Days of Thunder Blu-ray offers decent video and solid audio, but overall it's a mediocre Blu-ray release
From the engine roar and fever pitch of professional stock car racing, Days of Thunder explodes with the most spectacular racing action ever captured on film. Tom Cruise plays race car 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 Winston cup at the Daytona 500. A fiery crash nearly ends Cole's career and he must turn to a beautiful doctor to regain his nerve and the true courage needed to race, to win and to live.
You build me a car and I'll win Daytona next year.
There are guy movies, and then there are guy movies, and the 1980s saw no shortage
of
classic machismo films; Commando, Predator,
Cobra, and Conan the Barbarian kicked up the adrenaline into overdrive and
redefined what real no-holds-barred (there was even a Hulk Hogan movie by that name),
relentless,
mindless action was all about. In 1986, Top Gun took the
guy movie in a new direction; gone were the big muscles and heavy machine guns, gone
was the blood and guts, and gone was the witty dialogue and larger-than-life characters. The
movie
instead relied on speed, amazing photography, a slightly more structured story, a sprinkling of
romance, and a touch of drama to tie the action together. This approach worked, too, though
perhaps not as efficiently, but certainly commercially, the film the highest grossing of 1986 and
recognized by many as a classic of its era. The success allowed the Top Gun
team -- star Tom Cruise, Director Tony Scott, and Producers Don Simpson and Jerry Bruckheimer
-- to put together a film that shares a similar structure and themes with Top Gun,
1990's Days of Thunder. The film proved that lightning doesn't necessarily strike twice,
but also showed that a bump in the road isn't enough to bring a powerful quartet of Hollywood
muscle to its knees. The film proved less popular with audiences, grossing less than half of
Top Gun's take several years prior. Still, Cruise, Scott, the late Simpson, and
Bruckheimer all enjoyed enormous success after the fact, with Days of Thunder
likely not atop their résumés in bold type, but certainly good enough to make for a nice addition
to any such document.
The driver of the 51 car learned this maneuver from a leg and two packets of Sweet 'N Low.
Car dealer Tim Daland (Randy Quaid, Independence Day)
risks everything on a young hotshot race car driver named Cole Trickle (Tom Cruise, Mission: Impossible),
fresh off the open wheel circuit and eager to get into stock car racing. Daland propositions former
NASCAR crew chief Harry Hogge (Robert Duvall, Gone in 60 Seconds)
to watch Cole race and, ultimately, build him a winning stock car. Cole impresses everyone at
his trial, including Winston Cup star and two-time champion Rowdy Burns (Michael Rooker, The 6th Day). Cole
and Hogge team up on the new City Chevrolet-sponsored car but fail to win their first several
races, thanks in part to Rowdy's aggressive racing style that frustrates Cole and the rookie
driver's inability to follow Hogge's instructions. Finally, with Cole accepting his role as a member
of a team and not simply an individual in a stock car, he begins to win races and takes the
NASCAR world by storm. However, a destructive on-track crash leaves both Cole and Rowdy in
the hospital, their futures as drivers in question. While they recover, Cole falls for his doctor,
Claire Lewicki (Nicole Kidman, The Invasion), and
the burgeoning star must deal with shifting loyalties as a promising new young driver, Russ
Wheeler (Cary Elwes, The Princess Bride),
drives Cole's car and catches team owner Daland's eye.
Days of Thunder often engenders in viewers a sense of deja vu, and rightfully so. In
some
ways, the film's structure is a clone of Top Gun's. Cruise's character, Cole Trickle, may as
well have been named "Maverick," for both characters are virtual carbon copies of one another;
they're highly skilled at what they do, rough around the edges, cool at times but too hot-headed
when it matters most, and counted on to win the day in the end. The characters are aggressive
and dangerous, enjoy riding motorcycles, live on the edge, push their vehicles to their limits, and
fall
for intelligent women. Both Maverick and Cole struggle to rediscover their edge after a disaster;
in
Top Gun, it was the death of Maverick's wingman, Cougar; in Days of Thunder, it
was a major accident that leaves Cole unsure of his ability to race effectively, to take the risks
needed to win. Still, Days of Thunder never approaches the same level as Top
Gun despite a cast that's nearly as good. Also, the script suffers from predictability and
banality. There is
never any doubt that Cole and Rowdy will eventually resolve their differences, and Cole's initial
struggles, later successes, re-discovery of ability, and ultimate triumph are never in doubt. The
romance feels tossed into the script almost as an afterthought; Nicole Kidman is not nearly as
engaging as Kelly McGillis was in Top Gun. Kidman's character sees virtually no
development, the relationship adds nothing to the film, and cutting it completely would have
saved the film a good 15 or 20 minutes, tightened up the pace, and perhaps made the movie a
bit more palatable than it stands now.
Otherwise, Days of Thunder makes for passable entertainment. Outside of a few cheesy
moments, like a wheelchair race between Cole and Rowdy, or the pair's subsequent rental car
race, the film plays out enjoyably enough in the midst of its predictable plot and hit-or-miss
pacing. The racing scenes are mostly exciting, and the photography is generally first-rate during
the action. The film features a few cameos that NASCAR fans will enjoy; driver Rusty Wallace
and ESPN analyst Dr. Jerry Punch being among the most recognizable. Headlining the film,
however, is
a cast jam-packed with some of the better actors of the time, and still today reading as one of the
finer ensemble casts of the 1990s. The performances are good all around, though Cruise never
really strikes a chord. Perhaps it is the similarities between his characters here and in Top
Gun, but between a script devoid of much meaning and the actor often finding himself
overshadowed by the work of the always-dependable Robert Duvall, his opportunity to shine
seems limited at best. Days of Thunder also enjoys fine performances from Michael
Rooker, Randy Quaid, Cary Elwes, and former GOP Presidential candidate and excellent character
actor Fred Dalton Thompson.
Days of Thunder races onto the high definition Blu-ray format with a decent, but not at
all
exciting, 1080p transfer presented in the film's original theatrical aspect ratio of 2.35:1. There
are plenty of pops and nicks and other anomalies on the print throughout the film, populating
most every scene, and they are hard not to notice. Also visible throughout is a layer of natural
film grain. The film features a somewhat rough look, thanks not only to the grain and print
imperfections, but also to blurry backgrounds and many scenes that feature dim colors and dusty,
haze-covered frames. Still, the transfer enjoys a nice film like appearance; the grain and all of
the print anomalies add a bit of a vintage look, if a film from 1990 can look vintage less than 20
years later. Detail is only moderately impressive; the patches and lines in the race uniforms don't
stand out; viewers won't be able to count the threads holding the sponsor patches onto the
sleeves of the jersey, but the image nevertheless retains a decent high definition appearance that
boasts of improved clarity over standard definition material. Colors stand out nicely, particularly
the neon-green of Trickle's City Chevrolet team uniform, seen before they receive a new
sponsorship later in the film. Flesh tones and blacks are acceptable throughout. One plus to the
1080p transfer is that Days of Thunder is a film that will play better on a larger display;
while it might not look pretty blown up for the largest of projector screens, the movie should play
better, more thrilling, and larger-than-life than it does on smaller television sets. All of this taken
into account, this is a transfer that might not please a lot of Blu-ray fans, but Days of
Thunder isn't the sort of film that was tailor-made for the high definition treatment in the
first place.
Days of Thunder speeds into home theaters with a roaring, sometimes nearly deafening,
Dolby TrueHD 5.1 lossless soundtrack; the film's original soundtrack that was nominated for an
Academy Award for
Best Sound. There is never any question that the soundtrack packs plenty of volume and
aggression during the race sequences, but at times there seems to be a slight lack of clarity about
the experience. Outside of the races, the track offers very standard stuff, with little surround
activity, relying primarily on solid dialogue reproduction and fine musical accompaniment to move
the story along. Off the track, the mix is front heavy and missing in atmospherics. It's the racing
scenes that make the movie, and while not as clear and clean as expected, the experience is still
often exhilarating. Between the music, the ambient crowd noise, the radio chatter between driver
and crew, and of course the revving of the engines, the squealing of the tires, the bumps and
crashes between the cars, and the cars colliding with the walls, there is rarely a dull moment to be
heard on
race day. Overall, it sounds great, but still seems to lack that last bit of oomph to carry it over the
top.
Days of Thunder fails to recapture the magic of Top Gun. That's not necessarily a
hindrance to this or any film, but seeing as they share so many parallels, the comparison is
inevitable, and in every area, Days of Thunder never stands toe-to-toe with that aviation
classic. What it is, however, is a decent enough movie in its own right, easily watchable, though
perhaps a bit too long even considering its sub two hour runtime. A romance that adds nothing to
the films bogs it down, but the meat and potatoes -- the car racing sequences -- are
good enough to warrant a watch. Paramount's Blu-ray release of Days of Thunder will
likely disappoint most fans one way or another. Even though the film wasn't shot to look glossy
and clean to
begin with, the transfer is hit-or-miss at best. The audio fares slightly better, but still plays as
slightly lacking. Finally, the disc provides virtually no supplements. All told, this will be a hard
sale for potential owners. First-time buyers of the film who want to own it looking and sounding as
good
as is currently available should not hesitate, but others should rent first and wait for a drop in price.
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The fifth quarter has officially started, and while for the most part studios are enjoying some well-deserved time off, Paramount has come out swinging with five hits from their extensive catalog. Today they are releasing 'Days of Thunder', 'Event Horizon', 'Ghost', ...
Paramount Home Entertainment has revealed the technical specs and special features for the 11 upcoming catalog titles due for Blu-ray release from December through January. All titles will receive 1080p video encodes accompanied by a Dolby TrueHD 5.1 soundtrack. ...
