Rush 2013

Bilge Ebiri, New York Magazine/Vulture: Rush satisfies our lust for both grand character combat and deadly gearhead spectacle. Read more

Jake Coyle, Associated Press: It's not only one of the better racing films, it's one of Howard's best. Read more

Manohla Dargis, New York Times: Mr. Howard doesn't just want you to crawl inside a Formula One racecar, he also wants you to crawl inside its driver's head. Read more

Kyle Smith, New York Post: Fine filmmaking, a smart, visually engorged, frequently thrilling tale of boyish competition - inspired by a true story. At heart it's "Amadeus" on wheels, only this time Salieri is the Austrian. Read more

Joe Morgenstern, Wall Street Journal: Working from a very clever script by Peter Morgan ("The Queen"), Mr. Howard doesn't pick sides. He lets two distinctly abrasive characters rub up against his viewers, chafing them into gear. Read more

Soren Anderson, Seattle Times: Mostly a lot of noise and nonsense, a garish enterprise that almost - though not quite - trivializes the tale. Read more

Peter Debruge, Variety: Not just one of the great racing movies of all time, but a virtuoso feat of filmmaking in its own right, elevated by two of the year's most compelling performances. Read more

Ben Kenigsberg, AV Club: Rush is basically a foursquare sports film, enlivened by whiplash-inducing, crisply edited racing sequences but otherwise pretty ordinary. Read more

Bill Goodykoontz, Arizona Republic: Hemsworth and Bruhl are outstanding. Their story is what drives the movie, two men different in every way except for their unyielding desire to win. Read more

Ty Burr, Boston Globe: In a way, "Rush" is a philosophical drama about the varying ways men move through the world. It's just a really fast drama. Read more

Drew Hunt, Chicago Reader: This is entertaining enough, but ultimately it's spuriously triumphant Oscar-baiting fluff. Read more

Michael Phillips, Chicago Tribune: "Rush," while never dull, rarely feels dramatically alive; it hits its marks dutifully and darts onward. Read more

Peter Rainer, Christian Science Monitor: Rush isn't bad, exactly, but it's like a standard-issue male action programmer that somehow crept in from an earlier era. Read more

Lisa Kennedy, Denver Post: This is a deeply adult drama, not least because Howard shows the costs of being so driven in a sport in which a driver is encased in a potential fireball. Read more

Tom Long, Detroit News: One thing's for sure with this film: You carry the "Rush" out of the theater. Read more

Chris Nashawaty, Entertainment Weekly: Rush hits a few potholes, but in the end it reveals the psyches of two men who only feel alive when they're cheating death. Read more

Laremy Legel, Film.com: The rare sports movie that's compelling as both a drama and a spectacle. Read more

Wesley Morris, Grantland: The script is another Peter Morgan special. Like, say, The Queen and Frost/Nixon, it's a speculative duet built around a moment of newsworthiness. Read more

Todd McCarthy, Hollywood Reporter: The lead actors shine in an engaging look at the two fierce rivals who battled it out for the Formula One championship in 1976. Read more

Kenneth Turan, Los Angeles Times: Despite its strengths, the telling of this counterintuitive tale about the mysterious ways cutthroat competition can enrich lives never manages to be completely convincing. Read more

Tony Hicks, San Jose Mercury News: You spend at least half the movie on the edge of your seat, and not just because you're rooting for someone to win or lose. Read more

Rene Rodriguez, Miami Herald: "Rush" is the kind of Hollywood studio production that has sadly become all too rare - a smart, exciting, R-rated entertainment for grown-ups that quickens your pulse and puts on a great show. Read more

Rafer Guzman, Newsday: In another movie, either of these men -- the arrogant hunk, the frozen robot -- might have been our villain. But screenwriter Peter Morgan ("Frost/Nixon") has a deeper insight. Read more

Anthony Lane, New Yorker: If you don't already know the story of that season, lucky you; even now, it exerts a ridiculous thrill. Read more

Stephen Whitty, Newark Star-Ledger: Howard keeps his cameras small and all over the cars, to show us dazzling machinery in motion, the ground whizzing by in a blur underneath. Playing to his own strengths, though, he keeps this a movie about character. Read more

Joel Arnold, NPR: Howard chooses a few moments to let the film breathe, but for the most part - aside from a clunky first-person narration that book-ends the film - he propels Rush from scene to scene with a momentum that never lets the thing drag. Read more

Joe Neumaier, New York Daily News: By the time the final lap of "Rush" starts, we're up for the ride. Read more

Michael Sragow, Orange County Register: Stripped-down characters and skeletal dramaturgy limit this movie about the real-life Formula 1 racing rivalry of James Hunt and Niki Lauda, but harrowing track scenes and an affecting second half provide some vivid compensation. Read more

Steven Rea, Philadelphia Inquirer: Rush has an elemental simplicity about it. Two men in competition, driven (so to speak) to win. They are enemies. But they need each other, too, and as they roll around at 170 m.p.h., they come to understand why. Read more

James Berardinelli, ReelViews: Rush not only effectively presents a balanced view of the rivalry between two race car drivers but manages the difficult task of taking Formula One racing, an inherently non-cinematic sport, and translating it to the screen. Read more

Richard Roeper, Richard Roeper.com: 'Rush' ranks among the best movies about auto racing ever made, featuring two great performances from the leads. Read more

Peter Travers, Rolling Stone: As cars spin and shimmer in the rain at the climactic and astounding Grand Prix in Japan, we never lose sight of what's human and striving behind the wheel. Read more

Andrew O'Hehir, Salon.com: I've seen Bruhl in several German-language films, and I'm not surprised that he's perfect as the monomaniacal Lauda, but Hemsworth is the revelation here. Read more

Peter Hartlaub, San Francisco Chronicle: Howard proves that directing action is one of his underrated strengths. The racing scenes are dynamic and easy to follow, with a sheen that brings the 1970s into sharp relief. Read more

Dana Stevens, Slate: Rush is an outsize Hollywood spectacle about two outsize personalities in conflict, a sleekly assembled thrill machine that makes up in excitement for what it lacks in nuance. Read more

Colin Covert, Minneapolis Star Tribune: The on-track action is blistering, the filmmaking sure-footed (even as cars fishtail into catastrophic crashes), the characters bigger than life. Read more

Christopher Orr, The Atlantic: Rush is not a particularly deep film. But more importantly, it is not a film that mistakes itself for deep. And this self-knowledge makes Rush, in some ways, a wiser film than many that aspire to loftier goals. Read more

Dave McGinn, Globe and Mail: An entertaining movie with two solid performances that only occasionally stalls because of its sometimes heavy-handed treatment of Hunt and Lauda's differences. Read more

Peter Howell, Toronto Star: This is no mere thrill ride by two real-life rival speedsters, although it is certainly that. The film also provides a sobering look at what it takes to be a true champion. Read more

Alonso Duralde, TheWrap: An exhilarating surprise from a director who's been playing it safe for most of his career. Like his heroes, he takes a risk and wins. Read more

Dave Calhoun, Time Out: Fast, slippery, stormy and dangerous. Read more

Joshua Rothkopf, Time Out: These are classic frenemies; their tale deserves more gas in the tank. Read more

Claudia Puig, USA Today: Brilliantly captures the exhilaration that comes from facing death head-on. It's also an ode to joyous rivalry. Read more

Stephanie Zacharek, Village Voice: Anyone who can get to the theater on two legs, or four wheels, should see it on the big screen. Read more

Ann Hornaday, Washington Post: Considering the subject matter, Rush delivers the expected visceral jolts; what's surprising is how endearing it is, even when its two protagonists are behaving like little more than boys with very fast toys. Read more