Wooden acting, weak dialogue, and a story that's more like a forced drama than anything else.
I would give it maybe a 7 and that too for the setting and the snazzy depiction of the era. Maybe a refreshing escape from the superhero crap we get these days. But that's as far as it goes.
Deservingly snubbed from the oscars.
Because it's an excellent movie fool.
If there was a trick, there must be a Trickster...
****SPOILER ALERTS****
Growing up in Indiana the only racing I really ever followed was one ... actually only one race that is: the Indianapolis 500 -- I occasionally would watch another indy-class race or even a stock car race but growing up in the 60s and 70s, Formula 1 racing was hardly ever shown on American TV ... perhaps only on ABC's Wide World of Sports but I can't remember too many of those even (this of course was long, long before cable tv was even available and all-sports channels let alone all-auto-racing channels were ever thought of or dreamed of I imagine) ... even Sports Illustrated, the biggest and most popular sports magazine of the time, gave piddling coverage to Formula 1 racing (and not a whole lot to other auto-racing except for the Indy 500 or the Daytona 500 or perhaps a profile on one of the legends of other "American" auto-racing such as "Big Daddy" Don Garlits considered by many to be the greastest "rail" drag racer of all-time) ...
That is until one moment in time: the horrific crash of Niki Lauda ... let me remind everyone of the tried-and-terribly-true journalism credo: "If it bleeds, it leads" ... and so Sports Illustrated and even TV sports shows were quite suddenly very interested in the state of Niki and of Formula 1 racing ... cover stories were even devoted to this crash and the weekly sports magazines and shows were regularly doing in-depth coverage of Niki's recovery and then his amazing comeback not to mention the dynamic dual of Lauda and James Hunt for the world title that year ... and yes, even as a young teen, I too was engrossed in the monumental recovery and courageous return to racing that Niki made that year only to drop-out of the final race that season due to what he deemed to be unsafe racing conditions, that being a fairly heavy and constant rainstorm ... Hunt was able to win the world championship that season by only a single point having gained many points during Niki's (only) two race absence after the severe burns he received inside and outside his body which drew the sporting world's attention to him and Formula 1 racing that season ...
This movie not only covers the pure guts and determination of Niki's will to be a champion but shows the sport of auto racing better than any other movie I have ever seen ... it makes you feel the power of the machines, the speed and the mere inches these drivers operate within at those speeds, and the frightening results of a single miscalculation of the speed and inches they compete within ...
I missed this movie at the theatres and regret not having seen it at an IMAX on a huge screen with a huge high-quality sound system which I am certain would have lent even more excitement to what was a truly exciting film even on what most people these days would consider my personal modest home media system ...
But I was further surprised that this film was directed by Ron Howard ... this is not to say I am not a Ron Howard fan ... I usually enjoy his films though some can be rather sappy etc (imho) and not to my taste but I do not shy away from watching most of his movies ... but thinking of joining his directorial skills and style with this sport and story was surprising to me and so when I came across it through some accidental luck on IMDB, I made sure to see it purely out of interest to see how all of these ingredients would mix ... well, the mix perfectly and this is a film to be admired and one that I would think would make most people's pulse jump a bit from the fine editing (credited to Dan Henley and Mike Hill) and perfectly planned racing sequences which, I have read, were a mix of principal photography, cgi, and archival footage ... a flawless blend to my eye and many cudos to all the folks involved on that side of the production ...
This is the best racing film I have ever seen and I would imagine the best one out there if judging only by the racing sequences alone ... I am not including the standard car chase scenes that pollute so many movies these days as frankly, those are most typically tiresome retreads (pun intended) of all the other car chase sequences done in all the other movies where you basically wait around for fifteen or twenty minutes for the next car chase to begin (let's take the "Fast and Furious" franchise for an example ... as one critic on this thread complained of the "wooden acting" in between the race sequences in this movie, I can't imagine what could be more oaken than the "acting" which interrupts the car chases in F&F franchise ... and for the record, the acting in "Rush" is not wooden but well done and the interplay and sparks between Chris Hemsworth and Daniel Brühl (along with their counterparts) do not make it so you sit around only waiting for the next action sequence ... it is well done and each of the stars have a firm grip on the character and "character" of the man they are portraying ...
This is one of Howard's very best films, the best auto-sports film around, and a rock solid 10 in my book ... highly recommended for racing fans, of course (who have probably sought this out already) but also for fans of movies of people overcoming inner and external injuries and shortcomings to achieve their goals and it is quite certainly not one of the oh-so-many sappy, Hollywood cookie-cutter "oh golly he got grievously injured or had inner demons he had to overcome to finally win the big one and get the girl and have millions of adoring fans and the old-time trainer who never got his shot at the big time but knows everything it takes to get to the big time and finally found the one pupil he could impart all of this knowledge upon, etc, etc, etc" movies ... it is high-quality storytelling of each character's striving to become the best at what they do ...
deinfitely one to keep a copy of as it is worth watching on a semi-regular basis
take care,
cormac
"One star in the sky
so I named it Otis Redding"
-- John Hiatt
Agree. Any movie about racing, particularly F1, is going to get rabid fans of the sport voting it high. A movie about World Cup would see a similar effect.
It couldn't decide whose story it was trying to tell. We are introduced to Lauda, but then we don't really get to watch his story.
Second, the characters don't transform or grow. They are the same at the end as in the beginning.
Third, the Hunt character was almost completely unlikeable. Beating up the reporter makes him more likeable, but that's so far downstream in the movie and such a singular incident that it doesn't have much effect at all. Who's rooting for this guy in the movie?
Fourth, the silly ending where they didn't have his 3rd place listed yet seemed very forced.
Lastly, as a fan of Indy Car racing, I found the race scenes quite dull.
Compare this movie to Seabiscuit and there's no contest.
I don't even remotely understand your criticisms. But then again, as a disclaimer, I love this movie.
"It couldn't decide whose story it was trying to tell."
It told one story with two main protagonists, Hunt and Lauda, rivals and sometimes friends. We do get to see Lauda's story, his horrific car crash and his road to recovery, and we also see Hunt's story. A movie can tell more than one story.
"Second, the characters don't transform or grow."
Matter of opinion. But even if they don't grow, this film is based on a real story. People in real life don't always learn and grow.
James Hunt lived the typical 70's playboy lifestyle with everything that it entails died aged 45. He may have grown out of it given time...but he didn't have the time.
Lauda was always, and still is, quite a difficult person and hasn't mellowed too much with age.
"Third, the Hunt character was almost completely unlikeable."
Can't see it that way. Just because neither man was a cuddly teddy bear doesn't mean they weren't admirable. There is a good thread on this board called "Who do you admire more, Hunt or Lauda?" which answers many questions.
And the racing scenes dull?? No...
Jessica Rabbit
"I'm not bad. I'm just drawn that way."
No no no. You are of course entitled to your own opinion, no matter how wrong it may be :)
"You can call me Susan if it makes you happy."
Do you even know what overrated means?
I'm afraid I have to agree. It's basically just "look at me, I can do such a convincing impersonation of an Austrian tightass!"
I am familiar with the story and Ron Howard did a lousy job of telling it (as to be expected). The crash scene should have been way more intense but I would say it was almost "skipped over".
The script was fairly terrible, like something out of a TV movie. They could never find any way of telling us what was happening with the results other than through the voice of the race announcer/commentator.
I would have given it a 7 too just for not being superhero BS I guess but no way is it a great movie.
- - -
"And the number one reference that I am running into the ground is: Homer Simpson!"
The acting is first of all in no way wooden. With all respect the Niki Lauda as a person, his personality is extremely wooden in real life! There isn't much charisma there and if you were to go back and watch interviews of Lauda you would realise that Daniel Bruhl captured him to perfection! I'm overly impressed by the casting directors choices! Also, for the story being a "weak drama" doesn't to me make much sense to me as the story is true? I'm not sure how a real and gripping relationship between two people in the most dangerous sport could be forced?
The thing is their rivalry was unlike any other, it was known by everyone. Where as in F1 today you have Lewis Hamilton in a rivalry with Nico Rosberg out of pure selfishness and competitive nature between a team. With Lauda and Hunt they were extremely different people with different methods towards racing which created friction between them! Also they were the best it was one of them that was likely to come first or second and that fight became more intense. But most importantly, as learnt from the film, they cared even more deeply for each other than met the eye. We see hunt beat up a journalist who is disrespectful towards him. Without each other they would not have become the fantastic racers they were and I believe they both knew that they had that to thank for each other.
So yes of course it's different to superhero movies because it's about the real life people who go through superhero injuries but don't give up and continue fighting for their aspirations!
[deleted]
The IMDB rating system and its top 250 list became a complete joke about 10 years ago when kids who have seen like 50 movies in their life started rating the newest superhero movie to come out a 10 en masse.
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