Team America: World Police Movie Review:


Well it seems it doesn’t take much for South Park creators Trey Parker and Matt Stone to offend someone with their politically incorrect and often abrasive version of humor. After watching the first ten minutes of their new film, someone is sure to scream for a refund. But is it warranted? So what is all the fuss about this time? They’re just puppets for crying out loud.

Commander Spottswoode, head of an elite strike team who combats terrorism worldwide, hires Broadway actor Gary Johnston to infiltrate an arm’s dealer’s hideout and uncover the secrets of the biggest terrorist plot mankind has ever known. Spottswoode’s Team America consists of team leader Chris, flying ace Sarah, blonde bombshell Lisa and martial arts expert Joe.

“Team America” is a mature-theme fueled cross between those giant abrasive Jerry Bruckheimer action flicks and Gerry Anderson’s “Thunderbirds”. Except what the creators of “South Park” have done is take Anderson’s style of storytelling and take it into a whole new level. The movement of the puppets is still stiff and corny but it now has an R-rated edge.

One of my favorite characters in the film had to be the abrasive Spottswoode who is an abrasive version of the “Thunderbirds” patriarch Jeff Tracy. It is pretty uncanny how the character’s voice even sounds like Tracy. I wonder if his name is intentionally similar to action director Roger Spottiswoode, who directed the Mel Gibson action film “Air America”.

But my overall favorite character in the film is North Korean leader Kim Jong Il. Trey Parker’s portrayal of the character is utterly hysterical especially when he faces Hans Blix (who is also voiced by Parker). That whole scene is “fall-out-of-your-seat” funny. Then to top off the brilliant character he breaks into a melancholy song called "I'm So Ronery". It is probably the best zany villain since Dr. Evil from Austin Powers.

The variations of theme, scope and characterizations alone make the film watchable. Then there are a lot of delightful songs that reminded me a lot of song-comedian Weird Al. I especially loved the songs “I Hate Pearl Harbor” which pokes fun at the Bruckheimer epic and "Freedom Isn't Free" which is sung in the vein of country star Toby Keith.

If you can get past the offensive subject matter and see that the film is actually poking fun at itself than you may find yourself in stitches. There is a lot of clever humor here.

The problem with “Team America” is that at about the one hour mark the jokes seem to be less frequent and it kind of begins to become overly gratuitous. And in some ways that is the biggest emulation to Jerry Bruckheimer in the film. In his action films he has always had problems with his third acts.

(3.5 out of 5)

So Says the Soothsayer

Dean Kish

The world is danger. Terrorists want to destroy our way of life and are not afraid of using WMDs (Weapons of Mass Destruction) to achieve this. As the people of the civilised world cower in fear there is only one group of people who can save us, Team America: World Police. From their secret base they fly out to the danger zones and stop terrorists in their tracks but they are getting clever and organises and now Team America need something to combat this, an actor.

Trey Parker and Matt Stone have been satirising America for years with their hugely successful animated series South Park but can they have the same success with marionettes? F*ck, yeah!

Taking a swipe at everything American, whatever the political or social persuasion, Parker and Stone make a big joke out of the current role the US sees itself as having in the world at the present time but they also put an intelligent message of tolerance and different kinds of extremism as well. Not taking either a Republican or Democratic stance, the movie takes shots at both sides and this is why is succeeds so well. It highlights American disregard for other cultures, religions and ways of life but also shows the extreme liberal view of leaving everyone to their own devices and concentrating on all the issues. It portrays the divided America the rest of the world see but the American themselves seem to be blind to.

The underlying message is presented in an extremely funny way however. Paying homage to Gerry Anderson’s Supermarionation, Parker and Stone take everything what was great about the cult 60s series and add a lot of new millennium humour. Now we have marionettes killing people, swearing, destroying famous landmarks and partaking in puppet passion. The characters are clichés, taken straight out of Jerry Bruckheimer action flicks. With over-the-top dialogue, excessive slow motion violence and a gung ho attitude, this could so easily be a Bruckheimer movie if it wasn’t for the fact that you where watching marionettes.

Making fun of the US Government and celebrities Alec Baldwin, George Clooney, Janeane Garofalo, Susan Sarandon, Tim Robbins, Sean Penn, Michael Moore, Samuel L. Jackson and Matt Damon, the film even makes the villain, North Korean leader Kim Jong-Il loveable, even though he is slightly mad. All of the terrorists look like Osama Bin Laden and the only disappointment is that there isn’t a George W. Bush marionette. Our heroes are typical, all-American heroes who are overly positive and hit the bottle when things do go their way (with hilarious results).

Trey Parker and Matt Stone have produced a hysterical movie with a message. As they do with their South Park show, they push the boundaries of decency to their extremes but they also have a social or political significance to accompany it and this is were Team America: World Police succeeds. All they want is that America don’t take themselves too seriously and they learn to understand that they are other people in the world other than them, only with loads of childish, gross out humour.

Star Rating = * * * *

Jamie Kelwick

 

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