X
- 1990
- PG-13
- Paramount Pictures
- 1 h 47 m
- 1990
- PG-13
- Paramount Pictures
- 1 h 47 m
Summary From the engine roar and fever pitch of professional stock car racing, Days of Thunder explodes with racing action. Race driver Cole Trickle, whose talent and ambition are surpassed only by his burning need to win. Discovered by businessman Tim Daland, Cole is teamed with legendary crew chief and car-builder Harry Hogge to race for the W...
Directed By: Tony Scott
Written By: Robert Towne, Tom Cruise
- 1990
- PG-13
- Paramount Pictures
- 1 h 47 m
- 1990
- PG-13
- Paramount Pictures
- 1 h 47 m
Days of Thunder
60
5.6
Where to Watch
Summary From the engine roar and fever pitch of professional stock car racing, Days of Thunder explodes with racing action. Race driver Cole Trickle, whose talent and ambition are surpassed only by his burning need to win. Discovered by businessman Tim Daland, Cole is teamed with legendary crew chief and car-builder Harry Hogge to race for the W...
Directed By: Tony Scott
Written By: Robert Towne, Tom Cruise
Where to Watch
Top Cast
Metascore
Mixed or Average
Based on 16 Critic Reviews
60
63% Positive
10 Reviews
10 Reviews
31% Mixed
5 Reviews
5 Reviews
6% Negative
1 Review
1 Review
Metascore
Mixed or Average
Based on 16 Critic Reviews
60
63% Positive
10 Reviews
10 Reviews
31% Mixed
5 Reviews
5 Reviews
6% Negative
1 Review
1 Review
If "Top Gun" was a stylish bimbo of a movie, all cleavage, white teeth and aerodynamic flash, then Days of Thunder is its paradoxical twin -- a bimbo with brains.
And Cruise is so efficiently packaged in this product that he plays the same role as a saint in a Mexican village's holy day procession: It's not what he does that makes him so special; it's the way he manifests everybody's faith in him.
User Score
Mixed or Average
Based on 78 User Ratings
5.6
37% Positive
29 Ratings
29 Ratings
40% Mixed
31 Ratings
31 Ratings
23% Negative
18 Ratings
18 Ratings
User Score
Mixed or Average
Based on 78 User Ratings
5.6
37% Positive
29 Ratings
29 Ratings
40% Mixed
31 Ratings
31 Ratings
23% Negative
18 Ratings
18 Ratings
I enjoyed watching this movie, it felt like top gun on wheels, the lighting in some of the scenes was vary well orchestrated in this movie, especially in the garage scenes love to see the shadows and effects of the light through the fans, the music from Hans Zimmer is pretty well done as well, there is some flaws with the movie, but the acting from tom cruise, Robert Duvall, Randy Quaid, is pretty solid, but honestly the movie was fairly entertaining to watch the story was well put together.
Report
The long-awaited sequel to Top Gun has apparently already been made; it is titled "Days of Thunder". Essentially, Pete "Maverick" Mitchell has become Cole Trickle and a NASCAR driver. That is honestly the only difference between the two films. As such, this one is incredibly enjoyable. The racing scenes are intense and very well done. The characters, much like Top Gun, are enjoyable and though quite generic, they are pretty well put together. But, sure, the similarities to Top Gun do hurt it because they did just take the same plotlines and re-do them, but since Top Gun is absolutely hysterical and over-the-top enjoyable, so is Days of Thunder. Plus, even as a non-NASCAR fan, I truly believe it was a great portrayal of racing and racers. For that, Days of Thunder is nowhere near as bad as many say it is, rather it is a very good popcorn flick that entertains in spades.
Report
The nerve of these people, recycling that story. No, the shrewdness of these people. For Days of Thunder offers adolescent males the possibility of a high-speed crash almost every minute. It offers their dates the possibility of a shy, winning Tom Cruise smile on an equal-opportunity basis. The boys get some sober, silly chat about the nature of courage. The girls get to see one of their sex (Nicole Kidman) play doctor with Cruise. [16 July 1990, p.87]
The film, though sleek and easy to sit through, replaces genuine dramatic involvement with a superficial, rock & roll empathy-it's as though we were watching Cruise's character and playing air guitar to his emotions. There are plenty of soulless movies around. What's special about Days of Thunder is that it works overtime trying to convince you it's not one of them.
Days of Thunder delivers only the bare essentials. Boys, the reasoning seems to go, will be lured into the theater by the siren call of gasoline and super-charged engines, while their girl friends will tag along to get a look at Cruise in tight jeans.
Screenwriter Robert Towne has certainly not challenged his gifts -- the script is loaded with stock cars and stock characters -- but he does deliver what's necessary: a workable setup for exciting NASCAR racing footage shot on sixteen Winston Cup tracks from Daytona to Watkins Glen.
You can leave Days of Thunder feeling positively chafed. That clanking noise, however, comes from Robert Towne's tinny story and its malnourished characters. [27 Jun 1990, p.1]
I heard Tarantino loves this, he introduced me to Switchblade Sisters so i always give an audience. The director made Top Gun with Cruise a few years before. Ebert wrote a hilarious review including a template for Tom Cruise, including the wise older woman and an arena to grow in, awesome. This movie had more corn than a large with extra butter. I could not make 20 minutes it was just too much.
Report
Faire un film sur le Nascar (le naze-car) c'est déjà partir avec un handicap lourd, car qu'est-ce que le Nascar sinon qu'une bande de bourrins qui tournent en rond comme des cons sur des "circuits" dessinés par des enfants en maternelle ?
Cela dit, loin de l'idée d'arrondir les angles, Jours de tonnerre en rajoute des couches bien épaisses dans la caricature (involontaire ?...) du sport des beaufs amerlocains et en fait un Topgun avec des bagnoles et bien sûr le même petit con, très à l'aise dans son rôle de petit con, le petit Tom Croûte !
Insupportable fanfaron et en même temps un vrai cave qui ne sait même pas ce que sous-virage ou survirage veulent dire (sic ! je n'invente rien) tandis que les courses sont (heureusement poour une fois) réduites à ce qui en fait l'intérêt (?) à savoir les carambolages des débiles dans de grands panaches de fumée (Topgun, tu vois ?).
En fait, seuls Michael Rooker et Robert Duvall sortent leur épingle de ce jeu de dupes, les seuls à avoir compris la bouffonnerie non assumée du film, les seuls à l'exploiter assez subtilement à l'insu des scénaristes et du réalisateur lui-même, Tony Scott, qui délivre tout de même une mise en scène assez dynamique pour nous maintenir éveillés.
Ce qui n'empêche pas naturellement le passage obligé à la guimauve obligatoire, l'amourette pathétique entre Crouze et Kidman, parce qu'il fallait bien une présence féminine dans ce monde de beaufs... sans mentionner la période de "doute" après l'accident, le passage de témoin du "pilaute" vétéran au jeune con, puis le doute du jeune con -le héros pardon !- qui retrouve ensuite son "héroïsme" tandis qu'il met pied dedans en criant "hihaaa" et fonce à travers le rideau de fumée du crash.
Et la musique dans tout ce fourbis, mes aïeux ! de la bouillie des années 80 signée Hans Zimmer ! je dis : meeerde.
On a donc quelques crashs et quelques répliques comme "la poussette..." et "je le fous dans le mur direct". Involontairement ou pas, le film a raté sa vocation de comédie satirique, seule voie de sortie négociable pour se rétamer dans le premier degré au ras du bitume.
Report
a big chunk of mess..
Days of Thunder
Scott's race track leads to nothing but a brutal accident that is occurred because of the driver itself. It had a linear lane to follow and yet it still somehow managed to go off the track for the most part of the feature. It is a misconceived act. This is a big chunk of mess. And it's not that it couldn't have been repaired, it's just that the storyline itself was dull enough to rot out the emotions, it never had the chance. Despite of being an exhilarating and nail biting sport, the feature isn't cinematic at all. The chills and thrills that you hope that you are about to receive, even that too is in shortage.
It is eerily shot with confused amateur cheesy camera work that looks like a cheap television movie that wasn't funded properly. As far as narration is concerned, it is poorly crafted and loosely constructed for it to stand on any whatsoever ground. On terms of performance, the actors aren't given that much room and the ones that are given, aren't sensible enough for them to be convincing. Cruise that as usual loves to be on the driver's seat, this time feels weak since he isn't focused on his own track. The supporting cast like Kidman, Duvall and Rooker, too fails miserably on holding on to their characters.
Daft editing and Towne's benign and questionable screenplay works like anchor and undermines the somewhat decent, even though familiar, concept. Scott's execution also deserve to be put on stand in here, his fatal attempts of delivering a highly pitched dramatic concept seems obvious since he fails to shot even a normal conversation, it is inedible and uncomfortable. Days Of Thunder is long, hard and hectic days, these are the days that not only audience wishes it to go away, but by the end, makers and actors too are on the same boat.
Report
Production Company
Paramount Pictures,
Don Simpson/Jerry Bruckheimer Films
Release Date Jun 27, 1990
Duration 1 h 47 m
Rating PG-13
Tagline You can't stop the thunder.
Awards
Academy Awards, USA
• 1 Nomination
BMI Film & TV Awards
• 1 Win & 1 Nomination
20/20 Awards
• 1 Nomination
