Tropic Thunder
2008 · Directed by Ben Stiller
Original language: English
- action
- comedy
- war
The story
A group of self-absorbed actors set out to make the most expensive war film ever. 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.
What it’s like
Bright, saturated jungle daylight with hard sun and humid green haze, shot in the handheld, overcranked energy of a big-budget war picture, then cut back to the rougher, flatter look of a film crew on location with lights, rigs and mud everywhere. The score is loud and bombastic, all brass swells and pounding percussion that mock the genre they borrow from, while the dialogue runs fast and overlapping, with bursts of profanity and deadpan one-liners. The vibe is loud, brash and self-aware, a Friday-night crowd-pleaser with a wink. Pacing is brisk and escalating, and the emotional register stays comic and irreverent, with the arc of a trio of vain, self-obsessed stars slowly, awkwardly learning to work as a team. Violence is frequent and cartoonishly staged, with explosions, gunfire, and a few bloody gags, but there is little real gore and no sustained cruelty; crude sexual humour and heavy swearing are constant. Made for fans of broad, R-rated ensemble comedy and Hollywood satire who want to laugh at movie-making itself.
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