Watched: Rush
This was fun, if a little silly at times, with the main takeaway being the interplay between the two leads - Chris Hemsworth as racecar driver James Hunt, and Daniel Brühl as his rival Niki Lauda. The two performances they give contrast beautifully - Hunt as a womanising playboy, Lauda as a sober rationalist - and often transcend the formulaic beats the plot ends up following.
There are nail-biting montages (for a film about cars driving around a track very fast, Ron Howard really pulls out all the cinematic stops, and you find yourself forgetting that this is the fourth, then fifth racing scene you’re watching), a soundtrack that thrums with the energy we’ve come to expect from Hans Zimmer, and a narrative pace that rarely lets up. It’s also a well-executed period piece - there are nods in the haircuts and the technology, but the film doesn’t blast you with clichés.
Sometimes, you feel as if this is really a very flashy veneer on a series of tired tropes, but in making Niki Lauda the heart of the film it ultimately triumphs - around halfway through, the narrative shifts focus, and part of the film becomes just as much about the dignity of giving up as it is about winning.