‘Control is an illusion, you infantile egomaniac…’
The best ’80s films are the ones that don’t realise how ridiculous they are. Predator. The Lost Boys. Top Gun. That kinda thing. Days of Thunder is basically Top Gun but with cars instead of planes. It’s Rocky, but with NASCAR instead of boxing. There isn’t a single moment in this movie that isn’t predictable or derivative or reminiscent of something glimpsed before in a slightly better film. And yet… I loved every darn second of it.
The ridiculously named Cole Trickle (Tom Cruise) is a budding NASCAR driver who is taken under the wing of season veteran Harry Hogge (Robert Duvall) and his right hand man Buck Bretherton (John C. Reilly). Together, they attempt to fight off competition from rival drivers Rowdy Burns (Michael Rooker) and Russ Wheeler (Cary Elwes) to win the Daytona 500.
Director Tony Scott and writer Robert Towne waste no time on things like character development or back story. Tom Cruise likes driving fast. Michael Rooker likes driving fast. Robert Duvall is a mentor. Nicole Kidman is a hot brain doctor. That is it. Roll credits. But the sheer star power of the cast and the experienced direction of Scott tie everything together to produce a film that is life affirming, exhilarating and generally a whole load of wonderful nonsense. But it’s warm, familiar nonsense. It’s the winning smile of Tom Cruise and the hair-on-the-back-of-your-neck score and Robert Duvall calling everybody ‘kid’. It’s just the bloody ’80s isn’t it.
Perhaps the greatest validation of Days of Thunder is that it actually makes NASCAR, a sport that I can only imagine is incredibly tedious, look fascinatingly complex and exciting. Oh, and technically, Days of Thunder came out in the year of our lord 1990, but you go look at Tom Cruise’s hair in this film and then look me in the eye and tell me it’s not an ’80s film. Go on. You can’t can you. Pathetic.
Having said all of this, I can’t possibly give Days of Thunder anything more than 7 out of 10, because, well, it’s rubbish isn’t, deep down. But it’s wildly entertaining rubbish, and this is why we love Tom Cruise.