IMDb Top 250 Journey: Rush

Hello people. Welcome to the Tony Tay IMDb Top 250 Journey, where we review movies which have spots on this (acclaimed) list. This time we're up to Rush, which sits at #163 and a score of 8.1. Looks good. (Spoiler Alert: It is)

Immediate thoughts?

Thrilling. Visual flair. Interesting drama. Slick, SLICK Action sequences.

Go on...

I wish I'd seen Rush at the cinema. Even more so, I wish I could still get the chance to. Rush has been my favorite home (laptop) movie experience in a very long time. The last time I finished a movie in such a state was when I saw Inception, which coincidentally is another movie I'd love to see at the cinema. Hope somebody who can make this happen is listening!
 
Back to Rush: I'll get to what makes it so special in a bit, but first I have to say kudos to Rush because it belongs to a small subset of movies, including Drive, Senna and Moneyball, that have managed to convey our sometimes inexplicable love for sport.  

[the car's engine is turned on]
"Aah! What music! They could never have imagined, those pioneers who invented the automobile, that it would possess us like this; our imaginations, our dreams. Nursie, men love women, but even more than that, men love cars." - Quote from Rush.

Almost every movie about racing seems to have that idea - men love cars - behind it, but they often falter. Take Fast and Furious. Those guys certainly love racing, but Dom (Vin Diesel) loves family more, Ryan (Paul Walker) loves his wife more, and all the others love money more. Essentially, most racing movies focus on reminding us that we love cars, and racing by all but saying it, whereas Rush separates itself by making us believe the characters we're watching love racing. 

This makes a world of difference, because the truth is, when we're watching movies, we take the place of the person we're rooting for. In effect, by making the characters love racing, we are subtly reminded of our own passion, unlike in other movies where they try to remind us by shoving that fact in our face. And that, I believe is Rush's second best quality. Yes.

Because its best quality belongs to something else: the racing sequences. Oh man, are they terrific! That's the whole reason why I want to see Rush at the cinema. Even on the laptop, they were incredibly slick, and just awesome to look at. The races were fast and thrilling, colors popped, the background music was close to perfect, races were shot from a myriad of incredible angles, the sound the cars made were evocative....I could go on and on.

This is the part where I admit I've seen Rush more times than I probably should, and that this is probably steering into a biased review. 
  
Unfortunately it didn't quite measure up to gearheads (people who really love cars and know a lot about them), but to me the average joe, it was stunning. Absolutely stunning.

In addition, the two main characters are great to watch, with the rest of the cast not really given much to stand on. Daniel Bruhl and Chris Hemsworth (Thor to most of us) give very convincing performances as Nikki Lauda and James Hunt respectively, and the drama is perhaps a touch too melodramatic, but they're still enjoyable. In any case, I take full responsibility if you see Rush after this, and you don't like it. Feel free to let me have it in the comments ;-). 

But was it well-made?

Let's start with the cinematography because that totally blew my mind. And that's mostly because of one thing: the camera positioning. Cinematographer Anthony Dod Mantle put the camera literally anywhere he wanted to - and this is during racing scenes mind you. He put the camera in engines, on tires, pov style from the drivers cockpit, just about anywhere. It's just incredible. The editing too was brilliant, cutting at the perfect moment, and switching between shots like it was nothing. Rush is easily one of the best representations of racing sequences I've ever seen, second to maybe Senna, and yes, it's far better than the entire Fast franchise, and Need for Speed.

Final thoughts

I don't know how I ended up loving Rush. The first time I saw it, I remember being seriously impressed, and wowed, but watching it again, for this review, I was smitten. Rush is an outstanding action movie, and a slightly better than average drama, which is a rather competent combo. For the action alone it deserves a spot on the list. Add in the drama, and that spot is all but guaranteed.

My Score: 10+ (Yes, I'm allowed to have favorites)

 

Score I should probably give: 8+

 

Alright! Steady Progress! Next week 12 Years a Slave is on the bill, let's hope no one lives out that title in the meantime. Of course, what did you think about Rush? (I expect only positive reinforcement of the 10+). Let's hear in the comments.