Days Of Thunder (1990) Dir: Tony Scott

Instagram post:

https://www.instagram.com/p/DXbttbcjTYC/?igsh=MzU5b3I4czRlMnho

I used to think stock car racing was pretty dull - I grew up watching other motorsport disciplines - but as an adult, I've grown to appreciate it a little more. I honestly had no idea that this 1990 racing film, directed by Tony Scott, even existed until I saw it appear on my streaming suggestions one evening. Evidently, it had never set the world alight, particularly compared to Scott's far more famous 'Top Gun'.

The camera quality seemed to be very poor, at least on the version of the film I watched. Maybe I'm too used to the remastered versions of films these days, but it really was hard to ignore, especially during the racing sequences. Speaking of which, those scenes were fun, but perhaps a little too silly, at times. Either way, it captured the chaos of stock car racing pretty accurately.

I did get the feeling, whilst watching the film play out, that it l really, really, wanted to be 'Top Gun', but with cars. Unfortunately, it was a far-cry. There were some entertaining scenes, but I found so much of the narrative, especially the comedy and romance aspects, to be cheesy. It might be an unfair comparison to make, but it really was impossible to not see the similarities to the aforementioned 'Top Gun', especially because both films were made by the same director.

Tom Cruise played a fairly similar character to his role in 'Top Gun' - another unavoidable source of comparison - a brash, highly skilled but poorly disciplined driver. I liked his acting to an extent, but I found his character lacked the degree of emotional depth that I was hoping for. I also think he felt a little less believable in general, which didn't help his case.

Robert Duvall provided a fairly enjoyable performance in the film's main supporting role, albeit I have seen far better from him, as anyone who has seen him in 'The Godfather' will surely agree. Even so, I did think he did pretty well, especially with the comedic aspect of his role. I thought he felt very fatherly, at times, which helped a lot with the on-screen relationship he had with his character's rebellious young colleague.

Nicole Kidman doesn't turn up until about halfway through the film, but she was at least pretty memorable. It wasn't her best acting by a long shot, but she was still fairly good, I thought. There were also some fairly notable names in the supporting cast, with Michael Rooker providing the most memorable of the performances, albeit his character was a little over-the-top. The other names worth at least mentioning were Randy Quaid, Cary Elwes, and John C. Reilly, although none of them had particularly huge roles in the film, in fairness.

Overall, I thought this was a pretty watchable racing film, but it was very clearly an inferior imitation of Scott's far better and far more iconic aeroplane action film. I did enjoy some elements of the film, but, unfortunately, it had its fair share of issues too. It's an okay film, but there are far better racing films out there, and far better performances from all three of the film's biggest stars too.