Tropic Thunder is a movie about people filming a movie based on a Vietnam war novel written by a Mr. “Four leaf” Tayback. Pay attention because this can get confusing with all the movie talk within a movie. The actors are playing actors. Downey is playing an Australian who is playing an African American soldier. It’s utter madness. The opening scene of Tropic Thunder is the plateau of action in the movie that they’re making. All the action is obviously a fake war scene, but it has some deliciously fake injuries followed with some deliciously fake blood and guts. After that however, the action stops and the comedy takes over.
The movie does have action, yet I would say it is mostly a comedy. After the opening scene, the movie calms down until the end. Then it comes back with an explosive ending, quite literally. So, I wouldn’t recommend watching this movie for the action. Watch it for the humor, and of course, the eye candy that you get with Stiller, Downey, and McConaughey. It makes you feel like a fat kid in a candy store, wanting to hungrily grab everything/everyone that you see.
Guys getting killed (Bad guys): Flaming Dragon
Amount of time before action: ~ 5 min
Best Kill: Again, the only real kill of the movie. The director of the movie is with the actors (Downey, Stiller, Black, Jackson, and Baruchel) right when he drops them off in the middle of the jungle for some “real fight sequences.” He is yelling at the actors to get it together because the movie is about to get shut down. He says that they will be choppered out when they get all the movie shots that they need: the chopper is God and he is Jesus. Then, he turns around, steps on an old land mine and blows up…to pieces…with chunks falling down over the rest of the guys. Nice and juicy.
Best line: Downey is talking to Stiller about Stiller’s role as a retarded boy in a movie called Simple Jack. Stiller was commenting on how he got into the role so much that he really felt retarded. Downey replied,
“You was fartin’ in the bathtubs and laughin’ yer ass off, wasn’t ya? Ya went full retard.”
Best Explosion: When the movie is coming to a close, everyone is trying to escape the Flaming Dragon group. Cody, the pyrotechnics guy for the movie, wires a bridge with explosives. As Stiller is running across the bridge, they blow it up. It blows Stiller to the other side and takes down a tower beside the bridge.
Rating: 2 decapitated Panda bears, out of 5
