Hey yo! Just a quick review on the movie Tropic Thunder. I caught it on Monday night, courtesy of Ripplevox. The movie was premiered at Lido and that's a cinema or rather a cineplex that I haven't been to in quite a while. I didn't really like the seats there. Somewhat uncomfortable since the backrest was a little too upright. Haha. Anyway, the approach of the movie was pretty interesting. It's basically about the making of a movie in a movie.

The opening set the tone of the movie. It showed the trailers from various movies, sorta like trailers that you would see in the cinemas but it's part of the actual movie. You might not realise the movie has actually started until 1 or 2 trailers in. Haha. The concept is very novel and interesting. The actual premise of the movie is about the shooting of a Vietnam war movie. The actual actors, Ben Stiller, Jack Black, Robert Downey Jr, Brandon t. Jackson and Jay Burchel plays a bunch of egotistical and narcissistic actors who are plays the soldiers of a team. However, due to raising costs, the producer, played by Tom Cruise, threatens cut the funding the movie and the hassled director, Steve Coogan, on the advise of the writer of the adapted book, Nick Nolte, decides to bring the 5 actors into the jungle and leave them there to experience the actual conditions while shooting with hidden cameras to capture the real emotions. Unfortunately, they land in an area occupied by heroin producers. Even after the director gets blown up by a land mine, the actors still have a hard time believing that it's real and not special effects. This leads to various situations where the group finds themselves in situations where they are firing blanks at enemies who are firing back with real bullets.

The main fake character, Tug Speedman, played by Ben Stiller, gets separated of the group and is captured. The rest of the team, lead by Kirk Lazarus, Robert Downey Jr, happens to find the village where Speedman is held and they decide to free him. In the process, they discover who they really are and after returning home, wins awards for the movie. Or rather the making of the movie.It was pretty funny, as expected from Ben Stiller who co-wrote the script as well as co-producing and directing the film, the movie was quite slapstick. However, the dialogue was engaging and pretty hilarious. The cameos by other stars were many and well used. It helped to complete that illusion of a movie in the movie.

The make-up was amazing, since they managed to make Tom Cruise and Robert Downey Jr almost unrecognizable. The acting was quite strong with Robert Downey Jr very convincing as a African-American sergeant, Jack Black as a heroin addicted actor and Ben Stiller as a over the hill actor worried about his career.Underlying the film though, the theme that is actually poking fun at the Hollywood industry with the various issues surrounding the industry and the actors. Although it doesn't really bring into focus the issues, it does give you some insight to the problems that stars face. However, the enjoyment of the film does not rely on the insight. If you walk into the theater expecting a fun 2 hours then that's what you'll get. Don't go in expecting a serious film dealing with serious issues and you'll do fine.

With almost a laugh a minute, the film is worthwhile enough to catch on a weekday as a light respite, probably best midweek for a refreshing break, but not really worth the weekend ticket price.