Tropic Thunder

A return to form for Ben Stiller and Jack Black, "Tropic Thunder" is a comedy that seems to have given all it promised, and still leaves you wanting more.

On the set of Vietnam movie “Tropic Thunder”, action star Tugg Speedman (Stiller), Method actor Kirk Lazarus (Downey Jr.) and gross-out comedian Jeff Portnoy (Black) start to let their egos get the better of them, and so director Damien Cockburn (Coogan) and writer ‘Four Leaf’ (Nolte) conspire with studio head Les Grossman (Cruise) to put the actors in the wild forests of Vietnam with hidden cameras, so they can feel the experience for themselves. However, the three stars and their co-stars Kevin (Baruchel) and Alpa Chino (Jackson) soon find that they’ve stumbled upon a real war situation in the Golden Triangle, the famous drug-making area of south east Asia, and have to get over themselves and escape before the drug-runners or their egos kill them.

It's comedic acting all the way here, and the three main stars Black, Downey and Stiller all gamely mock themselves and other actors in a no-holds-barred critique. Stiller is the funniest he's been since Zoolander, whilst Black shows some promise for the first time in what seems ages. The supporting cast, including Matthew McConaughey and Nick Nolte, is also note-perfect, but Cruise is the winner here.

Ben Stiller takes the multiple roles of star, director and writer in "Thunder", and as a result the film does center on his character Tugg Speedman, a pastiche of many different action stars. Stiller plays self-obsessed idiot better than anyone, and so Speedman is the best role he could have gotten, helping to atone for the horrors of "Night At The Museum". Downey Jr. lampoons Russell Crowe (I at least thought this anyway!) as Kirk Lazarus, an Oscar winning Method actor who blacks up for his role. His performance is astoundingly funny in places, as I thought it would be, and he steals some of Stiller's 'thunder'. Jack Black is the revelation of the main stars though, mocking Eddie Murphy's career collapse in Jeff Portnoy, and Black's manic comedy is channeled into a character that it fits for once, and he may look back on this and see a role in which he was probably the funniest character. The tree scene in particular is a prime example of Black's quality, as Portnoy undergoes a detox from heroin with hilariously wrong results.

The film's stars are good enough, but the supporting cast is even better! The other "Thunder" actors, Jay Baruchel and Brandon Jackson, are more than capable of standing toe-to-toe with Stiller, Black and Downey, and their roles as the straight man actor and rapper-turned-thesp help to create comedy in the group scenes as well as provide more satire (*cough* 50 Cent/Snoop Dogg *cough*). Steve Coogan and Nick Nolte are great in their small roles as the stressed director and author of the story respectively, but have little time to make much of an impression.

Danny McBride, much like Baruchel, is a new comedic actor, and as explosions expert Cody he brings a bit of masculine idiocy to the proceedings. McConaughey succeeds in not annoying me in a movie for once, which is amazing enough, but his role as Speedman's idiotic agent is great, and introduces us to the best supporting actor here...Tom Cruise. Cruise is unrecognisable (at first) as studio head Les Grossman, but his appearances throughout are not only the funniest of the film, but the most surreal and most memorable. Not wanting to ruin it for anyone who hasn't seen the film, it's suffice to say that you'll not hear the song "Low" in the same way, nor ever perceive Tom Cruise as facing a career in ruins. This role could be the start of a resurgence for the Cruiser, and as it is, he is the one thing you will remember from the film more than any other.

Stiller ably directed and wrote the film as well as starring, and the concept of the narrative is brave in that he lampoons not only himself but most of Hollywood's male actors. The music chosen fits perfectly, and the dialogue is full of cracking quotes you will remember over and over.

Ben Stiller directed "Zoolander" back in 2001 without much appreciation for his skills, and with "Thunder" he should receive more recognition. The man knows how to film action as well as create the perfect comedic scenes, and the film reflects this in its fluidity in the former and its madness in the latter. Much has been made of the use of 'retard' here, but if you're at all an intelligent and competent individual you will notice it is mocking those actors who play the mentally impaired, not the mentally impaired themselves. In terms of everything else, there are many one-liners to take away, some terrible but many actually brilliant, in particular a lot that comes from Downey Jr.'s Lazarus. The orchestral soundtrack is befitting of an action thriller, with many bombastic themes. However, the best music found here are the songs played over the film, from the Rolling Stones' "Sympathy for the Devil" to Flo Rida's "Low", which seem to fit perfectly with the movie.

Filmed in Hawaii, which doubles Vietnam pretty well, the visuals in "Thunder" complement both plot and events, and the pyrotechnics in particular are great to watch, even though some are exaggerated. You really do get the feeling you're watching the film-within-the-film being made.

“Tropic Thunder” is so good simply because it has such a good cast. From the stars to the cameos, the film just works in terms of performance, and the comedy is fantastic. It’s not the most ground-breaking or innovative comedy film ever, but it is pretty damn hilarious and that’s all you should need. And if anything, seeing Tom Cruise in this film is a must for anyone with a sense of humour!

8/10