Distributed by
Pioneer LDCE

Cat.no: PLFEB 35601

Cert: 15

Running time: 110 minutes

Sides: 2 (CLV)

Year: 1990

Pressing: UK, 1997

Chapters: None

Sound: Dolby Surround

Widescreen: 2.35:1 (Panavision)

Price: £19.99

Extras : Trailers for Top Gun, The Firm, Mission: Impossible.

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Director:

Tony Scott (Crimson Tide, True Romance, The Fan)

Producers:

Don Simpson and Jerry Bruckheimer (Crimson Tide, The Rock, Top Gun)

Screenplay:

Robert Towne

Music:

Hans Zimmer

Cast:

Cole Trickle: Tom Cruise (Top Gun, Far and Away, Jerry Maguire)
Dr. Claire Lewicki: Nicole Kidman (To Die For, Batman Forever, Far and Away)
Harry Hodge: Robert Duvall (Falling Down, The Handmaid's Tale, Rambling Rose)
Tim Daland: Randy Quaid (Independence Day, Bye Bye Love)
Russ Wheeler: Cary Elwes (The Jungle Book, Twister, Robin Hood Men in Tights)
Rowdy Burns: Michael Rooker (Cliffhanger, Henry: Portrait of a Serial Killer)
Big John: Fred Dalton Thompson (Die Hard 2)
Aldo Bennedetti: Don Simpson

Days of Thunder reunites Top Gun's star (Tom Cruise) and director (Tony Scott) for another episode of high-octane machismo, but swaps the aerial dogfights, for the race car circuit.

Tom Cruise plays Cole Trickle, an up-and-coming driver who has the talent and ambition, but needs to persuade his peers including legendary crew chief and car-builder, Robert Duvall, always an ever-reliable actor, after his reputation being sold to him by businessman Randy Quaid, most recently seen in the sci-fi blockbuster, Independence Day. However, as events move closer to Cole's aim to race for the Winston Cup at the Daytona 500, a fiery crash nearly ends his career and he has to turn to a doctor, Cruise's real-life wife Nicole Kidman, to help him regain his fight for life.

With this film being shot in 2.35:1 Panavision, this widescreen edition is the only way to watch this film, as Scott, a master of the action flick, expertly brings the thrills and spills of the race car circuit to film, with tight precision shots from above the track, in-car shots, and tracking shots following the rivalry between the competitors, especially betweeu Cruise and Michael Rooker.

Incidentally, it was on the set of this film that Cruise met his now wife, Nicole Kidman, who now has an established career in her own right after films such as Batman Forever, To Die For and Dead Calm. In 1992 they made their next film together, Far and Away, directed by Apollo 13's Ron Howard, which has just been released on PAL Laserdisc by Pioneer also.

On a musical note, the love theme for the film, Maria McKee's Show Me Heaven made No.1 in 1990. The soundtrack also includes Gimme Some Lovin' by the Spencer Davis Group, Chicago's Hearts in Trouble and Guns N Roses' cover version of Knockin' on Heaven's Door.

The film also features a cameo from one of its producers, the late Don Simpson who died in 1996 from a drugs overdose, after suffering major depression.

The picture quality of this disc is gorgeous, with every scene full of many colours, and appearing very crisp indeed, bringing the many different race tracks to life, some in the bright sunshine, and others in the red sunset. Full marks to Pioneer for this pressing. The surround soundmix screams out at you as the cars shoot by at speed.

If I had one gripe about the disc it's that the film is not chaptered. I don't know who's responsible for that as other Tony Scott films including the PAL release of Beverly Hills Cop 2 and the NTSC releases of Last Boy Scout and True Romance: Unrated Director's Cut are chaptered. However, for a mere £19.99 you can't argue with this release, and it comes complete with trailers for three other PAL Laserdiscs each featuring the Cruiser, Top Gun, The Firm and the forthcoming release of Mission: Impossible.

Film: 5/5
Picture: 5/5
Sound: 5/5

Review copyright © Dominic Robinson, 1997.