Watch Days of Thunder For Free

You won't be disappointed!

I cannot think of one single thing that I would change about this film. The acting is incomparable, the directing deft, and the writing poignantly brilliant.

It’s not bad or unwatchable but despite the amplitude of the spectacle, the end result is underwhelming.

While it doesn't offer any answers, it both thrills and makes you think.

Yeah, Top Gun is the one that made all the very BIG bucks back in 1986 and put Tony Scott and Tom Cruise on the map in bigger ways then they had been before (not to mention producers Don Simpson and Jerry Bruckheimer), but somehow, much as with De Palma/Pacino with Scarface and Carlito's Way, the follow-up seemed to probably be the actual better film of the two. Does this mean that Days of Thunder, following the travails of an up-and-comer racecar star (Cruise), is a really good movie? Well, in some ways yes, and in other ways not so much.I give the production this: it moves fast and slick, and whenever cars are on the track it's visually compelling and exciting as the filmmakers know how to cut stuff together for Fast Impact (lest not forget the camera-work, filled with colors and smoke and cool contours, even a shot with Nicole Kidman standing at one point on the side of the frame is great to look at). And the casting here is fantastic; and forget Cruise, how about Robert Duvall (has he ever been anything less than solid, and here he's actually giving this conventional Trainer-cum-Mentor some soul), or Nicole Kidman (who gets really some of the best lines in the film), or Michael Rooker (by now something of an underrated character actor national treasure, and here imbuing an a-hole with a lot of sympathy and pathos)? Why not throw in John C. Reilly in there too, he has a couple of memorable moments too.Where it flails? Sadly, and I'm not sure if this is really on Towne's end - and one should note that Cruise has his only (?) writing credit here as co-story author - or the producers, but this all the same is light-weight stuff. There's not much conflict to the proceedings, or much that sticks to the gravel, no pun intended (OK, some). This is the kind of movie that gives people like Duvall some excellent scenes to at least try to overcome the clichés of the sports movie (and make no mistake, that's what this is deep down, and a "programmer" of the old-time-studio variety, not a terrible thing inherently)... and then you got Cary Elwes as "Russ Wheeler". The last time one saw a motorist with the last name Wheeler was in a Disney Goofy cartoon about Motor Madness. And Randy Quaid, who is OK, also is saddled with some very basic material to work with here as the businessman who turns on a dime. There may be some stakes, like for Rooker's character, yet for Cruise there's not much there that makes it feel like 'Oh no, s***'s getting real here!' In other words, Days of Thunder has some genuinely good stuff to it, and it has some personality and verve and, for a couple of moments, sex appeal in that, uh, late 80's/early 90's style (and hey, this was the movie Cruise and Kidman met after all, so you can see the chemistry as white hot as they come). But it's hard not to eye-roll at some of the story choices and character motivations, or things like, say, the movie ending on an unironic freeze frame at a very silly moment. It's one of those things where I give it a tepid recommendation and/or a very strong put-down, if that makes sense. Quality, dumb-studio filmmaking for the masses - and, for sure, a step up from the waste of Top Gun. 6.5/10

The suits at Paramount clearly wanted a "Top Gun on wheels" (even going so far as to hire Robert Towne to write the thing), but "Days of Thunder" ended up being a loud, stupid mess; a soulless commercial (not just the Mello Yello product placement) machined with star, director and producing power, but ridiculous in its dramatic narrative. It is awful. Which is why it is also glorious - naturally, for all the wrong reasons:1. There's lots of melodramatic screaming in this movie. And squinting.2. Tom Cruise goes from being a reckless prick to a reckless prick with a trophy. He learns nothing from the events of the film; it's golden.3. Robert Duvall spends screen time giving an inspirational locker room speech to a stock car. 4. Kidman works her Aussie accent for maximum hotness. 5. Almost makes me care about NASCAR. Almost. And to top it all off, Cruise is sporting one of the greatest character names in cinema: Cole Trickle. Just say it back to yourself: Cole. Trickle. You can't make that nonsense up. And somebody did!Gather some like-minded individuals and crack open a few cold ones. You're in for some laughs. 6/10

Stock car racing is not really that much of an interest to me and as such I was not really all that interested in this film. I decided to watch it though because it is one of those movies that a lot of people have seen. As such we become one of the masses by watching this movie.My opinion was that it is all right. I am in two minds about Tom Cruise's entrance to the movie. We spend about five minutes hearing about a great new driver and Cruise enters all arrogant, macho like acting as if he knows everything. On the track he seems good but when he is put in the actual race he seems to be quite panicky about the style of racer. If he was that good then I doubt he would be freaking out on the track. But I guess that is a part of the character of Cole Trickler (stupid name I think). He is a natural driver, but driving on an empty track and driving on a track full of other drivers are two different things.Days of Thunder is about macho contests (I have chosen not to be crude here). Basically it is about a group of men trying to prove who is the manliest of the lot of them. In this contest people get hurt, and even killed, but that doesn't stop them. In fact, as quoted in the movie, they refuse to go to a hospital or even a funeral so that the inevitable is as far from their mind as possible.Plot wise I predicted it quite accurately. He becomes a racer and is good but has a nasty crash. He goes to hospital, meets the love interest (Nicole Kidman) and then goes back to racing where he wins the big race. The plot is not all that thin though because there is a relationship element in the film as well: not the shallow relationship between him and Kidman, but rather between him and another driver. At first they are rivals but after the crash, they are brought together, and though they have a smash up with a couple of rent-a-cars, they soon become friends after the steam has been vented.What used to be a movie on the lips of everybody has now simply faded away to an 11:00 time slot. They claimed that there were a lot of hot scenes between Cruise and Kidman in this movie, but there is not: only for about five minutes in the middle of the movie. What I did like was the style of photography in the film. It has a very dusky feel to it that I thought added depth to the movie. To me, it is an average movie that it okay once but that is as far as I would go.

If, in the last 19 years, you haven't taken the time to watch Tony Scott's masterpiece Days of Thunder, then here is a handy reminder. Get on it!Cole Trickle (Tom Cruise) is a hothead NASCAR driver with a scalding temper and a smokin' first entrance in jeans so tight that he has trouble bending at the waist. After getting into a sizzling car accident with a fellow driver, they both suffer from "brain squash".I don't wan't to write any spoilers, but if you want to read about more silliness (and there is so much more silliness) go to http://www.bigmessofthoughts.com/archives/62