Rush: Ladies and Cars

Rush is a movie of rich ingredients. Fast cars, daring men, beautiful women, a story driven by the fire of competition and designed to inspire--the recipe is powerful. With Ron Howard at the helm, the end product is both flashy and easily digested, but is it good? 3 days later, I'm still having a hard time with that question. It isn't *bad*, it just isn't all that interesting. Watching Rush is to movies as eating at the Cheese Cake is to food.

Cheese Cake. I should maybe not write these before lunch.

I don't mean to imply you won't like this movie. You will, if you have eyes. Howard spins out the story of James Hunt and Nikki LAUDA (I love saying that name. Say it. With emphasis. It's fun.), a pair of Formula One drivers whose rivalry peaked spectacularly during the 1976 season, in a deeply entertaining flurry of race montages and Olivia Wilde doing Olivia Wilde things.

Pictured: Olivia Wilde Things

The source material for Rush was built for the big screen (though it was manipulated slightly). Read up on it if you don't want to see the movie; it's a hell of a story. Howard does a fine job with said material, and he makes it look real, real pretty in the process. It's going to make a lot of money, and it deserves to. I just can't help but feel it's a little over-distilled. 

It's that distilling that makes Rush feel a little hamfisted at times. The rivalry between Hunt and Lauda is set up as a black/white dichotomy; the hard living, ever daring Hunt against the robotic Lauda. The message, that both men could stand to learn from the other in their respective pursuits of greatness, is made ABUNDANTLY clear. If you somehow miss that during the 90 minutes of Hunt slamming brews/Lauda obsession over the mechanical details of his car, don't worry! Lauda and Hunt have a conversation discussing (SPOILERS, sort of) that exact point in the movie's closing minutes. Ron Howard does not trust you to interpret nuance.

A quick warning, because I hate getting pump-faked by trailers: while all the hype for Rush suggest it's the story of James Hunt (which is totally understandable; Hunt is played by Thor, while Lauda is played by this guy), it's really more Nikki Lauda's story. And it should be. Put mildly, Lauda goes through some shit. Just understand you may not get quite as much Hemsworth as you want.

Ugh. Why is it still two weeks until Machete Kills comes out?

Directed By: Ron Howard

Starring: Chris Hemsworth, Daniel Bruhl, Olivia Wilde, this lovely lady whom I have not heard of previously.

You Should see it if: You like cars, boobs, inspiring drama, or all of the above.