I Don't Even Like NASCAR!

Rating: 8/10 (22 February 2020)

"Days of Thunder" must be good because I don't even like stock car racing and this movie made it interesting and exciting. I can't lie, the primal roar of those beefy engines just speaks to me. It's like a lost language that I instinctively respond to without knowing why.
Cole Trickle (Tom Cruise) was a hotshot driver from California who wowed people enough to get himself onto the NASCAR circuit as a rookie driver. His crew chief and carmaker, Harry (Robert Duvall), was the wise and wily NASCAR veteran. Tim Daland (Randy Quaid) was the owner. Dr. Claire Lewicki (Nicole Kidman) was the love interest.
Still not enough names?
Rowdy Burns (Michael Rooker) was the friend. Russ Wheeler (Cary Elwes) was the competition. Big John (Fred Dalton) was the commissioner of NASCAR. Buck Brotherton (John C. Riley in his first NASCAR movie) was a crew member.
That should be enough names for you.
I was into the movie from the first scene, and the second scene cemented my interest. I wanted to see what this California kid could do on the track. The whole movie was cruising along pretty well though it hit a small pothole at one point. The movie certainly could've done without the self-righteous and very flawed diatribe from Dr. Girlfriend. "Control is an illusion," she yelled as the concerned and fearful girlfriend who didn't want her beau to get back behind the wheel. Where did she get that fortune cookie nonsense from?
It's a sports movie. There is no decent sports movie except there is an obstacle for the athlete to overcome. Sometimes the obstacle is external, sometimes it's internal. The bigger the obstacle the bigger the triumph. With every good sports movie there is also a human-interest story within it and sometimes even a love story. I can always use more human interest and less love story, but what are you gonna do?