Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #14200 in DVD
• Released on: 2000-07-31
• Rating: Suitable for 15 years and over
• Aspect ratio: 2.35:1
• Number of discs: 1
• Formats: Dubbed, PAL, Widescreen
• Original language: English, French
• Number of discs: 1
• Running time: 102 minutes

Amazon.co.uk Review
This loud and fast 1988 effort by director Tony Scott (Beverly Hills Cop 2, Top Gun) has much more style than substance but it does effectively depict the edgy and dangerous world of stock car racing. Tom Cruise plays yet another cocky loner trying to find success and happiness, this time as stock car racer Cole Trickle, a driver with raw talent but no discipline who is desperate for guidance and sponsorship. They both materialise in the visage of world-weary Robert Duvall, who despite his better instincts sees a second chance at victory in the young driver. Featuring supporting roles by Nicole Kidman, as Cruise's physician and love interest, and Randy Quaid, as a bombastic sponsor, and with a screenplay by Robert Towne (Chinatown), Days of Thunder is a slickly packaged entertainment best suited for die-hard Tom Cruise fans and those who want an intense visual experience. --Robert Lane

Amazon.co.uk Review
With Days of Thunder, director Tony Scott tried to do for the Indy 500 what he did for the U.S. Air Force with Top Gun. But without Top Gun's go-go soundtrack and visual feats, Scott merely ends up with a Tom Cruise vehicle that's out of gas. Cruise plays (what else?) a cocky, upstart stock-car racer who faces down ruthless racing opponents. Nicole Kidman, Robert Duvall, Cary Elwes, and Randy Quaid do the laps around this movie's tiresome track with Cruise, while director Scott attempts to propel the action along with his trademark visceral, gritty but glamourous visual style. Days of Thunder is notable, however, as a turning point in Cruise's then one-dimensional career. After this film--having tired even his most devoted fans by playing a bartender, an air force pilot, and a stock-car driver--Cruise was forced to take on real character parts. --Ethan Brown

Special Features
2.35 Wide Screen
DVD 9
Czech\German\Hungarian
English
English
Region 2
Dolby Digital 5.1 English\Dolby Digital Surround Czech German\Dolby Digital Mono Hungarian
Dolby Digital 5.1
Dolby Digital Surround
Dolby Digital Mono
Theatrical Trailer
Danish\Dutch\English\Finnish\German\Icelandic\Norwegian\Swedish

Customer Reviews

An average film made a lot better through DVD.
Although not as good, Days of Thunder can be seen as Top Gun on wheels. Tom Cruise is his normal self, but a special mention must go to both Robert Duvall as the pit crew chief, and especially Randy Quaid who I thought was fantastic in the role of team owner. For sure, to get maximum enjoyment out of this film you have to be a fan of motorsports, on a good surround sound system, anyone will enjoy the race sequences. In summary Days of Thunder definetly benefits from the transformation to DVD, the sound is excellent and the picture quality very good. An essential purchase for either fans of Tom or NASCAR.

All revved up with no place to go
Days of Thunder is an entertaining film boasting a great performance by Robert Duvall and a few exciting, albeit semi-ludicrous, racing scenes. As a whole, though, this film chugs along near empty, lacking any real oomph. Tom Cruise plays reckless upstart Cole Trickle, a race car driver who has decided to make the jump from Outlaw and open wheel racing to stock car racing. Harry Hogge (Robert Duvall) is the former car builder and crew chief that used car salesman and new car owner Tim Daland (Randy Quaid) wants to bring on board to work with Trickle. Trickle is as wild on the track as he is off, and all of the talent he definitely has seems wasted as he and Harry are almost completely incapable of communicating with one another. Eventually, there's a breakthrough, and Cole wins a few races. At the Firecracker 400 in Daytona, though, Cole is involved in a major wreck along with his nemesis Rowdy Burns (Michael Rooker). It is here that Nicole Kidman enters the picture as Cole's doctor Claire Lewicki. Cole's recovery from the crash involves more than just physical healing, and there's a new, thoroughly sleazy upstart in the circuit whom Cole must now contend with. There's an interesting yet unfulfilled subplot about Rowdy's injury and his way of dealing with it as well as a romantic theme that basically goes nowhere; clearly, the action on the track is what the filmmakers were banking on in terms of the movie's success.

NASCAR wasn't as big back in 1990 as it is now, but even then you didn't have to grow up in NASCAR country like I did to see how ridiculous most of the racing action in this film was. Anyone with no knowledge whatsoever of stock car racing would get the impression from Days of Thunder that the whole point of driving is to wreck all the other cars. These cars spend an inordinate amount of time crashing and banging each other as well as the wall, yet amazingly enough battered old wrecks easily catapult themselves back into the top five. The damage these cars sustain would wreck the aerodynamics to such a degree that they couldn't keep up with the pace car in real life. Even still, the scenes can prove a little exciting, especially the big finish back at the Daytona 500.

As a loyal fan of the late Dale Earnhart, this movie makes me feel a little weird because part of the storyline involves a driver being killed at the Daytona 500 the previous year. It's also a little strange to watch Nicole Kidman, as she really didn't seem to offer very much on screen this early in her career. Her Australian accent is more pronounced than it is today, and her hair was still all frizzy in the way that made me question why Tom Cruise was so attracted to her in the first place. I think Tom and Nicole may have originally met on the set of this film (but I could be wrong about this), and oddly enough their onscreen relationship seems to have no spark of life whatsoever. Days of Thunder isn't a bad movie at all, but it's nothing to scream about either. I would offer a word of advice to future viewers of the film; you would do well not to watch the film alongside a NASCAR fan because he/she will likely get on your nerves explaining over and over again how unrealistic the racing scenes really are.

Great Movie, let down by the transfer
I love this film, but I feel its been let down by the picture transfer.

The DVD says Widescreen 2.35:1, so I just assumed that meant anamorphic transfer for unsquishing onto a widescreeen TV...

...not so. It's 2.35:1 letterbox inside 4:3. So if you want to fill the screen on a 16:9 TV, you have to Zoom in - which inevitably lowers the picture resolution.

Great film, great soundtrack, but Paramount DVD or whoever manufactured it need to get their act in gear about the picture transfer.