“Days Of Thunder” is essentially a remake of “Top Gun” using cars instead of planes and it even stars Tom Cruise (“Minority Report”, “Mission: Impossible”) in an almost identical role and has the same director: Tony Scott (“Unstoppable”). It is better than “Top Gun” but it is still a silly, messed-up film.

In “Days Of Thunder”, Cruise stars as hotshot driver Cole Trickle, who has no real knowledge of automobiles but has the help of veteran Harry Hogge (Robert Duvall “The Godfather”) in order to win the upcoming races. At times it is merely predictable then suddenly it spouts off in a pointless and ridiculous direction.

Tom Cruise has been in some really good movies and has given a few good performances but this is another film and performance that can be put in the same category as “Top Gun” and “Cocktail”. Robert Duvall is good but his efforts are wasted here; the same can be said for Randy Quaid (“Independence Day”). Nicole Kidman (“Batman Forever”) may as well not even be in the movie as her character is so insignificant, even as love interests go. A few of the other drivers serve as Cole’s enemies but they aren’t very interesting.

“Days Of Thunder” is hilarious and some of the driving scenes are entertaining but in any normal sense the film cannot be recommended to anyone who isn’t a big fan of movies such as “Top Gun” and “Cocktail”. It’s another simplistic vehicle for Cruise where the script clearly just has blank spots so a few things can be changed. I think this one is better than “Top Gun” as there is no singing and it is better than “Cocktail” because car racing is a little more dynamic than drink mixing but that is just about all I can do to defend this film. Tony Scott sadly hasn’t lived up to his brother Ridley (“Blade Runner”, “Alien”).