Days of Thunder

Director Tony Scott and Tom Cruise, who last collaborated on Top Gun, team up again for a story originally conceived by Cruise. Knowing this, I was frankly more interested in doing my tax return than watching Days of Thunder. Surprisingly however, this high gloss, high speed, high volume film about stock car racing, is quite entertaining, if formulaic. Credit is due to screenwriter Robert Towne (Chinatown, The Last Detail, Shampoo) who hasn't turned in one of his best scripts to date, by far, but lends enough character to this one to at least suggest a human presence amongst all the glitter. Cruise plays Cole Trickle, a small-time racer who wants to race on the NASCAR circuit. Tim Daland (Randy Quaid), a wheeler dealer, talks old pro Harry Hogge (Robert Duvall) out of retirement to build a car and run the pit crew for the kid. Along the way, Trickle develops a somewhat physical relationship with competing racer Rowdy Burns (Michael Rooker)--basically, they bash each other into the walls on turns a lot. With the Trickle/Burns duel in place, all that's left is the love interest (a neurologist played by Nicole Kidman), and the Daytona 500. Does Cole win? Does Stephen King check out? Much maligned (unfairly, I think), Days of Thunder does precisely what it sets out to: entertains. It may not be a high aspiration for a film, but it's more than most achieve. Recommended. (R. Pitman) [Blu-ray Review—Jan. 20, 2009—Paramount, 107 min., PG-13, $29.99—Making its first appearance on Blu-ray, 1990's Days of Thunder features a nice transfer and a 5.1 Dolby TrueHD soundtrack. Blu-ray extras are limited to trailers. Bottom line: a disappointing extras package for this fun if formulaic film that looks fine if not spectacular in Blu.]