Days of Thunder stars Tom Cruise as cocky, upstart stock-car racer Cole Trickle. Tensions run high as he and his obstinate trainer / pit-crew chief Harry Hogge, played by Robert Duvall, suffer communication issues.

Cole has to face down ruthless racing opponents then deal with a crash and major injury. This is where Nicole Kidman, as Dr. Claire Lewicki comes in. A weak romantic sub-plot ensues between the two.

Directed by Tony Scott, who is known for a visceral, gritty but glamorous visual style. He tries to do with stock car racing what he did with jet fighting in his much more notable Top Gun.

If you like to see what top stars produced before they became top stars, this a good example of that type of film. Cruise and Kidman were nowhere near the heights their careers would reach at the time of this release.

One thing will be painfully obvious to anyone who knows anything about racing - the race scenes are pretty much ludicrous.