How many People thought this movie was a *beep* joke?

The story sucked. That's just it. The acting was top notch. But movies with terrific Actors / actress ain't no good without a great story.

The cinematography was complete *beep* Unbelievably bad compared to a movie 4 years prior (Top Gun).

The writing was trite, predictable, contrived and derivative. I mean there's nothing wrong with modeling it after Top Gun, but at least imitate it *well*.

Nicole Kidman. I love that woman to bits, but she just didn't do it for me here. Much better in Eyes Wide Shut.

There is, however, one redeeming quality.

The soundtrack.

The soundtrack is *beep* amazing, it's one of Zimmer's best efforts, I think. It still has that 80's feel as the movie was released in 1990, the "Car Building" sounds like something from Robocop. You could say it was a spritual precursor to that Hemsworth racing flick's soundtrack. Listen to "The Last Race" and compare it with "Lost But Won". It can't replace Top Gun's soundtrack (that one's irreplaceable), but damn, it's pretty epic. I wish it were featured more prominently in the movie, all I heard was Cruise's and Duvall's shouting and the roaring engines (not that there's anything wrong with roaring engines, mind you). And the 2013 limited re-release is *beep* awesome.