RON HOWARD DIRECTS RUSH STARRING CHRIS HEMSWORTH

year: 2013 cast: Chris Hemsworth, Daniel Brühl, Olivia Wilde, Alexandra Maria Lara rating: **

It’s been a while since Ron Howard’s first theatrically released motion picture as a director. That was the Roger Corman produced/low-budget cult flick GRAND THEFT AUTO. And now he’s returned to speeding cars but a lot more seriously, and it’s a true story: RUSH centers on the rivalry between two racers who could not be more different, yet both share a heavy dose of navel-gazing narcissism...

Chris Hemsworth plays James Hunt with the kind of polarizing, unapologetic devil-may-care attitude that makes it nearly impossible to root for the man. With so much confidence and so many girlfriends, why does he need our support? Other than vomiting before each race, he's more of a... well... superhero than human being. And then there's the not so perfect looking fella more professionally in-tuned to the racing life. Enter Daniel Brühl’s Nicki Lauda, with a chip on his shoulder the size of Hunt’s nighttime libido.

Ron Howard has made a grungy biopic with a realistic, no-nonsense aura but something is missing. While we learn from the start that Lauda is the best in the world, and Hunt is right behind with more hunger to surpass the man he describes several times as a “rat,” we never learn enough about either, deep down, to make their stint on the rip-roaring Indy 500, composed of a year-long globe-spanning circuit shown in speedy montage sequences, really matter.

Chris Hemsworth with Daniel Brühl in Ron Howard's RUSH