into his thoughts and feelings at the time, whereas Hemsworth had much less to build on. Having said that, I still think Chris Hemsworth did a great job and I didn't once think of him as Thor during the film (which I was worried may happen).
Besides that I thought it was a brilliant film, and as I know very little about F1 from that time I couldn't criticise the events, characterisation or any anachronisms, so I probably enjoyed it slightly more than if I was more clued in on past F1.
Having said that the film could've been awful and I wouldn't have minded because of Daniel Bruhl.

good_Ralf · Post by **good_Ralf** » 21 Sep 2013, 21:22

Aerospeed wrote:I don't get why the movie got an R rating, to be honest. I think Howard overdid it on the "quality scenes..." Hahaha

Having just seen the film myself, I think it got an R also (the equivalent of a 15 in Canada, am I correct?) because of the reconstructions of the accidents, not only Lauda's crash but the fictional one in practice at the Nurburgring and Francois Cevert's fatal shunt.
On the note of my view of the film, it was really enjoyable and lived up to expectations. If I were a critic it would get 4 stars out of 5. Now I'm trying to write a film review for my 6th form college's newspaper.

Wallio · Post by **Wallio** » 27 Sep 2013, 14:46

Theater by me had an 8:00pm "sneak preview" in the DBox seats (that move), so I took a few buddies and went. I'll try not to post spoilers in my thoughts below.

Overall, the movie was bathplugging phenomenal. I suddenly want to see everything Daniel Bruhl is in, he no doubt stole the show. I didn't find myself distracted by the mislabeled tracks, because I was too busy sitting there going "oh look a Ligier! Oh there's a BRM, ooohhh a Penske!" its so damn cliché, but the cars really looked different from one another back then. Two of my buddies who went with me, had only started watching F1 since 2009 and 2010 respectively, and were stunned at the way the cars looked and sounded (one of them actually asked me if the P34 was real :lol:

) Because of this I would say bring anyone you want to convert to F1, as one the way home I ended up giving a 15-minute lecture of the history of F1 design and engine regs. The movie is basically car porn. And the reason it got an R rating, at least over here, are the boobies. If the MPAA, even for a second, sees a female nipple, you go straight to level-2 (or a "hard") R rating, no exceptions. Very sad, but true.

A few other things:

I always thought Niki and Clay were friends, and that it was Carlos he hated (because Reuti was his replacement). The film doesn't show Niki and clay as getting along though.

I thought the battle in the courts could have been played out a bit better, as there was much more going on then in the legal battles.

The whole "Trailers always lie" rule applies again. The trailer makes Suzy seem to be a big character and the wedding to be a central plot point (hell there's actually a movie poster of their wedding!) but you could have cut her out and lost nothing IMO.

Whoever played Lord Hesketh perfectly captured the way I imagined that team being. Bravo!

And while the movie goes to great lengths to say the McLaren is on equal terms with the Ferrari, it never says anything about the rest of the McLaren team, and really makes it look like James' driving is the only thing preventing LAUDAWINSLOL. Of course since Niki went 1st,2nd,1st in the WDC, that is true, but it seemed counter intuitive.

Stupid question, but one I couldn't answer last night, would that helmet thing at the end work?

Can't wait to go again and take the wife. So if you haven't seen it yet, what the bathplug are you waiting for!

Salamander · Post by **Salamander** » 27 Sep 2013, 16:57

Wallio wrote:I always thought Niki and Clay were friends, and that it was Carlos he hated (because Reuti was his replacement). The film doesn't show Niki and clay as getting along though.

They weren't all buddy-buddy, but I think the film does show them having a grudging respect for each other at some points.

And while the movie goes to great lengths to say the McLaren is on equal terms with the Ferrari, it never says anything about the rest of the McLaren team, and really makes it look like James' driving is the only thing preventing LAUDAWINSLOL. Of course since Niki went 1st,2nd,1st in the WDC, that is true, but it seemed counter intuitive.

In all honesty, it really was. Jochen Mass of course was Hunt's teammate, but he was never at all a factor in 1976 - Hunt was just on another level that year. The M23 is one of F1's greatest cars without doubt, but it was really getting on in age by that point.

Stupid question, but one I couldn't answer last night, would that helmet thing at the end work?

You mean the part where they were drilling holes in the visor to prevent it steaming up or whatever? I think so, but I'd wait for someone like mario to come along and give a definite answer as to how and why.

dr-baker · Post by **dr-baker** » 27 Sep 2013, 17:16

Salamander wrote:
Stupid question, but one I couldn't answer last night, would that helmet thing at the end work?

You mean the part where they were drilling holes in the visor to prevent it steaming up or whatever? I think so, but I'd wait for someone like mario to come along and give a definite answer as to how and why.

Ealier, I was trying to think, "What helmet thing at the end?", thinking of the final scene, but I remember it now. I assume it has something to do with airflow, in the same way blowing air at you windscreen in the car demists it?

Post by **Ataxia** » 27 Sep 2013, 17:39

dr-baker wrote:
Salamander wrote:
Stupid question, but one I couldn't answer last night, would that helmet thing at the end work?

You mean the part where they were drilling holes in the visor to prevent it steaming up or whatever? I think so, but I'd wait for someone like mario to come along and give a definite answer as to how and why.

Ealier, I was trying to think, "What helmet thing at the end?", thinking of the final scene, but I remember it now. I assume it has something to do with airflow, in the same way blowing air at you windscreen in the car demists it?

I'd guess it would; for example, to reduce the effects of damp in your house you'd open the window after a shower or something.

Enforcer · Post by **Enforcer** » 27 Sep 2013, 19:06

Wallio wrote:I always thought Niki and Clay were friends, and that it was Carlos he hated (because Reuti was his replacement). The film doesn't show Niki and clay as getting along though.

Tbh, I thought it did show Niki and Clay getting along, in so far as it showed them doing anything together, since the Hunt/Lauda dynamic dominated the film. On their first weekend in the team together Clay 'warns' Niki about the girl working at the circuit rather than giving him the cold shoulder for being the driving force in the team. He also gets him the Ferrari drive (as sort of happened in reality). Yeah, Clay goes to the party and effectively tells Niki not to bother coming in, but it's because he knows Niki isn't bothered. And he did try to bring him to get him to open up a bit in the first place.

I liked it a lot. Yeah, it probably isn't especially accurate on the details (weren't Hunt and Lauda actually friends since F3? Don't think Niki had them completely rebuild parts of the engine block at BRM for some reason. I'm fairly sure Niki asks Hunt what it's like at the back of the grid whilst at BRM and irl Hunt was doing better than him at Hesketh at the time etc. etc.), but it's a good film with strong characters. It manages to make portray them as rivals and as two completely different people with differing outlooks on F1 and on life without either of them coming across as a prick.