‘Tropic Thunder’ Review

Tropic Thunder (15)

Cast: Ben Stiller, Jack Black, Robert Downey Jr, Steve Coogan, Nick Nolte, Brandon T. Jackson, Jay Baruchel, Matthew McConaughey, Tom Cruise
Director: Ben Stiller
Running Time: 106 minutes

There was a lot of controversy surrounding Tropic Thunder whilst being made. Robert Downey Jr. getting his skin pigmentation changed from white to black and the whole ‘retard’ scenes. Some people were asking for certain scenes to be cut, or the film being completely cut from the movie calendar.

I can see why the latter complaint was an issue, but Stiller said it wasn’t meant to be an insult but rather how stupid the characters in the film are. From seeing previous Stiller films you know what kind of stuff is in there and how he has a quite strange sense of humour, which most of the time pays off. As for Downey Jr, that’s just brilliant and he’s probably the best character in the film.

The film is about a bunch of actors who are filming a Vietnam film and well, they’re just terrible. So they decide to drop the actors in the middle of a real life jungle with cameras set up in the trees to make a more ‘real life’ war film. It turns out, they really have landed in the middle of it, and are being chased by guerrilla fighters, with Tugg Speedman (Stiller) getting caught, and its up to rest of the actors to realise that this is real and they have to save Speedman from the guerrilla camp……with blanks!!

There are some great moments in this film that really will have you crying with laughter, but on the other hand, parts that are pushed to hard to make you laugh. It’s great to see that Tom Cruise has joined the cast to play a fat and very forward film producer who every time comes on screen you just have to giggle to yourself.

This is more of an action comedy than just a plain comedy. Some of the shots are that good, major action blockbusters would be proud. Explosions galore and gun fights everywhere, but in Stiller fashion. Plus there’s tons of blood and guts but you just can’t help laughing or just thinking it’s plain sick, but in a fun way.

Jack Black is his usually self and plays a character who is renowned for his parts in films where he farts a lots! But he’s actually a heavy heroin user who has to go cold turkey in the jungle with some hilarious outcomes. The scene where he’s tied to a tree being the best which had me with tears rolling down my cheek.

Again with Downey Jr, he’s just brilliant as Kirk Lazarus, the Oscar winner. His character is in no way racist to black people, and the film was shown before its release to see if anyone was offended by it and there wasn’t one complaint. This is tongue in cheek performance at its best. You just have to see it to see how funny some of his lines are.

Overall, it’s quite a funny film with some great action scenes and ‘that’ platoon shot, but with the blood packets actually going off this time.

Tropic Thunder is definitely worth a watch, but nothing to write home about.

3 out of 5

Ender

Related Pages:

1. ‘Iron Man’ Review
2. Sherlock Holmes Review
3. ‘Harry Potter And The Half Blood Prince’ Review
4. ‘Watchmen’ Review
5. ‘The Dark Knight’ Review

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