Rush
Universal Pictures | Release Date: September 20, 2013 CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION
74
METASCORE
Generally favorable reviews based on 43 Critic Reviews
Positive:
37
Mixed:
5
Negative:
1
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Critic Reviews

Critic scorePublicationBy date
75
New York PostKyle SmithSep 30, 2013
Rush, though it will win no trophies, is 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 full review
75
Portland OregonianMarc MohanSep 30, 2013
The result is a solid film, but one that remains more interesting than intense. Read full review
80
The New YorkerAnthony LaneSep 27, 2013
Still, it is a writer's privilege to trim and tailor at will, and everybody loves a duel. It would take the dullest of curmudgeons not to enjoy the surge of this saga, accurate or not, and the excesses of what already feels like a distant age. [30 Sept. 2013, p.84]
63
The Globe and Mail (Toronto)Dave McGinnSep 27, 2013
The problem with car-racing movies, though, is that they are car-racing movies. Has any director found a way to spare audiences the eventual tedium of watching automobiles go around and around a track and instead capture the thrill of the sport? Read full review
88
Philadelphia InquirerSteven ReaSep 27, 2013
Rush, which marks a return to form (and more so) for Howard after plodding through adultery buddy movie comedies (The Dilemma) and Dan Brown sequeldom (Angels & Demons), is almost primal. Read full review
80
New Orleans Times-PicayuneMike ScottSep 27, 2013
Rush is just that -- a rush, and a film that is sure to get audiences' engines going. Read full review
75
Washington PostAnn HornadaySep 26, 2013
Howard directs Rush with speed and jangly, jarring verve, bringing the races themselves to white-knuckled life and allowing the men’s stories to play out with only slightly predictable reversals, upsets and, inevitably, those hard lessons learned. Read full review
75
San Francisco ChroniclePeter HartlaubSep 26, 2013
The ego trips and sexuality and driving are all filmed with equal intensity, to the point where the emotions and flesh and crunched metal seem to blend together. The movie's only major problem is that the tension sometimes overwhelms. Read full review
100
Chicago Sun-TimesRichard RoeperSep 26, 2013
Rush ranks among the best movies about auto racing ever made, featuring two great performances from the leads, who capture not only the physical look of the racing legends they’re playing, but the vastly different character traits that made their rivalry, well, made for the movies. Read full review
88
Boston GlobeTy BurrSep 26, 2013
In a way, Howard has made a philosophical drama about the way men move through the world. It’s just a really, really fast drama. Read full review
75
ReelViewsJames BerardinelliSep 26, 2013
Formula One fans who remember 1976 will no doubt delight in the film but, for those who (like me) were more interested in other things during the year of America's bicentennial, it's not only a good lesson in sports history but an entertaining two hours to spend in a theater. Read full review
63
Chicago TribuneMichael PhillipsSep 26, 2013
It's big, brash and dramatically it goes in circles. The first two may be enough for most people, especially if they're into Formula One racing, to overlook the third. Read full review
75
Miami HeraldRene RodriguezSep 26, 2013
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 without ever insulting your intelligence. Read full review
67
Austin ChronicleKimberley JonesSep 25, 2013
Rush, a film about two real-life titans of Formula One racing in the Seventies, splits its narrative between these oil-and-water personalities, which feels about right: It's only half of a good movie. Read full review
90
Arizona RepublicBill GoodykoontzSep 25, 2013
Howard, whose first job as a director was the 1977 Roger Corman-produced “Grand Theft Auto,” has captured what is surely the greatest racing footage ever shot. Read full review
100
Tampa Bay TimesSteve PersallSep 25, 2013
The movie's finest performance is Daniel Bruhl's unapologetic bluntness as Lauda, and his subtle conveyance of jealousy the driver — whose resemblance to a rat is often noted — must have felt about Hunt's popularity and handsomeness. Read full review
88
McClatchy-Tribune News ServiceRoger MooreSep 24, 2013
A fine and fun film tribute to the milieu, the men, women and machines in a sport that was never deadlier or more glamorous than its Disco Decade incarnation. Read full review
38
Slant MagazineChris CabinSep 23, 2013
Ron Howard's by-the-seat-of-your-pants aesthetic makes the slower, darker sequences feel hurried and bland, especially when stacked up next to the racing sequences. Read full review
80
SalonAndrew O'HehirSep 22, 2013
This is tremendously exciting cinema – shot by the boundary-pushing Anthony Dod Mantle – as well as old-school escapist drama with ample eye candy for viewers of all persuasions. Read full review
67
Christian Science MonitorPeter RainerSep 20, 2013
Rush isn’t bad, exactly, but it’s like a standard-issue male action programmer that somehow crept in from an earlier era. Read full review
85
NPRJoel ArnoldSep 20, 2013
A swift-moving, character-rich biopic whose kinetic Grand Prix sequences are constantly being overshadowed by genuinely riveting scenes of ... people talking. Read full review
50
RogerEbert.comSusan WloszczynaSep 20, 2013
I might have tolerated the film much more with the sound off. With the volume on, this movie feels like a mucho-macho Saturday morning cartoon—specifically Bugs Bunny toying with his eternal pursuer, Elmer Fudd. Read full review
80
New York Magazine (Vulture)Bilge EbiriSep 19, 2013
Rush satisfies our lust for both grand character combat and deadly gearhead spectacle. Read full review
50
Wall Street JournalJohn AndersonSep 19, 2013
For all its immersion in the roar, grease and danger of Formula One, the fact-based Rush — about the sport's great rivalry of the 1970s — is also more predictable than a pit stop, something well-suited to Mr. Howard. He's made perfectly palatable pictures, but never a truly great one, partly because he has such a weakness for the commercial and a consequent gift for the obvious. Read full review
100
USA TodayClaudia PuigSep 19, 2013
Brilliantly captures the exhilaration that comes from facing death head-on. It's also an ode to joyous rivalry. Read full review
40
Los Angeles TimesKenneth TuranSep 19, 2013
Though one enjoys and appreciates Rush for what it is, it does not thrill the blood the way we have the right to expect a film like this to do. Read full review
88
Rolling StonePeter TraversSep 19, 2013
It's Morgan's core script, full of humor, heartache and verbal fireworks, that lifts Rush above the "Fast & Furious" herd. Read full review
90
The New York TimesManohla DargisSep 19, 2013
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 full review
60
New York Daily NewsJoe NeumaierSep 19, 2013
Howard, whose previous tales of men in professional peril include the topnotch “Apollo 13” as well as “Backdraft” and “Cinderella Man,” works with cinematographer Anthony Dod Mantle to create a style in the racing scenes that makes the most of every angle. By the time the final lap of Rush starts, we’re up for the ride. Read full review
70
The DissolveTasha RobinsonSep 19, 2013
Howard and Morgan make the journey intense enough to keep audiences guessing up to the finish line. Read full review
67
The A.V. ClubBen KenigsbergSep 18, 2013
Rush, in other words, is a foursquare sportsmanship movie, offering little in the way of surprises but plenty of earnest, satisfying thrills. Read full review
90
Village VoiceStephanie ZacharekSep 17, 2013
It's both a perceptive dual character study and, that rarity of rarities, a large-scale action movie for grown-ups, one worth leaving the house for. Read full review
40
Time OutJoshua RothkopfSep 17, 2013
The movie leans on symbolic imagery that’s alternately tired and ridiculous: Hunt’s impatiently flicked cigarette lighter (yes, he’s a candle waiting to be lit) or a black-widow spider crawling up the stands of one particularly dangerous course. These are classic frenemies; their tale deserves more gas in the tank. Read full review
75
Entertainment WeeklyChris NashawatySep 11, 2013
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 full review
80
Time Out LondonDave CalhounSep 10, 2013
Rush is fast, slippery, stormy and dangerous. Read full review
86
Film.comLaremy LegelSep 9, 2013
Rush is one of those rare sports movies that’s compelling as both a drama and a spectacle. Read full review
83
The PlaylistKevin JagernauthSep 9, 2013
Rush is a pretty thrilling piece of pop entertainment. It's excitingly assembled and moves like a bullet, highly engaging and nerve-wracking when it needs to be and light on its feet elsewhere. Read full review
80
The GuardianHenry BarnesSep 6, 2013
What Rush has to offer is a great human drama, two dangerously talented men pushing each other to risky victory and a superb script, delivered with some mastery by Hemsworth and Brühl. Read full review
80
Empire Ian FreerSep 4, 2013
It rarely deviates from formula, but Rush wins big, delivering the most exciting F1 footage created for film. Like Hunt, it is sexy, funny, full of thrills. Like Lauda, it is intelligent, a bit blunt, but ultimately touching. Read full review
80
The Hollywood ReporterTodd McCarthySep 3, 2013
Chris Hemsworth and Daniel Bruhl excel as, respectively, British wild man and hedonist James Hunt and Austrian by-the-books tactician Niki Lauda. Read full review
80
The TelegraphDavid GrittenSep 3, 2013
Rush has sex, glamour, a fair degree of wit and a breathless, pedal-to-the-metal spirit. But its greatest achievement may be to underline that there are real men, all vulnerable flesh and blood, inside those infernal machines. Read full review
100
VarietyPeter DebrugeSep 3, 2013
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 full review
100
Total FilmJames MottramSep 2, 2013
Utterly gripping. Aided by two punchy lead turns, an Oscar-worthy script and stunning in-car footage, Howard’s race film delivers top-gear drama. A piston- and heart-pumping triumph. Read full review
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