Rush is one of my favorite films of 2013. It’s interesting, exciting, and filled with great performances and visuals. The Blu-ray, despite the lack of an audio commentary, is damn near perfect. The presentation is stunning and the bonus material is pretty interesting and completely covers the development of the picture. Fans of the film shouldn’t worry about picking this one up, it’s a fantastic Blu-ray for a fantastic movie.
Rush remains an awesome film on Blu-ray. Don’t pass by Rush if you’re not into F1 racing; I couldn’t care less about the sport, and I consider Rush one of my favorites of 2013, even on my second viewing. Even with Chris Hemsworth and Daniel Brühl delivering fantastic performances, it’s the dialogue that steals the show. Writer Peter Morgan (writer of Frost/Nixon) took this F1 rivalry and made it exciting (both on the track and off). The dialogue is fun and believable, with the characters always staying true to their character even in their darkest moments. Paired with Ron Howard’s great direction and a solid score by Hans Zimmer, Rush is one of 2013’s most thrilling flicks and most certainly one of its best.
On Blu-ray, Rush shines. The film has a cool look to it (hard to explain just watch the film) and it makes for a high quality Blu-ray. The video presentation is just stunning with no complaints from me. While the average dialogue scene looks sharp and crisp, it’s the F1 racing scenes that excel. The action is smooth and slick, keeping a consistent gorgeous look. I’m no audio snob but I personally hate it when action scenes get too loud where you have to reach for the remote to turn down the TV, only to turn it back up once the dialogue comes back on. I did not have this problem with Rush, which is a true testament considering how loud the F1 racing scenes could be. The audio was as consistent as the picture quality, and even though Rush doesn’t give enough material to be demo worthy, it’s still a great presentation. Fans of the film will be pleased.
The Bonus Material on the Rush Blu-ray are:
The Deleted Scenes (10 scenes totaling 10:49) are always appreciated, even though these scenes weren’t particularly interesting. It’s totally understandable why they were excluded from the movie. These scenes would’ve just slowed the movie down. They could’ve gotten away with one or two, but these scenes did nothing to advance the plot and would’ve messed up the great pacing the movie has. It’s great to have on the Blu-ray though.
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QKAr42gxjhM[/youtube]
“Race for the Checkered Flag: The Making of Rush” (6 parts totaling 31:39) is an extensive documentary on the making of Rush. I absolutely love behind-the-scenes footage and information, and the filmmakers did a really good job with this one. Not only are there great interviews with the cast, crew, and even Niki Lauda himself, but there’s a lot of great footage on how they made the F1 racing scenes which I found really interesting. This is absolutely the highlight of the bonus content, and I can’t recommend checking out this feature enough.
“The Real Story of Rush” (3 parts totaling 18:33) is an okay feature with interviews from the cast and crew talking about the two lead characters and what the time was like (film takes place in the 70’s) in the racing scene. While the characters segment is somewhat unnecessary as it just solidifies what we saw in the movie (what the characters were like, their attitudes, etc.) the two other segments dealing with the time period were kind of interesting and piggyback off a cool segment in the previous documentary. Worth a watch.
Despite the lack of an audio commentary (which would’ve been great, especially if they somehow got Niki Lauda in there), I have no complaints with the Blu-ray bonus features. The deleted scenes weren’t anything special but that’s why they were taken from the film and cool to have on the Blu-ray. The documentary features were both informational and interesting, both well worth a viewing. Fans of the film should be generally pleased with the content here as it greatly covers the whole film (although a piece on the score would’ve been nice although Hans Zimmer is probably a busy man).
THE VERDICT
Rush gets what it deserves on Blu-ray. The movie is still a blast to watch, especially with the great video and audio presentation. Plus, the bonus material was well made and completely covers the film’s development. An audio commentary would’ve been greatly appreciated but I’m more than happy with Rush on Blu-ray, and I know you will be too.
it sounds like a really good blu ray to get. I’m going to check this movie out as soon as it gets released here
Definitely do. Awesome movie.
yeah I can’t wait, should be a good one