Banana Scoop

The depth of these characters [specifically by Robert Downey Jr.] extended beyond to the point of where the studio was buying websites to promote the fake movies and even made documentaries that filmed the actors in character. For example, the movie talks about a documentary made about Kirk Lazarus (Robert Downey Jr.) and his controversial skin pigment change, and it was actually made and serves as bonus material on the DVD. The documentary itself is fairly unrelated to Tropic Thunder and is Downey Jr. in full blown Kirk Lazarus. It’s no surprise that Downey was nominated for an Oscar for his portrayal of another actor due to his portrayal as an Australian playing an African American who at one point went to impersonate an Asian. Even more delicious is when Lazarus says he ‘doesn’t drop character until I’ve done the DVD commentary’, and during the actual commentary of Tropic Thunder he actually portrays himself as Lazarus for the entirety of the 2 hours. Although the other actors may not have been as well developed as Downey Jr’s, but they can all hold their own whether it be Black’s habitual jaw twitch or Stiller’s general cluelessness as he potrays ‘action movie stars’. As for all the other characters, as many of you know, Tom Cruise reprised his role as mad producer Les Grossman, to host the MTV movie awards and is even in talks for making his own movie.  Pretty much every character in the movie is a play on the absurdity of the Hollywood Industry.

One clip of a series about Kirk Lazarus preparing for his role as Sgt. Lincoln Osiris

I could go on and on about the characters, but I’m going to move onto the story. The story is based on an idea director/actor Ben Stiller had a long time ago about actors going to bootcamp for a role and coming back with Post Traumatic Stress Disorder. Eventually that idea morphed into the $100+ million dollar we have today. Regardless, the movie’s story is original, engaging, and very clever. Primarily in the idea of incorporating different kinds of actors in the war movie.  But the entire movie pays homage to literally dozens of movies and if you think you’re a movie buff, I dare you to try and identify them all without looking at IMDB. You’ll find a slew of clever hidden references to previous movies, actors, and the entertainment industry as a whole if you listen carefully enough. All the more reason to watch this movie a dozen times.

500 Movie points to name the reference

As for the direction and execution of this movie, Ben Stiller does a really good job, especially because he was in the movie himself and how he’d have to trust his actors in crew to do right on every scene. Another fantastic job about being the director is the inclusion of the director’s commentary. This post was originally titled: ‘The Awesomeness of Tropic Thunder’s Director’s Commentary’ but eventually morphed into me talking about how great of a movie this is in general. I just recently watched the director’s commentary and found it nearly to be as funny as the film itself for a number of reasons. For one, it’s done by Jack Black, Ben Stiller, and Robert Downey Jr. whom of which are all comedic veterans and have interesting things to say about the movie as a whole.  And I’ve already told you that Robert Downey Jr. does the entire commentary as Kirk Lazarus, but the sheer presence of these comic veterans and their experiences and thoughts on every seen isn’t a waste of two hours at all. I particularly love it when they tell me what scenes were improvised because it makes me envy their abilities to be that good at being witful.

A clip from the MTV movie awards promoting Tropic Thunder by making a viral video

All in all, Tropic Thunder in its entirety tickles every one of my buttons as a film lover. We have a combination of sharp acting, an original story, hilarious interplay between its leads, and a barrelfull of memorable one-liners. I haven’t even begun to scratch the surface about how amazing this film is, but I think 1300 words will do it enough justice for now. If you don’t believe me, then I highly recommend you get your hands on a copy with director’s commentary that you watch directly after you watch the film before you can start calling me daft. You absolutely won’t regret it. And of course, I’ll leave with another immortal scene from an already immortal movie.

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