{"id":5459,"date":"2013-09-20T01:00:48","date_gmt":"2013-09-20T08:00:48","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.cinemastance.com\/?p=5459"},"modified":"2013-09-20T01:00:48","modified_gmt":"2013-09-20T08:00:48","slug":"rush-limps-to-the-finish-line","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/?p=5459","title":{"rendered":"RUSH Limps to the Finish Line"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"RUSH\"<\/a>
\n\"24_0006_C+-(merged)\"<\/a>
\nHave you ever watched a football game where you didn\u2019t give a shit who won? You don\u2019t love or hate either team, you just feel vanilla-neutral about both. It might even be a tight and exciting game but as each side trades the lead back and forth, it\u2019s impossible to get emotionally invested either way. It\u2019s impossible to care.<\/strong><\/p>\n

This is exactly how Ron Howard\u2019s new film \u201cRush\u201d made me feel and it must have been by design. It seems that Howard purposefully relays the true life story about the 1976 rivalry between two Formula One racers- hot-shot playboy James Hunt (Chris Hemsworth) and the cold, calculated Niki Lauda (Daniel Br\u00fchl)- without favoring either one. This may come from a mutual respect for both men as they chased each other while cheating death but it makes for a very anti-climactic ending. A sports movie about racing should end with a couple pumps of the fists in victory, not a casual shrug of the shoulders. You don\u2019t watch \u201cRocky\u201d and come out saying, \u201cCool that Creed won. I would have liked to see the tiny Italian guy win but this way works too\u201d.<\/strong><\/p>\n

That is not the only flaw here. When it comes to the characters and performance, there is truly only one reason to see \u201cRush\u201d and that is Br\u00fchl\u2019s take on Lauda. His work is subdued and difficult as Lauda is a man of few words and those words are usually quick and emotionless. But Br\u00fchl digs into the meat of the man and delivers a flesh and blood performance that makes Lauda human. These are all achievements that Hemsworth cannot claim. He is given James Hunt, a real life jet setter who thinks himself a superhero. He introduces himself like Bond (\u201cHunt, James Hunt\u201d) and is soaking in groupies and booze. Our golden locked Thor only plays the veneer and comes off as laughable in some scenes. Hunt drinks through his sorrows but Hemsworth cannot deliver the angst, shallow sipping from a bottle and never seeming drunk. He smirks his way through the difficult moments, helping Br\u00fchl shine alongside him.<\/strong><\/p>\n

The rest of the peripheral characters follow Hemsworth lead and are only caricatures. Olivia Wilde is all too briefly seen as Suzy Miller, Hunt\u2019s wife, as the relationship is a side note, a blip, that adds nothing to the film. Lauda\u2019s love life is presented as a speechless affair as Niki stays true to his ways and never verbalizes much with his wife, Marlene (Alexandra Maria Lara). This quiet love is affective in a couple moments- Niki\u2019s confession to her before they get married is nice and sweet- but it can\u2019t shake off the rest of the wrong around it.<\/strong>
\n\"a3\"<\/a>
\nRon Howard gives the film a grainy glow that makes \u201cRush\u201d look like a 70\u2019s car movie. He should know, as his first feature film he directed was a 1977 B-Movie called \u201cGrand Theft Auto\u201d. While everything is presented with this retro look, the car footage is shot contemporary and modern. It\u2019s a sore match up that doesn\u2019t jive. Why not be consistent and mirror the throwback visuals of James Gardner\u2019s \u201cGrand Prix\u201d? Or, if you must keep the race footage modern, don\u2019t merely steal from Tony Scott and give us footage we\u2019ve seen over 20 years ago in his \u201cDays of Thunder\u201d.<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u201cRush\u201d is being touted as an early Awards contender based on Mr. Howard\u2019s pedigree alone. Save for Br\u00fchl, there is nothing to award here. This is an interesting story that would make a great piece in the pages of Sports Illustrated but fails as movie. Unfortunately, it is mishandling of the material that makes \u201cRush\u201d a failure.<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Have you ever watched a football game where you didn\u2019t give a shit who won? You don\u2019t love or hate either team, you just feel vanilla-neutral about both. It might even be a tight and exciting game but as each side trades the lead back and forth, it\u2019s impossible to get emotionally invested either way. […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":5460,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[4304,5130,15501,17327,17449,18896],"class_list":["post-5459","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-movie-reviews","tag-chris-hemsworth","tag-daniel-bruhl","tag-oscar-contenders-2013","tag-ron-howard","tag-rush-movie-2013","tag-sports-movies"],"blocksy_meta":{"styles_descriptor":{"styles":{"desktop":"","tablet":"","mobile":""},"google_fonts":[],"version":8}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5459","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=5459"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5459\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=5459"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=5459"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=5459"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}