Leave it to the zany minds behind “South Park” to create a fair and balanced assault against the War on Terror.
“Team America: World Police” still stands as the only comedy to mock jingoistic country crooners AND self-important actors. And Trey Parker and Matt Stone do it all via marionettes, a form of puppetry which makes the Muppets look like a CGI effect.
Parker and Stone clearly know their movies. “Team America” mocks with love, even if the boys can’t resist injecting their story with potty-mouth metaphors.
“Team” follows a squad of U.S.-based fighters who recruit an actor to infiltrate a terrorist network readying a fresh attack. The twisted plot is even bigger than they think, and it’s being orchestrated by Kim Jong-Il himself. The marionette representing the North Korean dictator is priceless, even if his voice falls back on a silly Asian accent.
Naturally, Team America destroys everything in its path to smite the enemy, leaving the Louvre in shambles without so much as a second thought.
“Team” delivers some impressive set design, like a sweet Mount Rushmore which doubles as Team America’s headquarters, but no modern technology can make marionettes walk or talk in convincing fashion. And that’s half the fun. Watching these marionettes prance across the screen, or even engage in some R-rated lovemaking, is a visual gag that never tires.
The musical sequences are a mixed bag, but any film which dedicates an entire number to the grand suckiness of Michael Bay’s “Pearl Harbor” deserves its rightful place in movie history.
“Team America” gleefully taunts actors like Sean Penn and Tim Robbins who insist on injecting themselves into the political debate. The jokes here are scattershot at best, but the novelty - and ferocity - of the attack makes it noteworthy. Clearly, Stone and Parker aren’t interested in attending many Hollywood cocktail parties - at least without a bodyguard in tow.
“Team America: World Police” can’t sustain its inspired level of humor, falling back on gross-out gags in the final reel. But until then the film’s satiric swipes are as breathtaking funny as they are bold.
(Photo: “Team America: World Police” sends up action movies, U.S. foreign policy and much, much more)
{ 5 comments… read them below or add one }
opus 08.24.08 at 3:50 pm
I really wanted to like this movie, really really wanted to, but with the exception of a few good laughs here and there the film bored me to tears.
cftoto 08.24.08 at 6:46 pm
My wife agrees, Opus. She fled the room after about 20 min. last night. But I’m a sucker for the South Park duo’s irreverance.
cftoto 08.24.08 at 6:47 pm
My wife agrees, Opus. She fled the room after about 20 min. last night. But I’m a sucker for the South Park duo’s irreverence.
Mad Minerva 08.24.08 at 11:58 pm
Oh, there’s plenty of things to find offensive in the flick…but to this very day I’m still singing “I’m so RONELY!” The Kim Jong-Il puppet was sheer genius, and for me, all the flick’s sins are basically forgiven because of that — and the Pearl Harbor song.
There’s also that great little detail in how locations around the world are labeled in terms of how far they are away from the US, including “Panama, Central America — X miles south of the real America.” Priceless.
(And “South Park,” when it’s good, is very very good indeed, though the sheer pottymouthiness of it turns off a lot of folks.)
Dimitrios 08.25.08 at 2:17 pm
I wish I could find the article on ain’t it cool news that discussed this movie, but what struck me was that both Trey and Parker told the puppeteers to purposely try and make the puppets seem less real. I know it doesn’t make sense to try and make something that isn’t real less real, but maybe Trey and Parker were shooting for a version of puppeteering that matches their animation style.
I can’t say I was blown away by Team America. I guess I was expecting something as great as the South Park movie, but I will watch it all the way through if I settle on it while switching channels.
But I am a total sucker for anything these guys do, I even laughed at Baseketball, but couldn’t make it through more than 5 minutes of that pornogasm film they made.