A racing driver’s life in the fast lane
(8) RUSH, with Chris Hemsworth, Daniel Bruhl, Olivia Wilde, Alexandra Maria Lara and Christian McKay. Directed by Ron Howard. (Boardwalk) Reviewed by Jenny McCartney THERE were few more iconic ’70s sporting heroes than the Formula 1 racing driver James Hunt – excepting perhaps George Best, another troubled pin-up who shared many of his best and worst qualities.
Hunt had long, floppy blond hair, extraordinary nerve, disregard for rules, a fondness for the bottle and a devilmay-care attitude to women.
The pictures of him in chest-baring overalls and surrounded by adoring dolly birds seared a particular vision of roguish triumph into the minds of a generation.
Ron Howard’s homage to a more reckless era in the high-octane sport of motor-racing permits you to inhale the pure excitement of the moment along with the exhaust fumes.
Chris Hemsworth, fresh from his title role in 2011’s Thor, plays Hunt with an apparent superpower for attracting female admiration. The film opens with him effortlessly seducing the nurse who attends to his injury following a brawl over another man’s wife, and thereafter it’s full-pelt ahead.
Through races (first backed by the eccentric Lord Hesketh), champagne celebrations, girls, rivalry with the Austrian driver, Niki Lauda, marriage to the statuesque model Suzy Miller, more girls, drink, divorce, sponsorship by McLaren, and the headlong pursuit of the 1976 Formula 1 world championship title.
The nurse disappears early on: by the time we forget about her, Hunt is already a tiny point in the distance.
Hemsworth, an Australian, plays Hunt with an impeccable English accent and a mixture of charm, arrogance, lurking despair and authentically feral sexuality.
I can’t even drive, but sitting still in the cinema, I felt dizzy: I never travelled so fast in all my life. – The Daily Telegraph