Rating summary

Movie		2.5
Video		4.5
Audio		4.5
Extras		1.5
Overall		3.5

Days of Thunder Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Martin Liebman May 27, 2020

Paramount has re-released 1990's 'Days of Thunder' to Blu-ray, the fifth film in its 'Paramount Presents' line. The film was previously released to Blu-ray in 2008. This new release includes a freshly remastered 1080p presentation sourced from 4K scan, a Dolby TrueHD 5.1 lossless soundtrack, and a new retrospective supplement. It is also packaged to appeal to collectors, even if the packaging is rather straightforward in total.

Car dealer Tim Daland (Randy Quaid) risks everything on a young hotshot race car driver named Cole Trickle (Tom Cruise), fresh off the open wheel circuit and eager to get into stock car racing. Daland propositions former NASCAR crew chief Harry Hogge (Robert Duvall) 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). 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), and the burgeoning star must deal with shifting loyalties as a promising new young driver, Russ Wheeler (Cary Elwes), drives Cole's car and catches team owner Daland's eye.

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Days of Thunder Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Days of Thunder has received a gorgeous remaster for this latest Blu-ray release. The presentation leaps off the screen with firm command of its elements, which center around a fine grain structure that is faithful, evenly distributed, and very flattering to the picture. It soars, helping to deliver a gorgeous film-quality image that excels during slower paced character moments where textural command is at its peak. Intimate facial textures abound, clothing details soar, and location elements, ranging from race tracks to dense garages, from doctor's offices to dark barns, always present at a high level of visual output. Total sharpness is exquisite. The picture is simply exemplary in terms of clarity and adherence to its film-like roots. Even on the track the presentation soars, capturing the grime and grit and handling the smoke and speed all with faultless grace. Colors soar, too, with the cars -- even in various states of wear from the rigors of the track -- finding expert clarity and depth, which extends to the colorful patches on racing uniforms and the corresponding tones around the pits and in the garages. Black levels and shadow details hold steady and accurate and skin tones appear true. The picture shows no significant source shortcomings or encode anomalies. It's a solid improvement over the good-not-great Blu-ray of days gone by. This is near best-case for a Blu-ray.

Days of Thunder Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

Days of Thunder's new Blu-ray includes a Dolby TrueHD 5.1 lossless soundtrack, the same encode and channel configuration that graced the 2008 disc. However, upon comparison, it seems that the track has been altered to some degree. The raw dynamics don't appear to be any different but it sounds more guttural and more dynamic in direct comparison, here offering a healthy, vigorous compliment to the movie's racing scene needs that feel boosted in volume and intensity. Cars dart around the track with impressive feel for natural movement and the throaty engine depth engages the low end forcefully but with commanding balance and authenticity. Combined with energetic music, stretching far and boasting excellent definition throughout the range, and the racing scenes dazzle. The track finds firm command of less intensive score in dialogue scenes, which also boast fine atmospheric elements in support of the spoken word, which presents with natural positioning and clarity. It's a shame Paramount didn't make the effort to expand the track into the Atmos configuration, which would have only boosted the feel for immersion during races and allowed the public address announcements heard during the climactic race to take on a more natural dispersal and top end positioning, but as it is the 5.1 track handles the content with the intensity and depth it demands.

This release also offers an expanded suite of language and subtitle options against the 2008 Blu-ray.

Days of Thunder Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

The previously issued Blu-ray release of Days of Thunder included only the film's trailer. Paramount has dropped that extra for this release but added two new ones. This release is also part of the "Paramount Presents" line which includes unique packaging beyond standard Blu-ray case and slipcover components. Find below a brief text overview as well as some photographs in the "screenshots" tab above. No DVD is included, and neither is a digital copy code.

• Filmmaker Focus: Days of Thunder (1080p, 6:39): This is a new retrospective with Jerry Bruckheimer who explores Tony Scott's work on the film, the dynamics of NASCAR racing and how it translated to film, cast and performances, and the film's legacy.
• Isolated Score Track (Dolby Digital 2.0): Watch the film with only its score. This supplement does not appear under the "Extras" tab but rather the "Settings" tab.

The packaging is just unique enough to stand apart but not so unique to draw attention towards it. It's basically a slipcover over a transparent, rather than blue, case, all the same essential dimensions as any other case plus slipcover presentation. The outer slipcover is unique in that the front half folds open to reveal an additional image, which is oriented 90 degrees from the front panel, making, essentially, a two-panel vertical that for Days of Thunder shows original poster artwork in a larger format. The interior image depicts, essentially, the artwork from the original Blu-ray, with "You can't outrun the thunder" text placed on the left and a billing block at the bottom. The front image is a more generic Photoshop creation that includes the "Paramount Presents" symbol top left and a small banner bottom right displaying the year the film was released. The front panel is identical to the Blu-ray case front artwork. There are some alterations between slip and case on the rear panels; the former includes a blurb about the Paramount Presents line while the latter features a billing block. The Blu-ray case is clear and there's an inner print inside that includes stills running along left and right hand sides, a larger racing shot in the middle, and a Jerry Bruckheimer quote within. It's nothing fancy but it is at least a little meatier than the run-of-the-mill slipcover and blank interiors that adds almost no additional value. Both the slipcover and the case artwork depict the number "5" at the bottom of the spine, denoting the fifth film in the line, clearly an effort to entice completists to gradually buy the entire series.

Days of Thunder Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

Days of Thunder may just be Top Gun on wheels minus the machismo and memorable soundtrack, but it's a great ride in its own right that Paramount has re-released to Blu-ray with striking, near perfect 1080p video. The lack of a Dolby Atmos audio track is disappointing but the reworked 5.1 presentation is a treat. More extras would have been nice. Highly recommended.