"Team America: World Police" isn't just a fun motion picture, it's the best time I've had at the movies in a long time. Tasteless, offensive and disgusting, it's the perfect antidote for a movie season loaded with too much political seriousness. A send up of the classic 1960s puppet show "Thuderbirds" along with empty-headed Jerry Bruckheimer epics, the movie reaches new highs by sinking to new lows.
The world is in desperate trouble. Terrorists are planning a worldwide attack, and the only ones who can stop them is Team America, an anti-terrorist squad that polices the world. Led by Spottswoode (voice of Daran Norris), the team recruits Broadway actor Gary Johnston (voice of Trey Parker) to infiltrate an Egyptian terrorist cell and gain information about the next attack.
Gary is at first unwilling, but comes around after an inspiring tour of the nation's capital, set to inspiring music, natch. But while they thwart an attack, they discover that there is an even bigger mastermind behind the conspiracy. North Korean President Kim Jong Il plots to destroy the worldwide infrastructure.
The team soon succumbs to personal problems, with psychologist Lisa (voice of Kristen Miller) and empathic specialist Sarah (voice of Masasa) vying for Johnston's affection, gung-ho martial artist Chris (voice of Matt Stone) harboring a deep-rooted hated of actors, and Gary harboring his own personal demons with his family. They must put aside their differences to fight for freedom and liberate the world from terrorists.
In someone else's hands, "Team America: World Police" could have been a very lazy effort, but Parker and Stone breath such life into the proceedings that one can not help but giggle cheerful despite themselves. The movie's title is obviously a knock at neo-con gunboat diplomacy, and right-wing military intervention around the globe is skewered effectively. However, self-righteous liberal filmmakers like Sean Penn, Alec Baldwin and Michael Moore are also trampled as well. The movie turns them into unwitting accomplices to terrorists by degrading American values.
"South Park" creators Parker and Stone continue to show why they're the most brilliant satirists active today. They refuse to take sides, pointing out the shortcomings of both right and left-wing forces, and even suggesting that the two are needed to balance each other out.
Like with the "South Park" movie, the film has a hilarious musical score. Only this time, the soundtrack is loaded not with spoofs of Broadway and Disney songs, but rather overly-patriotic fluff tunes like a Toby Keith-inspired flag-waving anthem called "Freedom isn't Free." Of course there's also the gung-ho going-into-action determination song "America! F*ck Yeah!" that wouldn't have been too out of place in a Reagan-era film, and the blatant anti-Bruckheimer love ballad "Pearl Harbor Sucked, and I Miss You" which takes some much needed swipes at Michael Bay and his horrible product.
The marionette puppet effects add to the zany nature of the film, and the facial expressions on the faces are amazingly well detailed. Of course, the bouncy way the creations walk is also part of the fun, as is the way they slowly move their arms in over-dramatic gestures.
That said, the movie is not without its problems. There is of course the much talked about scene of puppet sex between Gary and Lisa. The fact that what's on screen is already pretty disturbing, it makes you wonder just what Parker and Stone had to cut out to secure an R rating. Also, the movie oversimplifies the whole issue of terrorism by making it seem like all extremists are in cahoots, and that a good dose of quick American military action can solve anything.
To be fair, as a satire the oversimplication works as long as you don't take it too seriously. There's some smart messages buried in here, as long as you're willing to wade through the violence (puppets bleed, who would have thought?), sex humor and scatological visual effects, including what may be the longest puking scene in film history.
What remains is a witty bit of film-making for people who like something different, and that's certainly what "Team America" accomplishes with a gusto. While some Hollywood filmmakers insists on drowning their films with self-serving messages, it's good to see a film that lets a puppet holding a machine gun speak for itself.
8 out of 10 star. It's good to see Hollywood's sacred cows so thoroughly trashed alongside Bush-era military duplicity.
The world is in desperate trouble. Terrorists are planning a worldwide attack, and the only ones who can stop them is Team America, an anti-terrorist squad that polices the world. Led by Spottswoode (voice of Daran Norris), the team recruits Broadway actor Gary Johnston (voice of Trey Parker) to infiltrate an Egyptian terrorist cell and gain information about the next attack.
Gary is at first unwilling, but comes around after an inspiring tour of the nation's capital, set to inspiring music, natch. But while they thwart an attack, they discover that there is an even bigger mastermind behind the conspiracy. North Korean President Kim Jong Il plots to destroy the worldwide infrastructure.
The team soon succumbs to personal problems, with psychologist Lisa (voice of Kristen Miller) and empathic specialist Sarah (voice of Masasa) vying for Johnston's affection, gung-ho martial artist Chris (voice of Matt Stone) harboring a deep-rooted hated of actors, and Gary harboring his own personal demons with his family. They must put aside their differences to fight for freedom and liberate the world from terrorists.
In someone else's hands, "Team America: World Police" could have been a very lazy effort, but Parker and Stone breath such life into the proceedings that one can not help but giggle cheerful despite themselves. The movie's title is obviously a knock at neo-con gunboat diplomacy, and right-wing military intervention around the globe is skewered effectively. However, self-righteous liberal filmmakers like Sean Penn, Alec Baldwin and Michael Moore are also trampled as well. The movie turns them into unwitting accomplices to terrorists by degrading American values.
"South Park" creators Parker and Stone continue to show why they're the most brilliant satirists active today. They refuse to take sides, pointing out the shortcomings of both right and left-wing forces, and even suggesting that the two are needed to balance each other out.
Like with the "South Park" movie, the film has a hilarious musical score. Only this time, the soundtrack is loaded not with spoofs of Broadway and Disney songs, but rather overly-patriotic fluff tunes like a Toby Keith-inspired flag-waving anthem called "Freedom isn't Free." Of course there's also the gung-ho going-into-action determination song "America! F*ck Yeah!" that wouldn't have been too out of place in a Reagan-era film, and the blatant anti-Bruckheimer love ballad "Pearl Harbor Sucked, and I Miss You" which takes some much needed swipes at Michael Bay and his horrible product.
The marionette puppet effects add to the zany nature of the film, and the facial expressions on the faces are amazingly well detailed. Of course, the bouncy way the creations walk is also part of the fun, as is the way they slowly move their arms in over-dramatic gestures.
That said, the movie is not without its problems. There is of course the much talked about scene of puppet sex between Gary and Lisa. The fact that what's on screen is already pretty disturbing, it makes you wonder just what Parker and Stone had to cut out to secure an R rating. Also, the movie oversimplifies the whole issue of terrorism by making it seem like all extremists are in cahoots, and that a good dose of quick American military action can solve anything.
To be fair, as a satire the oversimplication works as long as you don't take it too seriously. There's some smart messages buried in here, as long as you're willing to wade through the violence (puppets bleed, who would have thought?), sex humor and scatological visual effects, including what may be the longest puking scene in film history.
What remains is a witty bit of film-making for people who like something different, and that's certainly what "Team America" accomplishes with a gusto. While some Hollywood filmmakers insists on drowning their films with self-serving messages, it's good to see a film that lets a puppet holding a machine gun speak for itself.
8 out of 10 star. It's good to see Hollywood's sacred cows so thoroughly trashed alongside Bush-era military duplicity.