TROPIC THUNDER

A FILM ONLY REVIEW

This film had completely passed me by as both film and DVD; I actually watched it off Sky Movies.

I decided to watch it as I noticed that Ben Stiller and Jack Black were in it and I generally enjoy their films.

THE PLOT

The spoof war film is about waning action star Tugg Speedman; multiple Oscar winner Kirk Lazarus - a method actor who endures pigmentation surgery in order to play a black man; drug addicted comedian Jeff Portnoy; rapper Alpha Chino, a real black man who takes offence to Lazarus' clichéd portrayal of a black man and lesser known Kevin Sandusky were filming a Vietnam war film.

The film, based on a book by Four Leaf Tayback ( a Vietnam Veteran ), was already way behind schedule even though filming had just started because of the behaviour of the cast.
British director Damien Cockburn was useless; he didn't know what he was doing or how to control the cast and was facing having the film shut down by Les Grossman, a studio executive.

Four Leaf (who was on set as advisor) came up with the idea to take the cast out into the jungle and drop them off to make things more realistic. Damien decided that was a good idea and set up hidden cameras and had special effects rigged to go off without the actors knowing what was going on. The actors only had a map to help them get to the helicopter. Naturally, things didn't go quite to plan, but Tugg thought it was all part of Damien's plan and insisted that they keep going to finish the film - with hilarious results.

THE CAST

Ben Stiller: Tugg Speedman
Robert Downey Jnr: Kirk Lazarus
Jack Black: Jeff Portnoy
Nick Nolte: Four Leaf Tayback
Tom Cruise: Les Grossman
Matthew McConaughey: Peck
Brandon T Jackson: Alpa Chino
Jay Baruchel: Kevin Sandusky
Steve Coogan: Damien Cockburn

CHARACTERS

The character of Tugg had been in some popular action movies that made him a star. His attempt to branch out a bit with 'Simple Jack', but that backfired on him. This role was played by Benn Stiller, and I have to say that it wasn't the best performance I have seen from Stiller.

Jack Black's role as Jeff was, I thought a little too over the top. He played a character famous for making movies about an overweight family who farted a lot. He also had a drug problem that caused a lot of complications and added to the story. I usually enjoy Jack Black but did find him a bit cringe worthy at times in this role.

Kirk Lazarus was a method actor who was willing to go to extreme lengths for parts, and stayed fully in character no matter what was going on.
Robert Downey Jr. was wonderful in this part, he stole the film in my opinion.

Alpha was a rap star who also had an energy drink and a bar that he was selling. He was really irritated with Kirk acting as a black man. Brandon T. Jackson handled the part well.

Jay Baruchel played Kevin Sandusky was the other main actor in the war movie being made. He wasn't as well known as the others and even his cast mates had a tendency of forgetting his name

Damien was the first time director who clearly seemed to be in over his head with the project. He couldn't control the cast and the movie was in danger of being shut down. Steve Coogan didn't have as much to do as some of the others, but he was good in the part.

Four Leaf was the man who wrote the book the movie was based on. He was a veteran of Vietnam and was on the set as a creative consultant. He came up with the idea of dropping the cast off out in the middle of nowhere to get the right feel for the film.

Rick Peck, Tugg's agent, turned up in a few scenes - this was a cameo role for Matthew McConaughey .

Les, the studio executive, was the vehicle for another cameo role, this time by Tom Cruise. I didn't even realise that it was Tom Cruise until read the credits. He did do a very annoying dance though!!!

THE FILM

This is a satirical film about Hollywood and actors that are willing to go to extreme lengths to play parts, especially if they think an Oscar nomination is possible. It is also a wonderful spoof on American war films; it was written and directed by Ben Stiller It is a film that forgets any political correctness - lets face it, when you get a film where a white actor in black face, wears a lower lip extension and always talks jive gibberish, and a mentally-challenged character is repeatedly teased about his disability, it is going to cause a few raised eyebrows1

The majority of Tropic Thunder took place once Damien decided to take the cast out into the jungle and drop them off. Before that happened, a bit of time was taken to introduce the characters, including showing fake movie trailers for recent movies for Tugg, Kirk, and Jeff as well as a commercial for the energy drink and bar that Alpha was selling. Time was also taken to show just how badly things were going on set. One scene even included an Access Hollywood segment on the filming being over budget and behind schedule. All that helped to set up the situation and make the motivations of the characters clearer. Even though certain things were predictable, there were also a few surprises that I felt worked very well and kept things interesting. The music that was used throughout the movie fit in with what was happening well.

Violence turned up in several scenes throughout Tropic Thunder. Most of it was exaggerated and obviously fake, like early in the movie when an actual scene of the war movie was being filmed, it would be very hard to take these scenes seriously. The injuries were very over done (as with the hands blown off) and I wouldn't have thought could have caused much dismay.

MY OPINION

It took me a little while to get into the film but I did, overall enjoy it, and I did find it very funny.
I thought though, that there was too much bad language in the film that just didn't seem in place or funny. I loved the little drug dealer, and the baby mesmerised by Simple Jack!!

I would recommend either renting this DVD or watching it on Sky rather than buying it, as I dn't think it's a film that you'll want to watch more than once.

Although this is a Film Only review the DVD details are :

Format: PAL
Language English
Region: Region 2
Number of discs: 1
Classification: 15
Studio: Paramount
DVD Release Date: 26 Jan 2009
Run Time: 102 minutes
Average Customer Review

3/5 from me for some slapshod acting.