FBMR - Days of Thunder

This is a very average movie. No major surprises, nothing dramatically horrible. It was all very formulaic and predictable. What was interesting was seeing Tom Cruise and Nicole Kidman onscreen together for the first time, in the film where they met.

Maybe the movie would have meant more to me if I knew more about stock car racing. The story’s been told thousands of times; this one takes place on the race track and in cars. The race footage is pretty good, but gets old soon … it’s like watching the same car chase over and over again in the same movie. But only once does it move to the streets, and once in hospital wheelchairs. Otherwise, it’s round and around on an oval track.

Small-time car dealer (Randy Quaid) dreams to own and race a stock car. He enlists veteran pit man Harry Hogge (Robert Duvall) and hires a young arrogant hot-shot driver named Cole Trickle (Tom Cruise). Hogge and Trickle butt heads initially, and Trickle clashes with the other drivers on and off the track. Like I said, we’ve seen it all before and since.


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DAYS OF THUNDER (1990) **1/2 This is a very average movie. No major surprises, nothing dramatically horrible. It was all very formulaic and predictable. What was interesting was seeing Tom Cruise and Nicole Kidman onscreen together for the first time, in the film where they met. Maybe the movie would have meant more to me if I knew more about stock car racing. The story’s been told thousands of times; this one takes place on the race track and in cars. The race footage is pretty good, but gets old soon … it’s like watching the same car chase over and over again in the same movie. But only once does it move to the streets, and once in hospital wheelchairs. Otherwise, it’s round and around on an oval track. Small-time car dealer (Randy Quaid) dreams to own and race a stock car. He enlists veteran pit man Harry Hogge (Robert Duvall) and hires a young arrogant hot-shot driver named Cole Trickle (Tom Cruise). Hogge and Trickle butt heads initially, and Trickle clashes with the other drivers on and off the track. Like I said, we’ve seen it all before and since.