Blu-ray Movie Reviews

Ben Stiller, Jack Black and Robert Downey Jr. lead an ensemble cast in "Tropic Thunder", an action comedy about a group of self-absorbed actors who set out to make the most expensive war film. After ballooning costs force the studio to cancel the movie, the frustrated director refuses to stop shooting, leading his cast into the jungles of Southeast Asia, where they encounter real bad guys.

This was a film that caught me totally off guard in theaters. I expected a pretty lame action comedy but ended up enjoying the hell out of this spoof. This is over the top comedy done perfectly. I absolutely loved how this film gave Hollywood the big finger, despite its high production values and top notch casting. From the farse trailers in the beginning to Tom Cruise’s insane antics as the big whig producer. This new director’s cut takes the hilarity up a notch with even more over the top goodness and the will to “go there”. A must see for comedy fans.

Dreamworks does an outstanding job with this HD transfer. The jungle backdrop is dripping with detail and depth and I loved the strong color palette. Fine object detail is as good as it gets and some of the close ups are incredible. Contrast is strong throughout with deep blacks and excellent shadow detail. It doesn’t get much better than this.

The Dolby TrueHD 5.1 mix is a great balance of environment and sheer dynamics. The film is a spoof of an action film and there is plenty here to fill up the soundstage. Bass extension is deep and I loved the panning effects of the helicopters. In the jungle there are plenty of ambient effects to fill the soundstage and you can get lost in the effect. Dialogue varies from time to time in clarity but tonal balance is good. Despite its comedy roots, this is a great sound design that will show off your home theater in prime form.

Lots of great themed extras on this one. You get a bunch of production features that cover casting, production and an inside look at the jokes of the film. I really loved the MTV awards spoof as well. A feature commentary is included along with some deleted and extended sequences. This disc is also BD-Live enabled and you can actually download supplements that pertain to the film, which is a rarity for most titles out there.

This was a great surprise this summer and Dreamworks has done a superb job with the Blu-ray package. The disc sports a reference quality A/V presentation and some great extras. Highly recommended.