Mixed or average reviews - based on 18 Critics

Critic score distribution:
  1. Positive: 10 out of 18
  2. Negative: 1 out of 18
  1. If you're at all curious about what it feels like to be inside a race car going 200 miles per hour at Daytona International Speedway, I don't think there's a better, quicker or safer way to find out than Simon Wincer's documentary.
  2. Reviewed by: Mike Clark
    In just three months, Wincer has gone from one of the worst IMAX movies ever (The Young Black Stallion) to one of the best. This time, and in all ways, he has more horsepower.
  3. The movie makes an excellent primer about the world of stock car racing for fans and nonfans alike. In 48 fast minutes, the Simon Wincer-directed film gives you a genuine sense of this particular sport, its rigorous demands and the fan base that supports it with such wildly enthusiastic devotion.
  4. A splendid example of pure cinema.
  5. Reviewed by: Peter Hartlaub
  6. 75
    It is at least an "experience" that has to be labeled exhilarating.
  7. Reviewed by: Sara Gebhardt
    True to IMAX form, the high-tech graphics and sounds are great.
  8. This otherwise entertaining, aficionado-oriented production, with its circus-act technology that lets a viewer feel, briefly, like a member of the Petty racing dynasty, is as gaudily patched with corporate sponsorship as the sport itself.
  9. Never as visually or viscerally thrilling as some might expect, but it still manages to be a fascinating study of a national phenomenon that has had very little impact in our part of the country.
  10. Reviewed by: David Hiltbrand
    If the words "Gentlemen, start your engines" set your heart pounding, this is the Imax experience for you.
  11. 60
    Those seeking a serious sociological examination of the role of stock car racing in late capitalist America will probably want to search elsewhere, but audiences looking for a kick will find one -- almost literally -- in Mr. Wincer's work.
  12. Reviewed by: Ellen Fox
    True fans (i.e., the people who are most likely to buy tickets) probably know a lot of this stuff already, and they might be disappointed by the lack of drama and the brevity of 3-D racing action.
  13. First a bit about the movie, which really isn't one -- more like a 48-minute press release promoting the glories of NASCAR.
  14. 50
    Makes you wish consumer automobiles were built to NASCAR safety standards.
  15. 50
    Disappointing that the film's modern-day race sequences -- which follow quick glimpses of computer-run car factories and pit-crew practice sessions -- fail to excite the senses.
  16. Reviewed by: Ed Halter
    The film's flashy you-are-there qualities only underscore the bittersweet gulf between NASCAR's seemingly self-actualized, life-risking gladiators and their softly padded, toddler-toting, ticket-buying fans.
  17. Reviewed by: Dennis Harvey
    Surprisingly, the large format and three-dimensional technology do little to heighten the excitement of the races. In the end, docu is less a film with real behind-the-scenes insight and more a serviceable, if routine, promo package for the (very) bigscreen.
  18. 25
    It's hard to imagine hardened New Yorkers actually paying to see this totally uncritical, gee-whiz celebration of stock car racing, its fans and its history, breathlessly narrated by Kiefer Sutherland and perfunctorily directed by Simon Wincer.

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