“Death turns people on,” says Formula One racer James Hunt (Chris Hemsworth). Olivia Wilde knows what he’s talking about, too. It has been a long time since we have had a good, serious racing movie – and who would have thought that director Ron Howard, of all people, would bring it to us? But with the third trailer for Howard’s racing drama Rush, hopes are pretty high.
Hemsworth is iconic English Formula One driver James Hunt, who heated up the racecourse in 1976 with his rivalry with Austrian driver Niki Lauda (Inglourious Basterd’s Daniel Bruhl). Along for the ride are Olivia Wilde and Alexander Maria Lara (The Reader). The script for Rush was written by Peter Morgan, the man behind The Queen and Howard’s last great film Frost/Nixon.
Americans are not big Formula One fans by nature – we seem to prefer our cars to go around and around and then spin off – but the trailer for Rush certainly appeals to the speed demon in us all. You have two charismatic stars who are as different as their characters. That should work to the film’s advantage. And then there’s the action which, in this trailer at least, brings us right down to the racetrack. While the plot is almost a little too similar to Talladega Nights – not a drama by any means – Rush will likely appeal to American audiences with little knowledge of Formula One, and hopefully European audiences with too much.
Ron Howard is due for a hit. His last film The Dilemma was just kind of stupid, and before that we had to suffer through the overlong Angels & Demons. Hopefully he’ll be able to give us a shot of serious adrenaline with Rush.
Rush will not hit theatres until September 20, 2013. You can check out the latest trailer below.