Review of Days of Thunder (1990) by Andrew T — 15 Jun 2010

Despite not being American, and having never had any contact with Nascar stock car racing, Days of Thunder managed to keep me watching. The movie is 80's at its heart, despite being made in 1990 and it has a great soundtrack. The plot is pure popcorn and being a Simpson/Bruckheimer picture, it entertains through pure adrenaline fuelled action with character development tacked on afterwards.

Tom Cruise stars as Cole Trickle, the rookie who fancies a shot at the Nascar Daytona title. He is taken under the wing of experienced ex-racing legend Harry Hogge, played by Robert Duvall and works his way up the Nascar Championship leaderboard. Simply put, the movie is Top Gun with cars. There's even the rivalry and the tacked on love story thrown in but what Days of Thunder lacks in originality, it makes up for in fun. The movie is just a good time.

Castwise, Days of Thunder works well with Tom Cruise reliably solid in the main role. He's starting to look more like the Tom Cruise of the 90's here rather than the younger actor in Risky Business, Cocktail and Top Gun, always an assured performer, Cruise is charismatic and does well with Days of Thunder. Nicole Kidman is present as the doctor who falls in love with Cruise and to be honest, if she wasn't here, you wouldn't miss much. Her part is tiny and but for the eye candy that the gorgeous Miss Kidman provides, she's not the most important character in the story. Michael Rooker, Cary Elwes and Randy Quaid are also present in the movie with Rooker and Elwes rival drivers and Quaid the team founder who gives Cruise his shot and then drops him for a new talent.

Tony Scott directs well, the Nascar footage is well shot and the whole film, whilst nothing special when compared to the best movies, entertains the audience and that's the best thing that a Simpson/Bruckheimer movie can realistically expect to do. If you enjoyed Top Gun or have even a passing interest in cars and racing, give this a shot, you will probably have a good time.