Days of Thunder – Blu-ray Review

By Patrick Luce Jan 17, 2009, 13:38 GMT

"...comes on like thunder! It\'s a winner!" - Joel Siegel, WABC-TV/New York "****Best movie of the summer!" - Steve Kmetko, KCBS-TV/Los Angeles From the engine roar and fever pitch of professional stock car racing, Days of Thunder explodes with the most spectacular racing action ever captured on film. Tom Cruise plays race driver Cole Trickle, whose talent and ambition are surpassed only by his burning need to win. Discovered by ...more

Tom Cruise’s turn as race car driver Cole Trickle gets the upgrade to Blu-ray with this new edition of the 1990 racing film Days of Thunder. While the film looks solid on Blu-ray, it is still only mediocre at best, but can be a lot of fun if you take it as just a pure entertainment popcorn flick.

Director Tony Scott (who worked with Cruise on the 80’s classic Top Gun) knows how to handle this kind of movie and fills it with fast paced story-telling, lots of wrecks on the racetrack, a lightweight love story, and plenty of attitude from Cruise.

Following the same basic formula of Top Gun, Days of Thunder sees Cruise as know-it-all rookie driver Trickle who has to learn to work with veteran crew chief/car-builder Harry Hogge (Robert Duvall) to break it big in the racing world.

At first the two men collide on everything thanks to Trickle’s pride not letting him admit he knows nothing about cars and Hogge’s quick judgment not letting him give Trickle a chance.

Slowly the two men work out their differences and start winning races – which puts Trickle in the sights of racing hotshot Rowdy Burns (Michael Rooker). Burns (think Iceman from Top Gun) believes he is the king of racers, and he has no plans of letting Trickle take that crown.

The two men lock up in just about every race and seem to wreck more cars than they manage to get across the finish line. This leads to a massive crash that sends both men to the hospital and introduce Trickle to his love interest – Dr. Claire Lewicki (Nicole Kidman, who was still pretty much unknown at the time).

Trickle’s crash leaves him scared to get back in the race car (kind of like Maverick was scared to engage other pilots in Top Gun after Goose died), but he has to push past that fear to win the big race for Rowdy (who can’t race anymore because of injuries).

Although Days of Thunder is far from the best film by Tony Scott or Tom Cruise, it is a lot of fun and features some good performances from the supporting cast. For me, Duvall is the reason to watch the film and provides his own kind of charm to the role of Harry.

He is basically playing a character similar to his performance as Augustus 'Gus' McCrae in Lonesome Dove. The difference is this guy works on cars instead of herding cattle. Harry is a laid back guy who likes to have a good time and isn’t shy about pulling a prank on a friend.

Cruise is the star of the movie and does a good job in the role of Trickle – even if it is basically the same performance he did in Top Gun. He does get a tad annoying towards the end of the film, but Scott keeps the pace moving so fast it isn’t enough to ruin the movie. Kidman also shows some of her star power. Sadly, her part is pretty much just window dressing to fit the needed love story aspect of the film.

The film looks good on Blu-ray, but there is some grain to it that might bother some viewers. It isn’t the worse transfer I have seen, but it isn’t as clear as some Blu-ray releases. The picture is decent and the colors of the race cars really pop off the screen. The racing sequences are gritty, action packed, and seem a bit more real on Blu-ray (possibly because of the slight grain).

Watching it again made me appreciate the film a little more for the amount of stunt work that must have gone into the racing sequences and the level of detail Scott and director of photography Ward Russell captured on film.

Although Days of Thunder looks good on Blu-ray, the only special feature to make its way onto the disc is the film’s theatrical trailer – which means there is absolutely no reason to upgrade to the format if you already have the DVD.

Days of Thunder is formulaic, but it is a fun popcorn movie. Tony Scott knows how to make this kind of film, and the cast are capable of keeping the plot moving. Although Cruise is the name above the title, the racing sequences are the real reason to watch the movie. However, the lack of special features makes the Blu-ray really not worth shelling out the $29.99 (suggested retail) for the film when you can get the DVD for $12 bucks or cheaper.

Days of Thunder [Blu-ray] is now available at Amazon. Visit the DVD database for more information.