Team America: World Police Review
by Andrew Staker (mallowisious AT hotmail DOT com)December 4th, 2004
TEAM AMERICA: WORLD POLICE
The craziness of South Park applied to the craziness of the real world. Matt Stone and Trey Parker make a move from two dimensional animations to 3D third-scale marionette puppets garbled from the Thunderbirds. Playfully opening in a caricatured Paris, we soon see the "Islamic threat" carrying an ominous suitcase, flashing light and all. Have no fear though, as Team America, a valorous bunch of college-grads bearing Colgate smiles, descends from the sky and unleashes American-brand justice all over the City of Love. And how ungrateful the Parisians are after!
Tragically, a member is killed and so his replacement is found on the Broadway stage acting in his staring role of Lease, singing the "Everyone's got AIDS" number. Quite hilarious! Spotswoode, a sort of Charlie-like mentor-figure offers him the chance to save the world, and they soon jet off the Brooklyn Bridge in a white limousine!
Using his amazing acting skills, the new recruit Gary must penetrate a terrorist cell in Cairo to find out when the next big attack will be. I am not too keen to give away the rest of the plot, which is better enjoyed through viewing. Suffice to say that Kim Jong Il is the most suspect leader in the world, and when he teams up with the ultra-pacifist Film Actors Guild (FAG), headed by Alec Baldwin, it can only lead to doom.
What the filmmakers have done here is what they always do: make fun of everything and everyone. Their nihilistic irony is so stupendous that we are forced to laugh. Because they have no ideological allegiance, they can undermine the viewer's, whatever it happens to be. Michael Moore is sent through the shredder, but so are the folks of "Dirka-Dirka-stan". One eminent omission is George "Dubya" Bush, who is missing even amongst the world leaders at the global peace conference in Pyongyang.
The puppetry work is exceptional. Making no effort to hide the strings, Team America exploits the traits of the medium. As the puppets come with battery-powered facial features, they're very emotive. The movie includes one of the most bizarre sex-scenes ever, plus perhaps the most entertaining comic puke-up in history. There's also the soundtrack! It had the majority of the cinema in loud, masculine laughter. I whole-heartedly recommended it to everyone but those with rigid definitions of what satire and 'decency' are!
Andrew Staker
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