K-SCORE: 65
Director: Ron Howard
Writer: Peter Morgan
Starring: Chris Hemsworth, Daniel Bruhl, Olivia Wilde
Spoiler Level: None
Rush is a Formula One film based on a true story. It’s okay, I guess, but I really didn’t like it. I felt the same way about Senna. The filmmakers did an alright job with the narrative, the pace, the dialogue, the characterization and the shots, and yet Formula One is just so stupid that I couldn’t get beyond it to appreciate any of that. The two lead actors are very good. Any scene where they were just living their lives off the track I enjoyed a lot. Anything with the cars bothered me. It’s not the danger of the sport that bugs me. Freedom. Go kill yourself. Whatever you want. It’s the competition. I’m supposed to be enthralled by the driving prowess and spirit of these racers that live on the edge, but they play on uneven ground. The cars are designed and built by different companies. It’s an experiment with two variables changing simultaneously - you can’t draw any meaningful conclusions from it. Or if two teams were playing football, one using a football on offense and the other a frisbee. Oh the drama of how that guy’s tires burnt out and he had to make an unexpected pit stop and then it started to rain… And the circuits and their rules. Yikes. Don’t go down that Wikipedia rabbit hole. Also, any sport with more than two head to head competitors on the same field can have someone take out someone else at the cost of his or her own success and let a third party win by chance or by default and not by merit. It’s a dumb dumb dumbass sport and so I didn’t enjoy watching Rush.