Tropic Thunder

Tropic Thunder is an enjoyable satire on war films, and Hollywood in general, from Ben Stiller who stars both in front of and behind the camera. Stiller shared writing duties with Justin Theroux, but took the helm in the director's chair on his own and has made the most accomplished film of his career. He also takes the lead role but it's costar Robert Downey Jr who steals every scene he's in. Stiller and Downey Jr join Jack Black as a trio of stereotypical Hollywood actors with inflated opinions of self. The three stars are cast in a Vietnam war movie, but when the director literally blows up the stars don't quite realise that the cameras are no longer running, and they attempt to complete the film anyway. A decent number of the film's laughs tend to be concentrated in the opening act, including some decent spoof trailers before the film proper. But Downey Jr. ensures even when the film loses its way ever so slightly once the stars are split up, it remains thoroughly enjoyable whenever he is on screen. He plays a 5 time Oscar winner who disappears so convincingly in his roles that for this one he has undergone skin pigmentation surgery to immerse himself in the role of an African-American hero. His sub hip-hop, jive-talking machine gun delivery is a delight and worth the price of admission alone.

Supporting turns from Matthew McConaughey and Tom Cruise bolster the star power, as if it's needed it, and Cruise especially enjoys himself playing an arrogant studio honcho. I can't quite work out what Stiller was thinking letting Cruise do a solo dance over the end credits - it' s bizarre, but reasonably amusing I suppose, although it worked much better earlier in the film when it actually felt like it fitted in to the screenplay. Minor and occasional quibbles aside, Tropic Thunder is a very good comedy that confirms Downey Jr's talent as one of the biggest around.

B+

Zodiac

It's rare that we agree, but, though I can't remember exactly what my colleague wrote, I think we're going to give this the same grade (unless I'm getting very confused, which frequently happens).

Zodiac follows a (loosely, at least) true story around a series of murders committed in the San Francisco area in the 1970's. It also takes a very clear position on who actually committed those murders, although (from the small amount of research I've done) it now appears that the man the film fingers has been cleared by DNA evidence. He's also been dead for a while, as the end of the film points out.

All in all it's a highly engaging, well-paced, thriller you can't take your eyes off. The mood and the pace are very well judged and the tension, while never aspiring to Silence of the Lambs like levels, builds nicely is overall pretty effective.
But, as with all films like this, the key lies in the performances. The film is full of interesting characters (with the exception of Anthony 'Dr Green' Edwards' dull detective) well played by the leads. My faith in Jake Gyllenhaal is restored after an unconvincing turn in Brokeback Mountain and Mark Ruffalo, an actor I had not consciously noticed or remembered before, is now on my radar.

The standout, however, is the comeback kid, Robert Downey Jr, whose eccentric, amusing and well-judged (sorry to repeat the phrase) journalist is the film's true highlight. It's a real shame that his character disappears in the last hour or so and somewhat unceremoniously. I don't know what that's about, perhaps they were just following the source material (the book written in real life by Robert Graysmith, Gyllenhaal's character) but that could have been got around and it is something of a disappointment. However, as things stand, all three will be shortlisted for my year-end top 5. There is also a nice little relationship between Graysmith and Melanie (Chloe Sevigny) which could have been developed more if it had been given more screen time.

Apparently, this story influenced Se7en, also directed by David Fincher. I'm not sure it's quite as good, but it certainly merits comparison.

A-