Tropic Thunder

It has been decades since we have seen a movie pushes the envelope with race, ethnic backgrounds, and mental disabilities in an action comedy since Blazing Saddles. This new Ben Stiller movie is a entertaining yet gross in a lunatic way.

This movie is comes from the same idea of “The Three Amigos” were some famous Hollywood actors go and do a movie, and after a while thinking that they still in a movie, they realize that they were in a real life situation and they have to man up to survive and save each other.

Instead of going to Mexico like the Amigos, this film was about the heroic rescue from Vietnam. The new director (played by Steve Coogan) looses control of his actors who are Robert Downey Jr., Jack Black, Jay Baruchel, Brandon Jackson, and Ben Stiller. He is convinced from the writer of the book in which the movie is based on (Leaf Tayback played by Nick Nolte) to have them live through the jungle in a real life situation while they hide and film. Things go haywire and I say no more.

What worked for me were mainly only 2 characters in the movie. Robert Downey Jr. character was probably one of the best that I have seen this year. He was entertaining and convincing of when he was playing a black character in the movie. If his ability to keep the movie upbeat and alive, then this movie would have tanked as fast as “The Love Guru” and we are thankful for that. The second character was Tom Cruises character. I am not saying his dancing was fun to watch, but how he talked and acted like a executive producer, I must admit, I didn’t even recognized him till a couple shots later. I felt out of all of the actors in this film those two always kept the intensity and movie going.

I also enjoyed how the beginning of the movie started with trailers of fictional movies (we can only hope) of the characters in the movie. I am not saying that I would’ve seen any of them (I am scared to see Toby Macquarie’s next film…), nor buy the drink nor energy bar (probably full of Viagra) in the beginning.

What didn’t work for me were looking back all the holes in the script. You could see Ben Stiller over work the parody on Platoon, or Rambo and even a spot of Apocalypse Now. Stiller still hasn’t figured out how not to overplay and fall in the lines of “Hot Shots.” There was a lot that didn’t make any sense in the fact that things happened that wasn’t common sense. It was if they didn’t think anyone would notice and rather just improvised parts rather than have a script.
When this movie first was coming out, I heard a lot of remarks regarding the distaste this movie has for people who have mental illnesses or handicaps. I do understand what people were saying regarding that. I am pretty open to letting a movie ride on its message, however this didn’t. I thought it was tasteless and actually insulting to anyone who knows someone with a disability or has one. It felt like Stiller went out of his was to insult them which I find no class or give any respect to a man who stoops that low.

I went to this movie just to have fun, enjoy some action, gore (plenty of it, to the point it was repulsing) and have some laughs and not expect too much from Stiller. Well, I came out and had some laughs, enjoyed some action sequences, and really admire Downey’s acting ability more, and yet hope that Stiller will do something similar to what Ben Affleck has done, and just direct and not star in his films (who knows, maybe Affleck will prove me wrong). You never know, that’s Hollywood!

If you liked this film I recommend:

The Three Amigos
Rambo II
Kiss, Kiss, Bang, Bang
Blazing Saddles