Days of Thunder isn’t a great racing film and rather low in the rankings amongst both Tom Cruise and Tony Scott’s resume, but the scenes of the actual races were pretty good and as a whole, was entertaining enough.
Days of Thunder
(1990)
Genre(s): Sports, Action, Drama
Paramount | PG13 – 107 min. – $25.99 | May 19, 2020
Date Published: 05/16/2020 | Author: The Movieman
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Paramount provided me with a free copy of the Blu-ray I reviewed in this Blog Post.
The opinions I share are my own.
THE MOVIE — 3.25/5 |
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Plot Synopsis: Race car driver Cole Trickle (TOM CRUISE), whose talent and ambition are surpassed only by his burning need to win is discovered by businessman Tim Daland (RANDY QUAID), Cole is teamed with legendary crew chief and car-builder Harry Hogge (ROBERT DUVALL) to race for the Winston Cup at the Daytona 500. A fiery crash nearly ends Cole’s career and he must turn to a beautiful doctor (NICOLE KIDMAN) to regain his nerve and the true courage needed to race, to win and to live. Quick Hit Review: Maybe it’s because watching a bunch of cars going round and round a track doesn’t appeal to me, but Days of Thunder is probably one of the few Tom Cruise movies I had not seen. All these years later and… it was alright. I will say, although this was neither Tom Cruise’s nor Tony Scott’s better outputs, as Top Gun was far superior, the racing scenes were well done, Scott putting us up and as close as possible, especially for when this was made (Ford v. Ferrari topped this). The story is a bit thin, including a lackluster romance between Cruise and Kidman, which is fine and does have its cheesy moments which is what draws plenty of its fans (including Quentin Tarantino as it happens) and while it never grabbed me in that sense, I was at least entertained for the most part. Not entirely sure if I’ll revisit Days of Thunder anytime soon, but as a one-time viewing, it was okay. |
SPECIAL FEATURES – 1.5/5 |
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This single-disc release comes with a glossy slip cover and Digital HD redemption code. There’s only Filmmaker Focus: Days of Thunder (6:39), which is just an interview with Jerry Bruckeimer, as well as an Isolated Score, which I don’t count as a feature. |
VIDEO – 4.75/5 |
| Days of Thunder zooms onto 4K Ultra HD presented in its original 2.39 widescreen aspect ratio and given a 2160p high-definition transfer in its native 4K resolution. The picture looks rather brilliant, detail is incredibly sharp and although I don’t have the Blu-ray to compare, and this release does not come with one, I would think it is a significant improvement. Colors have a good boost in par courtesy of the HDR (I don’t have a TV that utilizes Dolby Vision) and the natural grain and noise is thankfully present giving it a theatrical feel. |
AUDIO – 4.75/5 |
| The revving of the cars, tires burning on the road, high-octane motors going on overdrive and the whooshing of the cars passing one another going in circles, really makes perfect use of the Dolby TrueHD 5.1 track, though kind of surprising this didn’t get the Atmos treatment like Top Gun and War of the Worlds did. Still, this was a near-awesome experience, with some nice power (depth) in the racing scenes while also outputting clear dialogue levels via the center channel and some fine ambient noises, such as the crowd cheering, coming from the front and rear speakers. |
OVERALL – 3.5/5 |
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Days of Thunder isn’t a great racing film and rather low in the rankings amongst both Tom Cruise and Tony Scott’s resume, but the scenes of the actual races were pretty good and as a whole, was entertaining enough. The 4K UHD release offers up great video and audio transfers, though there’s only a singular, short featurette. |