The Wheels on the Race-Car Go Round and Round, Round and Round, Round and Round.

Rating: Null/10 (8 October 2003)

The world of car-racing has never been too exciting to me. It is a sport that just seems kind of dumb as cars run around in circles for hours on end. Fans of the sport are fanatics though and look at the contests as spiritual events. While "Days of Thunder" never did change my views of competitive auto-racing, I still found this movie to be surprisingly impressive. An adrenaline rush that makes something that is very dull to me be very intriguing. However with that said, "Days of Thunder" succeeds because of its characters and their relationships with one another and not its mind-blowing cinematography and editing during the race sequences. Tom Cruise literally comes out of nowhere one day and claims that there is nothing he cannot do with a race-car. Of course old-time crew chief Robert Duvall (making a perfect appearance as usual) soon realizes that the cocky Cruise is an out-of-this-world driver, but also discovers that the youngster really has a minimal knowledge of anything that has to do with cars other than driving. Soon they create a father-son bond that propels them to legitimacy in the race world. A terrible accident early on though leads Cruise to meet neurologist Nicole Kidman and romance blossoms very quickly. Cruise's hot temper though creates trouble with sponsors (Randy Quaid), NASCAR officials (Fred Dalton Thompson) and even fellow competitors (most notably Michael Rooker and Cary Elwes). As the film progresses it is made quite clear that Cruise, a man who seemed to not need anyone early on, needs Kidman and Duvall in his life. Tom Cruise come up with this story with legendary screenwriter Robert Towne (most notable for his work on "Chinatown" and he even wrote a portion of "The Godfather", going uncredited, as well). Towne handled the actual screen-writing duties by himself and does a completely under-rated job here. This movie has always been shunned by most critics and the general public. However, the old "Formula One" way of making a movie is more than adequate here. The chemistry on the silver screen between Cruise and Kidman cannot be denied and Duvall's ability to be so natural and wise in productions like this make him a very impressive asset. Definitely flawed, "Days of Thunder" still comes out winning the checkered flag. 4 stars out of 5.