Rush

IN the Formula One thriller “Rush,” Chris Hemsworth plays the English bounder James Hunt, while Daniel Bruhl plays Niki Lauda, an analytical Austrian with no people skills. Whereas Hunt is a classic, carousing, big-ego racer, Lauda is a methodical tactician.

The film, based on the lives of the two famous racers, captures the climax of their collision in the 1976 world championship that came down to the final race and that also featured a crash that left Lauda’s face terribly burned.

Racing films often speed inevitably toward clichés of fast-paced living catching up to the men behind the wheel. But “Rush” veers away toward something much sweeter: a simple ode to rivalry. (AP)