Tropic Thunder

Tropic Thunder

DVD Rating: ***1/2

Reviewed by: Stephen Carty

Read Stephen Carty's film review of Tropic Thunder

Just watched Tropic Thunder and want to find out all about it? Well you’re in for a hooker-killing, lead-farming treat here as the three-disc set has more than three hours of extras, plus a digital copy.

Beginning on disc one, we have two of the usual obligatory audio commentaries. The first is a little dry as it features writer/director/star Stiller, co-writer Justin Theroux (who seems to be dressing like Colin Farrell) and a bunch of under-appreciated crew members as they all seriously muse over the film’s creative difficulties. Thankfully, the second has Downey Jr doing the whole thing as Osiris, blowing away Stiller’s largely-the-same-as-last-time information and Jack’s apologies for being late while living up to his assertion that he doesn’t drop character till the DVD commentary.

Copy picture

As for the second disc, this is where the real meat lies. There’s a multiple-part making-of featurette that offers many gems regarding the movie’s genesis (including how to blow things up and where the mud came from), an impressive set of mockumentaries giving us a faux making-of piece (in which Steve Coogan describes Stiller’s Eighties George Michael-esque stubble as “Viet Wham”) and a makeup test with Tom Cruise (which is, exactly as it sounds).

However, literally blowing these all away is the MTV Movie Awards clip that has the three leads in Stiller’s office taking pop shots at each other in the way you’d expect them to if they had a real life feud. “I got two words for you. Heartbreak and Kid”.

Reviewed on: 27 Jan 2009
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Actors take their craft a little bit too far in war comedy...
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Product Code: DSL1561

Region: 2

Ratio: 16:9

Sound: Dolby Digital 5.1

Extras: Cast Commentary with Ben Stiller, Jack Black and Robert Downey Jr, Featurettes: Blowing Shit Up/The Hot LZ/The Cast of Tropic Thunder, Full Mags, Make-Up Test with Tom Cruise, MTV Movie Awards, Filmmaker's Commentary, Before The Thunder, Designing The Thunder, Rain of Madness Mockumentary, Dispatches from the Edge of Madness, deleted scenes, extended sequences, alternative ending, video rehearsals


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