Days of Thunder

Having found huge commercial success with Top Gun in 1986 alongside Tony Scott, Tom Cruise would reunite with the director in 1990 for Days of Thunder and hope to achieve the same lofty heights. This time it wasn't fighter jets but instead the aggressive world of NASCAR racing. More than a few similarities can be made between the two films but does this one deserve a little more attention or has it been rightfully eclipsed by the predecessor? 

Cruise stars as the young and highly experiences racer, Cole Trickle, who is hired into a team and paired alongside Robert Duvall's formally retired crew chief by Randy Quaid's wealthy team owner. Can the old hand teach the cocky youngster a thing or two before crashes out and takes the struggling team with him? The film uses its fair share of clichés and sports movie tropes for sure but Scott just about keeps the wheels firmly on the ground.

Combining the director's flashy visuals, a solid cast which also includes Nicole Kidman and Michael Rooker, some impressive stunt work with the racing and a score by a young Hans Zimmer, Days of Thunder races along quickly in the first act with a good setup but somehow I found this to be an oddly disjointed experience. For all it does well, there are odd moments of humour, a muddled script that doesn't quite flow and an ending that I didn't find all that satisfying. If Top Gun is a smooth highway, Days of Thunder is smaller road plagued with one too many potholes and in need of some work in the writer's room. 

I don't want to come down too harshly as there are still plenty of enjoyable and exciting moments while Cruise and the cast play their parts all very well but maybe this is one racing film where you need to be a fan of NASCAR first to really appreciate it. Days of Thunder is still worth watching for fans of the director and its leading man but I wouldn't advise going in hoping for the same polished experience as seen in Top Gun.