Tropic Thunder (DVD)

This is one raucous, profanity-laden, over-the-top action comedy. And does it work? The answer is of course a "Thunderous" yes! The laughs come at rapid-fire speed, and when you add in some truly explosive set-pieces and lots of mindless, yet vulgar guy chatter, you can rest assured that this is a rollicking good ride.

The not-too-far-fetched plot involves some of Hollywood's biggest stars teaming up in an expensive war movie, set in South East Asia. But when the budget starts running out of control, the director is forced to try some cost-cutting measures. So of course he decides to shoot the rest of the movie documentary-style, without letting the actor's know that they're being filmed. But the actors get dropped off in the wrong zone, and they encounter some heavily armed drug merchants and they fail to realize how much is make-believe and how much is real.

The performances are all excellent, notably Robert Downey Jr. as an Australian actor who undergoes pigmentation surgery in order to play an African-American soldier. It straddles the line between funny and offensive, but thankfully never crosses it. Stiller and Black are also much funnier than I've seen them in quite some time. But the real hearty laughs come from a surprising source, a prosthetic-wearing Tom Cruise, who plays studio owner Les Grossman as a balding, foul-mouthed ranter and raver who craves power and lacks diplomacy. His performance is such a delight and against-type surprise that it becomes abundantly clear that he fully deserved his Golden Globe nomination for it. Definitely worth the purchase of this movie alone. (5 out of 5, by Carlisle Johnson)

An action comedy about a group of self-absorbed actors who set out to make the most expensive war film ever made.

After ballooning costs force the studio to cancel the movie, the frustrated director refuses to stop shooting, leading his cast into the jungles of Southeast Asia, where they encounter real bad guys.

General

Studio:	Paramount
Country of origin:	South Africa
Release date:	April 2009
Actors:	Ben Stiller • Jack Black • Robert Downey Jr.
Dimensions:	192 x 137 x 15mm (L x W x T)
Format:
Running time:	1 hour, 47 minutes
Region encoding:	Region 2. This DVD will play in all South African DVD players.
Audio format:	Dolby Digital 5.1
Video format:	Widescreen 2.35:1
Age restriction:	13 LV
Categories:	DVD > Action DVD > Comedy DVD > War DVD > Feature Film
LSN:	XNE-NPH-6FH-2
Barcode:	6004416086621

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• Cast commentary with Ben Stiller, Jack Black and Robert Downey Jr.
• Les Grossman Make-up Test
• Blowing Sh*t Up: An explosive look at the dynamite, smoke bombs, and fireballs
• The Hot LZ: An in-depth look at the making of the film's spectacular opening battle sequence.
• The Cast of Tropic Thunder: Interviews
• Full Mags: The camera keeps rolling as the actors improvise
• Rain of Madness Trailer: The cast of Tropic Thunder stars in the world's first mocku-prequel, which tells the true story of how the fake film almost never happened.
• MTV Movie Awards promo skit

Review This Product

Fri, 6 Feb 2009 | Review by: Micky B

A comedic Vietnam war movie in which one cannot over-praise third-billed Robert Downey Jr's masterful performance. He's a professional method actor, playing an Australian, who is disguised as an Afro-American (it's actually far less confusing than it sounds, folks!) Living in South Africa, and therefore being well away from both the Far East and American politic: the Vietnamese war of the 1960's made very little sense to me - either during or afterwards. Having said that: I must rate this DreamWorks production as one of the two best-ever films of its genre yet made! Principal actor is director-producer-writer Ben Stiller, who plays Tugg Speedman - a sort of super-Stallone character. Jack Black is "Fats" Portnoy, a drug-addicted comedian; while Braddon T Jackson portrays a rap artist named Alpa Chino(!). Cameo Roles - usually as themselves - are provided by Tobey Maguire, Sean Penn, Tyra Banks, Martin Lawrence, Tom Hanks, Jon Voight, Jennifer Love Hewitt, and many, many others. Tom Cruise is almost unrecognisable as Les Grossman - a foul-mouthed senior studio executive; and Nick Nolte plays "Four Leaf" Tayback, the author of the book of his alleged war memoirs, Tropic Thunder. Take careful note of the trailers, and film advertisements ("Bust-a-nut" and "Booty Sweat") that immediately precede the feature itself. They're all actually a part of the movie!

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