Available on 4K UHD and Blu-ray
There is a subgenre of comedies that could never be made today. Blazing Saddles. Monty Python’s Life of Brian. Soul Man. A more recent entry into that subgenre, 2008’s Tropic Thunder, is Ben Stiller’s satire on Hollywood, its cast of characters, and what it takes to get a successful movie made. The stacked cast features Ben Stiller, Robert Downey Jr., Jack Black, Steve Coogan, Jay Baruchel, Danny McBride, Brandon T. Jackson, Bill Hader, Nick Nolte, Matthew McConaughey, and an unrecognizable Tom Cruise.
It is filled with tropes and dialects that are unacceptable in today’s society. On the contrary, it’s also very funny. Kino Lorber presents Tropic Thunder, for the first time, on 4K Ultra HD and also Blu-ray.
While being a caricature of Hollywood types, Tropic Thunder focuses mainly on the making of a Vietnam war film, where the director (Coogan), under the advice of the story’s creator (Nolte), puts the stars of his behind-schedule movie in the middle of the jungle to film the movie guerilla style. The lead actor is an over-the-hill action star (Stiller), who bombed at the box office for playing an intellectually disabled man. He’s trying to compete with his award-winning Australian method actor co-star (Downey). He’s so methodical, that he had his skin altered and appears to play the role in blackface (as well as altering his dialect to talk jive). Rounding out the crew is a drug-addicted comedian (Black), a product-endorsing rapper (Jackson), and a straight guy (Baruchel) who actually knows what he’s doing. Even the film’s producer (Cruise) is anti-Semitic and written as a stereotypical character. Despite the lack of political correctness, the film is not short on humor.
The 2-disc set includes a new 4K scan and restoration of the original Theatrical Cut with Dolby Vision HDR, as well as the Director’s Cut on Blu-ray. The new 4K transfer, supervised by Stiller himself, looks beautiful. With most of the movie taking place outside in the jungle, the scenery is green and lush. On the previous Blu-Ray release, there were many soft parts that almost looked blurry. By spreading the movie over a UHD100 disc, that compression issue is resolved. There’s a new DTS-HD 5.1 audio mix, as well as a lossless 2.0 one. With the various atmospheric sounds in the movie, the 5.1 mix plays well, although the bass could’ve used an uptick for the more explosive scenes.
All of the special features from the previously released Blu-ray have been ported over and are housed on the Director’s Cut disc. The packaging is clean and simple but typical of what we’ve come to expect from Kino Lorber. The slip sports new and different artwork from the case, which uses poster art. The discs have no artwork and are simply black with the disc titles and the KL logo.
Tropic Thunder on 4K UHD is a highly recommended upgrade for previous owners of the previously available DVD or Blu-ray discs, as well as those who are looking to add this farcical comedy to their physical media collection.
KB is a native New Yorker/Midwest transplant who’s into tech, sports, and the arts, especially film and music. He still aspires to be a DJ in his other life. You can frequently catch him watching Hitchcock classics, film noir, and anything Star Wars.
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