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I just want to say: MEGA DOUBLE WHAOW !!!!!

I have been a Tom Cruise fan for years now (since Top Gun) and i think this movie is AWESOME ! Well, i must say that i find the story really dumb, but once you get to the race scenes, it kicks a** ! the Hans Zimmer Soundtrack is unbelievable (the opening sequence is a must "hear & see"), and the races shooting could not be better. Believe me, buy this movie, you won't regret it. Just do like me, switch the light off, put your amp to the max and ... ENJOY ;)

NASCAR, and film? who would have thought that the two could make such a good movie?

The answer to that question is obvious--producers Don Simpson and Jerry Bruckheimer, director Tony Scott, and superstar Tom Cruise, as they reunite after Top Gun for this Loud, Engine roaring racing romance. This crew has taken what worked well for Top gun, and used in in a different, but not that much slower, mode of transportation. Thrills and spills abound, of course there is ONE great wreck in the movie, and from this wreck spins the romance of this film. Nicole Kidman, and Tom Cruise once again hit it off in the Movies, but by this time they were together in real life too. As such, the chemistry between the two was much greater in this film than in Top Gun. Cole Trickle (Tom Cruise) must realize that driving stock-cars is different than driving indy cars, just as much as veteran stock-car racer Harry Hogge (Robert Duvall), must realize when building the car for Trickle. As always, neither ever wants to admit that they could possibly be wrong, or not know something. But Hogge isn't the only one that Cole butts heads with. Champion driver Rowdy Burns (Michael Rooker), Trickles major rival, is just as stubborn, and thick headed as the rest of them. After the wreck that takes both Trickle, and Rowdy out of a major race, the two are hospitalized together, and become friends--of a sort.Trickle and Burns must both face their own mortality, but in different ways.(as a side note, and my opinion only, this is one of the best examples of what a difference a DVD player and home theatre speakers can make compared to a plain old VCR).

Bluray transfer is bad!!!!!

Was excited this movie was on bluray. It is a guilty pleasure of mine and other race fans. But, the quality of the print used to bring this to bluray leaves a lot to be desired. There are little pinholes and trash all over the screen throughout the movie. Hands down the worst lookinf bluray I have seen!!!!!

good racing flick

Tom Cruiz gets a bad rap for some of the things he does. I think he is a great actor in both action and drama. The rest of the cast were great also. So have a "ice creme" and enjoy.

Another Classic Mess

After seeing this movie it's an amazing effort that Nicole Kidman received another movie offer. Her co stars can get away with bad movies and performances because of who they are, but this was Nic's first Hollywood gig. Luckily big Tommy was able to look after her and ensure blockbuster success to Kidman in the future. The biggest problem with the movie was the appalling script. Once again the big budget was able to overcome all these faults and turn it into a hit. If your wondering it's about car racing, I think, or something like that anyway.A generous 3 out of 10.

Top Gun in a car

They had no script, it was made up as they shot the film, a fact you can see from many characters looking at pieces of paper cleverly placed around scenes (notably those shot in the pit-lane) so they can remember the dialogue.The film is bad, it's the repeated formula of the Cruise films which gets me and annoys me. If you've seen Top Gun, and lets face it, who hasn't, there's really no need to waste your time on this trash.Bruckheimer has a lot to answer for. Everything seems to be made of cardboard, including the actors, the film is so bad it made Nicole Kidman fall in love with Tom Cruise. Also, it's the 80's, it looks garish and cheap, and it is, at the risk of ending this review with a poor car joke, I'd advise even the dumbest of you to steer clear.

Days of Thunder - Blu-ray Info

Version: U.S.A / Paramount / Region A, B, C
Aspect ratio: 2.35:1
MPEG-4 AVC BD-50 / AACS / High Profile 4.1
Running time: 1:47:17
Movie size; 32,03 GB
Disc size: 33,83 GB
Total bit rate: 39.81 Mbps
Average video bit rate: 31.58 Mbps

Dolby TrueHD Audio English 3374 kbps 5.1 / 48 kHz / 3374 kbps / 24-bit (AC3 Core: 5.1 / 48 kHz / 640 kbps)
Dolby Digital Audio French 640 kbps 5.1 / 48 kHz / 640 kbps
Dolby Digital Audio Spanish 640 kbps 5.1 / 48 kHz / 640 kbps

Subtitles: English, English SDH, French, Spanish, Portuguese
Number of chapters: 23

#Trailer (HD - 2m:25s)

Cruise goes with what works

This movie is basically paying homage to Top Gun. The same team that made that movie a success got together to create another pumped up movie. Cruise plays Cole Trickle, a very cocky and smooth indy car driver that lost his ride and decided to head to NASCAR with team owner Tim Daland,(Randy Quaid), and be coached by legendary crew chief Harry Hogge (Robert Duvall). During the Daytona 500 Cole and nemesis Rowdy Burns are involved in a nasty wreck that hospitalizes both of them and threaten to end their careers. They become friends but Cole realizes his mortality and must overcome it if he is to ever race effectively again. This has better romantic chemistry than Top Gun. Due in part to the fact that Cruise and Kidman really were attracted to each other and we know the rest is history. The action scenes are great and filmed superbly. It's also a very loud movie. It received an Oscar nomination for best sound.
It's just another mindless action movie to help relieve boredom. 7 out of 10.

I´m stepping on it!

I would like to comment this film with one word: wonderful!But, since the maximum for these sorts of comments is a 1,000 words I may just glorify it some more. Now you think that I gave it the high score, which is 10, but I didn´t(I gave it 9)....why? you ask. Well, the story is maybe a bit too, how shall I put this, tender maybe? But then Tom Cruise saves the whole movie, and takes the movie up notch! Nicole Kidman is also great and Robert Duvall, of course! If you liked "Top Gun" then you´ll like this one as well!! If you didn´t, then rent it anyway just to see the king Tom Cruise cruise around in Daytona!

I see some real genius in your driving Maverick...

Yeah, like lots of folks have said, this is Top Gun sans wings. Most movies follow a formula but this one was retardedly tired. Cary Elwes must've been saving up to buy a pool or something, he doesn't have one line that isn't totally laughable in its corniness. Who ever heard a racecar driver tell an interviewer, "If he comes near me, I'm gonna put him in the wall?" I can't help but feel Tony Scott must think that people are complete idiots, and maybe they are, I don't know. Anyone with an IQ high enough to know that the WWE isn't real will probably be insulted by the cheesiness of this movie. With Robert Duvall, John C. McGinley, and even Cruise, who can be good, I thought they could've come up with a better story. It's a lot like Top Gun, I guess; the lives of real pilots and real Nascar drivers aren't as Hollywoodesque as their movie star counterparts portray them to be. The "Talk to me Goose" moments where Cruise can't get his head straight are way over the top. Maybe Duvall hadn't seen Top Gun yet and thought himself cruelly deceived afterwards when he did. He is a great actor, maybe Days of Thunder was just a payday? The demolition derby elements are also idiotic and totally far fetched. It's watchable as a glorified, MST 3K type movie though.

Movie great DVD bad

This for some reason or another is one of my favorite movies to watch. I have always loved this movie. Especially when it was on HBO, if you have HBO you can watch the same movie about 5 times a day. Well every time it was on I watched it. I then got a DVD player and saw Days of thunder on DVD. It was the first movie i watched on DVD and said that was not bad, then got more DVDs and realized this bit the big one. There are no added features except for what appeared on the previews witch only plays for a little but b/c there is something wrong with it.

This movie is one of my favorites but as far as the DVD it is not worht the money.

First Cruise-Kidman Pairing

Days of Thunder(1990) is an average film by the brother of Ridley Scott, Tony Scott. Is not as good as other Tony Scott fare like Revenge(1990), The Last Boy Scout(1991), True Romance(1993), and Crimison Tide(1995). The excellent performances of Robert Duvall and Michael Rooker are wasted. This was the first Hollywood role for Nicole Kidman and she does alright in her first feature film in Tinsletown. Full of good ideas but done with bad execution.

Doesn't live up to the sum of it's parts.

OK, if you know absolutely nothing about racing, it's just 'Topgun' with cars. Not bad, in fact, a tolerable action movie. Cruise isn't bad, and Duvall is always a delight. Michael Rooker is excellent, and the rest of the ensemble turns in solid performances. (Note exception below.) Ah, but then we get to the writing. If you possess even the slightest bit of racing knowledge, it's an offense. While there is some bumping and banging going on on most racetracks, no one states that it's their intention to put anyone into the wall at Daytona. Plus, sorry, but Nicole Kidman can't act. Let me rephrase, she COULD'NT act. She has improved by 1000%, see her in 'Malice' for a standout performance. But here? NO, I don't think so.

Action packed on the edege of your seat racing!!!!

This movie contains on your seat action. I felt like I was racing with Cole Trickle!!!!!

Good decent action/adventure film, despite errors and exaggeration.

In my opinion, Days Of Thunder is a pretty decent film; I have seen it many times. The only things that really made me like this film were the Days Of Thunder cars themselves and their outside exterior appearances (#46 City Chevrolet Lumina, #51 Exxon Chevrolet Lumina, #46 Superflo Chevrolet Lumina, #18 Hardee's Chevrolet Lumina, & #51 Mello Yello Chevrolet Lumina). All of these race cars (stock cars) were mainly the stars of the film. The plot was so and so, having either Rowdy Burns (Michael Rooker), or Russ Wheeler (Cary Elwes) bumping and rubbing the car of Cole Trickle (Tom Cruise) on the track for the win, and vice versa. In reality, NASCAR Winston Cup Officials would not tolerate that mess as they would penalize all of them for rough driving, thus suffering stiffer penalties in the sport itself. As for Nicole Kidman, Robert Duvall, Randy Quaid, and the rest of the cast, they did okay in playing their characters in this film. Days Of Thunder is an exaggerated, fantasy version of NASCAR Winston Cup Racing. Not only that, the editing of Cole Trickle's car passing all those smoke-looking cars and going after either Rowdy Burns, or Russ Wheeler is horrible as well as the editing of real NASCAR races for the movie itself. In one scene, the cars are racing at Darlington. When they go to another scene, the cars are racing at Daytona. Days Of Thunder is pretty enjoyable good action/adventure film; it is basically all about the driven, hard-edged racing ego to win. My rating: 3 stars out of 5.

'Top Gun' Tom On The Ground

Boy, Tom Cruise had that obnoxious character down pat for quite some time, didn't he? Here is yet another film in which he plays that type of annoying character you want to slap in the face (or something else). Yeah, if you liked Top Gun and his other "pretty-boy" films of this period - and some were pretty good, actually - you might like this. In fact, this film might be more popular now since NASCAR is televised so much more these days. This movie may get a new audience. Frankly, I could care less about auto racing, back then and now, but I don't hate it, I love most other sports and I like a good movie. This was only fair in all categories. Not bad; not good.Racing fans tell me there wasn't a lot of realism with this and actual NASCAR events - mainly involving sponsorship - back then, but I was looking an entertaining film....and I like Robert Duvall as actor and don't mind gazing at Nicole Kidman (who can also act.) Michael Rooker and Randy Quaid usually portray interesting people, too.It's basically a story about a guy who wants to prove himself on the race track, and I have no problem with that. It's not a memorable but it's not a waste of time either. You should be reasonably entertained.

A movie filled with nothing but left turns

I've lived in the south since I was 9 years old and noticed immediately upon moving here that the locals have a fanatical love of NASCAR. I never really did connect with the sport though. But this is the south, and most folks here make it a point to watch NASCAR often. I remember watching Days of Thunder when it first came out on VHS and remember thinking that it was impressive on a Surround Sound setup, but I honestly didn't remember that much else about it, and that's largely because there's not much to it.

The movie, in a nutshell, chronicles the rise of up and coming rookie driver Cole Trickle, played by Tom Cruise. Cole just got bumped from his previous racing job due to some fiasco involving his father, and wants to eventually work his way up to Indy racing, and uses stock car racing as the best path to that goal. He enlists the help of Robert Duvall, a legendary crew chief who recently retired, to garner enough wins to proceed with his ultimate plans. The movie is something of a retread (pun intended) of Top Gun, as others have noted, in that the main character is a cocky, headstrong pilot of a vehicle who has a rivalry with a fellow pilot/driver (Michael Rooker in this case, Iceman in "Top Gun"), suffers an accident (a big crash in this film, F-14 crash in "Top Gun"), goes through a long period of doubt, but comes out on top in the end. And that's before you even get to the Kelly McGillis/Nicole Kidman parallels. Essentially this is a very formulaic movie plot in which the names and vehicles are changed around a bit but not much else. Thankfully they omitted the obligatory beach volleyball scene with Cole Trickle spiking Russ Wheeler in his big smug face.

The acting is pretty ho-hum. Cruise plays a straight out of the archtype handbook rendition of the youthful, brash, hot shot while Duvall covers the older, more sagely guiding force. I really like Robert Duvall and I think he stood head and shoulders above the others acting-wise. He brings a great deal of realism to the characters he portrays on screen and he nails this part perfectly to the point where you'd swear his character actually did build stock cars and manage pit crews for a living.


One of the most annoying aspects of the film are the names it gives to various drivers..."Cole Trickle", "Russ Wheeler", and "Rowdy Burns", as prime examples. You can almost see the producers sitting around a conference table and trying to decide on a name that encompassed the evocative image of the typical Southern standout racecar driver. One can easily think of additional names they could have used that fit this formula: Hoss Firewall, Jackson Ridge, Jet Burleson, etc. There's the inclusion of real NASCAR drivers in the movie like "King" Richard Petty and others to help introduce realism into the movie, and here it somewhat succeeds. The races look real and one can imagine the rush it must be to hold vehicles together that are largely ginormous engines strapped to four wheels with a steering wheel attached while moving at 200+ miles per hour.


"Days of Thunder" is basically a very mediocre movie with adequate acting and above average racing action. But it is just about the only modern Hollywood feature where you can take a glimpse into the fast paced life of the typical NASCAR driver. And for this reason you'll find it on a lot of NASCAR fans' DVD shelves. If you're interested in stock car racing (and a pre-botox Nicole Kidman) you'll likely enjoy the film.

Cruise?

Cruise is a cocky S.O.B. who thinks he can drive race cars. Cole Trickle all the way!

By all standards I shouldn't enjoy this movie.....

First of all this movie has Tom Cruise in it, which to be honest is the reason that I hesitated for so long to see it. Secondly It's about NASCAR for Christ's sake! The problem is, I did enjoy it. I believe its for the reasons that I mentioned that I actually did enjoy it. An escapist sort of entertainment that puts you in a place that you would really never even consider going. I was forced to rent this recently by a friend and after sitting about 15 minutes in to it I just let go and let the colors and sounds wash over me. This movie is the visual equivalent of a music video with dialog. Every scene is short and to the point, and if its forward momentum you are looking for in your movies then you've come to the right place. The entire duration of the movies length I kept thinking that I wish there were more movies made that took you to another world the way this one does. Tony Scott you've done it again sir, Congratulations!

Decent BluRay version

I have the DVD version of this movie. For some reason I couldn't see it that well on my PS3. I tried all sorts of configurations and nothing. I got the BluRay and it looks pretty good. It's not GREAT, but it's an improvement over the DVD version.