I can't say I agree with your complaint that the film has too much focus on "Hunt's blasé marriage". Both Niki's and Hunt's marriages have central importance to the movie as a stark way of establishing and reinforcing their differences - it's another chicaine in the course of their rivalry. Furthermore, it's simply wrong that Hunt's marriage is overexaggerated. It consists of precisely three scenes - one where they meet, one where they fall out, and one where they fail to patch things up. It hardly dominates the whole picture! Furthermore, these scenes don't exist for the sake of an irrelevant soap-opera subplot but all are important in tying into and further developing Hunt's character, through his determination to win and his racing obsessions. The last scene is also critical for setting the tone of the movie, it's non-judgemental nature. One of Rush's strengths is that it's determinedly not a formulaic baddie/goodie split between Hunt and Lauda (free-spirited dude vs. uptight jerk? Boorish jock vs. shy nerd? The film's not so simple). We might be tempted to drift towards assigning Hunt villain status because his marriage failed whereas Lauda's succeeded (well, until after the movie ended at least); however, when Miller concedes "you're just who you are at this point in your life" without rancour it gives Hunt the pass to continue without baggage and so quite smartly respects the actual history without letting it compromise the story.
Incidentally, with regards to the complaints about the lack of racing - it may sound counterintuitive but you really don't want too much racing in a racing movie... the thrill of screeching around a corner ebbs after the 30th bend! Try watching Steve McQueen's "Le Mans" for a film that's really all about the vroom-vroom - and an interminable and stultifying experience in tedium that I've fallen asleep while trying to watch.
Altogether, Mr. Grimm, I'm afraid I feel that you've really misjudged Rush.
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Incidentally, with regards to the complaints about the lack of racing - it may sound counterintuitive but you really don't want too much racing in a racing movie... the thrill of screeching around a corner ebbs after the 30th bend! Try watching Steve McQueen's "Le Mans" for a film that's really all about the vroom-vroom - and an interminable and stultifying experience in tedium that I've fallen asleep while trying to watch.
Altogether, Mr. Grimm, I'm afraid I feel that you've really misjudged Rush.