Tropic Thunder (4K UHD)

Love this movie! Super funny

Movie - 4.5 When I first saw this in theaters, I thought it was funny. Not hilarious, but funny. However, the beauty of having a copy to watch at your own leisure makes for a much more comfortable and self-paced approach, which in the end did wonders for this comedic gem. I've always liked Ben Stiller. To me, he's a somewhat more refined version of Will Ferrell and uses a bit more "satire-goofy" style as opposed to "juvenile-goofy." In Tropic Thunder, we see a hilarious self-parody of actors acting as actors who are also.. acting. No, it's not as whimsical or intellectually jabbing as a Coen Brothers or Larry David project, but the degree of absurdity is still every entertaining to watch if you find just the right balance between all these quirky characters. Stiller does his usual thing with the insecure, thick-brained fellow just trying to find himself, while Jack Black makes for a very convincing heroin addict going off and on his highs and withdrawls. But the two performances I enjoyed the most were Robert Downey Jr.'s Kirk Lazarus and Tom Cruise's Les Grossman. Downey Jr. continues to amaze me with his various performances, and this after making Iron Man of all things. And as crazy as Cruise is off camera, I've liked him as an actor for most of his career, and he does a splendid job playing the fat, hairy, hyperactive, money-grubbing, Diet Coke-ing businessman. The story is silly, yet addicting, and the dialogue is full of great one-liners you can recite to yourself or around friends. Watch it for what it's worth and enjoy. Video - 4.5 Being a sort of comedic-action movie, I was actually surprised at how great the video looked. Cinematography in particular shoots many a beautiful landscape, expressing lots of lush greens during daytime scenes, accompanied by great levels of detail and depth upon action sequences (especially on the foreground). Some of the indoor shots and night time scenes were a bit grainy, and I think the colors were just a tad softer on a few scenes that involved closeups of the actors, detracting this from a perfect rating. But given that this is more so a comedy film than action, it's definitely a well-efforted transfer by the people at Dreamworks. Audio - 4.5 While presented with a Dolby TrueHD 5.1 track, keep in mind that this a comedic-action movie (more emphasis on the "comedic" part), so it's important to remember how this can effect a movie's sound design. Thankfully, though, it doesn't make much of a difference at all, and they did a great job anyway. Music and helicopter effects in the opening sequence are reference quality, in my opinion. Dialogue throughout the entire film is easy to hear and understand (yes, even Downey Jr's ebonics), but I do wish they had given gunshots and explosions a little more oomph. Overall directionality is quite immersive placing every sound where you think it'd be coming from. But again, some of the action sounds were a bit more underwhelming than I wanted. If you're friends can't tell the difference, though, tell them it's reference and see how they react. Extras - 4.5 While not high in quantity (perhaps an additional 25GB disc would've helped?), the special features presented are pretty fun in their own right with commentaries, "making of" featurettes, and deleted/extended scenes. I had no idea this film was 10 years in the making until they said it, but I would have to say the dividends really paid off after all this time. I also liked the Les Grossman dance test and found it hilarious to a see a half-costumed Tom Cruise booty dancing to no music. It's a fairly good amount of quality extras for just a single 50GB disc and gives you a bit of insight from all the cast and crew and should be watched at least one time through. Overall - 4.5 It's not a perfect movie with perfect technical specifications, but it's close. To this date, it is by far the funniest of Stiller's movies that I've seen, and it's full of laughs all over the place. If you like quirky characters and an equally absurd storyline to suit them, then definitely give this a watch, if not at least for the faux movie trailers at the beginning.

Dude, this is a generational film. Lots of hilarious stuff going on. And while controversial. RDJ was awesome as Lincoln. Jack black definitely had his moments as well. And the Tom Cruise cameos are epic. And I can’t stand the guy.

Classic

I think sometimes people use words like "hilarious" too often in movie reviews, but this time, for real, this movie is actually hilarious. Some of the laughs go for the obvious, like Jack Black's character being a one-note fart-joke comedian who does enough blow to kill a camel, and yes, it does play upon stereotypes to make a point--like the infamous "full throttle r-word" that Ben Stiller's character does so cringe-inducingly broadly, or Robert Downey Jr.'s blaxpoitation-style African-American soldier (who clashes beautifully with Brandon T. Jackson's rapper character; old meets new, stereotype meets reality, and racism gets its comeuppance at the hands of privilege awareness). RDJ steals every single scene he's in, but that's kind of the point of his character, so it's okay. The story is about the making of a Vietnam-era war movie, as performed by actors who have no idea what Vietnam was even about. The bizarre inner workings of the movie industry are exposed here as accurately as you'll find in earlier masterpieces like "Bowfinger"--and include an absolutely fascinating and riveting cameo by Tom Cruise himself as a profane, vile, soulless producer who just wants results (don't miss his scene during/after the credits!), and Steve Coogan as an incompetent director who is in way over his head. Rounding out the cast, Nick Nolte is a bitter Vietnam vet who is not what he seems, and Jay Baruchel is a rising young star dwarfed by the fame of his co-stars--and the lone voice of sanity in the whole pack of asylum escapees. Matthew McConaughey does an equally brilliant cameo as the hero's chirpy, true-blue agent, reminding us that he can actually act--and act well!--if you give him half a chance; his character's story arc and development is one of the movie's strongest points. I also loved Robert Downey Jr. in this; he fulfills the same function here that Alan Rickman's vastly over-qualified Alexander Dane character did in "Galaxy Quest"--as a truly talented foil to Ben Stiller's gimmicky action hero. The story is well-paced with few misfires; I've never seen any other releases of this movie, so can't speak to how much better or worse it is than other versions, but can say that it generally accomplishes what it sets out to accomplish. The effects and everything else were well-done too, and the rest of the casting is simply superb. Overall, this movie is pitch-perfect. People who liked "Bowfinger," "Stripes," "Zoolander," and "Galaxy Quest" will enjoy this one very much. It does include some violence and frequent profanity, along with certain words/phrases which would probably be thought unacceptable by some folks, and frequent references to drugs and alcohol abuse. People who offend easily should probably not watch this movie and I don't think it's suitable for those below the age of 17 or so.

Hilarious must watch

This irreverent movie is hilarious and has a stellar cast. An action movie that is a satire of action movies, brilliant!

A must have in any comedy film lovers personal collection.

Parfait 😄

This is a classic. Just buy it, if you don’t know it.

To save the movie, 5 actors are dropped into the jungles of Vietnam to produce a war movie. They have no idea how real things can get. The jungle is home to the Flaming Dragons who are in the drug trade. They captured Tugg Speedman because they know his Simple Jack movie and demand ransom money for his release. Their plan is to rescue Speedman. The scenery is absolutely gorgeous and the rock music is amazing. Tropic Thunder has action, gunfire, explosions, RPG’s and a ton of laughs. This movie has a huge amazing cast. Robert Downey JR performance posing as a black soldier is a hoot.

Although this (the director's cut) was perhaps just a little long, I really enjoyed this film and laughed till I cried in more than one place. But it is a film where you sense that not everyone will like it. Some of the comedy is direct and irresistible: the verbally absurd, like Downey's gibberish Chinese when trying to con the leader of the drug-band or the visual humour of Stiller running along with his "son" stabbing him in the back until Stiller finally throws him off the bridge. But some is conceptual humour: remembering the idea of just what you are watching right now, or registering that the occasionally stupid, trite dialogue is crafted that way parodically. If you are considering getting this film, my advice is stop reading any other review when they mention Tom Cruise. I have noticed that some reviewers describe the nature of his role: for me this is a spoiler! When you finally realise who he was during the credits, this is one of the funniest surprises in the film. The film is also justly well known for the trailers at the start, these are very good, but they are by no means better or even as good as the best moments in the film proper. Its main faults are overlength - a few cuts would have worked wonders (a pity that you can't choose between Director's Cut and Theatre Version, as with so many BDs these days) - and that the opening sequence of the film until they stop rolling is not THAT funny. As parodies go this is not in the league of "Austin Powers", which was much better as dissecting the cliches and idiocies of older Bond movies than this is at sending up war movies. But this film gains extra dimensions through ridiculing the self-importance and pretensions of Hollywood, and this provides much of the best humour. Being vague to try and avoid a spoiler, I'll say one of the funniest bits is when the studio boss does not change his attitude at all after realising his rather large initial misunderstanding. Highly recommended, and the picture and audio quality are very much worthy of Blu-Ray. Enjoy

Best Movie Ever made