Yep. Top Gun but cars.

Rating: 4/10 (12 March 2002)

Spoilers within
This is everything in Top Gun with cars replacing planes. All you need to know is that it's Tom Cruise playing a racing car driver & you can peg the entire plot, every bit of it. Even when it was made it was so cliched, you've got (1)driver (Cruise) as 'playboy', (2)other good driver made out as enemy, (3)lead with 'cool' name (they're never just called John Brown or even David Coulthard, (4)romance with woman gorgeous yet single? (this in Nicole's pre talent days) (5)Driver crap at start & threatened with sack (6)Driver has accident, career threatened (7) Car owner / Head Mechanic with a previous grievance to bear. Oh & of course (8) The victory at the end & everything else falls into place.
I seem to be different to others but being a sports lover I prefer my sport to be ... er ... sport and not through a film. Any sport, motor racing included gives you all the tension & emotion you need from it and 10 times more than any film can ever do, so I don't know why directors bother with films such as this.
But despite the plot that you can peg, even before the credits open at the start & Cruises cringing line near the end "He's goin down" or something, it's still watchable. You can nip off at various points for 10 minutes here & there & still follow what's going on and has some good racing scenes & scenery.
4/10