Rush (15A) *****

AFTER A SLIGHTLY wobbly opening act, Ron Howard’s Rush revs into top gear and never drops pace.

Like 2010’s terrific Senna, it reaches far beyond the regular F1 fan base courtesy of charismatic performances and brilliantly staged racing scenes. In fact, it feels like director Ron Howard had the Senna doc on loop while making this movie, in a good way.

It also features an awards-worthy performance from German actor Daniel Bruhl, who plays the flawed character of Niki Lauda with such panache that you end up rooting for him.

The movie centres on the relationship between two young racing drivers. One of them is the young Austrian Lauda  -  who uses wealth and connections to make his way into F1.

This puts him on the radar of another ambitious young driver, the charming, womanising Brit James Hunt (a very good Chris Hemsworth).

The film takes its sweet time in establishing the rivalry between the two drivers  -  even though, in reality, they were friendly early in their careers  - and the sheer differences in their personalities.

The carefree Hunt likes to have a swig of champagne before a race and seems to sail by on natural talent, much to the frustration of the dogged and precise Lauda.

By the time they’re both racing in top flight for the 1976 championship, the two men have got inside each other’s heads in the way that only fierce rivals can. And that’s before the extraordinary series of events that were to follow.

With his scripts for Frost/Nixon, Peter Morgan showed he was adept at pitting two smart people against each other. Here he’s at it again, bringing great fun to screen as the two go to increasingly great lengths to outfox each other.

Howard and his team bring the glamour of the period vividly to life, but there are dangers too  -  you’re left in no doubt that this is the pre-Senna period, where deaths on the track were not uncommon.

This is underlined by some exceptional racing scenes as the film approaches its climax, where the audience is brought right into the middle of the action.

White House Down (12A) ***

MANY out there will be drawn to White House Down purely to gawk at hunky Channing Tatum jumping around in a white vest.

And while Jamie Fox might also be easy on the eye it’s sad to say both actors have been badly let down by a preposterous script.
There’s lots of shock and awe scenes in this blockbuster, with some fun scenes of giant helicopters and planes being blown up, but some of the dialogue in this flick is so corny it will leave you wincing.

The storyline centres on an attempt to kidnap the President (Foxx) and a coup in the White House.

Tatum plays John Cale, a police officer and aspiring Secret Service agent whose main ambition is to work with President Sawyer.

He gets the bad news at the start of the movie that he won’t be taken on but hides it from his know-all daughter Emily (Joey King), who he brings on a tour of the White House.

Cue an action flick with heroes and villains in this Roland Emmerich (Independence Day/2012) stunt fest.

The writers try and instil a type of Die Hard humour and while there’s a certain chemistry between Tatum and Foxx, it lacks charm.