A solid, well-made film about the ferocious rivalry between two great formula 1 drivers (between this film and Senna, I’m beginning to think the whole sport hinges on rivalries between play-it-safe rulesters and cocky daredevils) that didn’t quite connect for me. I can definitely appreciate the film, and it’s hard to say it’s not a good movie, but there was just something at the core that never pulled me in the way a film I can watch more than once does…
What Works: Ron Howard’s direction gooses every last inch of flair out of the material by zooming in on the pistons, the wheels, having cinematography that goes at everything from unexpected angles, etc. There’s a racing sequence late in the film shot in the rain where we see that the drivers can just barely see anything in front of them at breakneck speeds. It’s scary and thrilling, and we think that Nicki Lauda definitely has a point when he keeps saying that races shouldn’t happen in the rain, and then makes us wonder how James Hunt can race the way he does in the rain, knowing he could spin out and die at any given second…
What Doesn’t Work: The rivalry between cold-fish Lauda and hot-dog Hunt isn’t the most original thing you’ve ever seen. Lauda keeps trying to put Hunt in violation of the rules, Hunt may not be as good a driver but just a more reckless one, etc. It’s all been covered in Senna, and the bigger problem here is that I never really liked Lauda or Hunt. The film makes a point of showing them “warts and all” and usually that humanizes a subject, but it just made me think that we’re watching two unlikable, fully selfish guys that don’t care about a lot else besides beating each other. Whenever the film is off the track, it’s trying to dig deep into their psyches, and I’m not sure there’s really a lot there to dig into.
What I Would Have Done Differently: Howard is stuck with who Lauda and Hunt actually were, so there’s not much he can do there, but I think a couple of more in-depth racing sequences, getting rid of the horrible washed-out color scheme (we get it, the film is set in the 70’s, it doesn’t have to look like it is for us to get that), and tightening up some of the off-the-track stuff could have elevated the material.