Rush: Making You Care About Fast Moving Bombs On Wheels

Ok, I am a fan of Chris Hemsworth and do like many of Ron Howard's films.  I also am even tangeantally interested in the subject of Formula 1 racing.  But the trailers...didn't really communicate the essence of the film.  They pumped up the studly Hemsworth, playing British racer James Hunt starting out in lower tier racing with the intent of making a career out of it.  He's talented, he's handsome, he is a devil-may care personality who lives life off the track like he does on.  Purely on instinct, taking risks, living in the moment.  As you may guess, this has benefits as well as costs.  But he honestly does not know any other way to do anything.  Then, you have Niki Lauda, a rival racer from Austria, who is just as driven, just as focused, but in every other way,the polar opposite of Hunt, in that where Hunt is impulsive, Lauda is deliberate.  Where Hunt goes on instinct, Lauda goes on calculation.  Hunt is charismatic and loves playing the crowd.  Lauda comes across as cold, distant and disdainful.  You would think these two would hate each other.  And they do...at first.  But like many other stories with two  people living lives few others understand, sharing the same risks and the same passions when it comes to racing, circumstances eventually engender respect and eventually, true friendship and brotherhood.

And that is the real remarkable tale of this film, which is NOT emphasized in the trailer.  This is the tale of two adventurers, two travelers on parallel tracks in an unusual lane of life.  The unusual nature of the way they live and how they look at the world can create a certain isolation.  So despite the intense rivalry, it can create onramps of opportunity for friendship that one may not have been aware of.  This film gives you a look into a very unusual lifestyle and helps you understand.  Others who also live unusual lives of other sorts may be especially inclined to understand the journey of these two men and what they do.

Passion.  Life on some kind of edge.  Knowing most around don't understand and, you know what?  That's perfectly ok.

You have to pick your own course, regardless.  And drive.

Great movie.