Trey Parker and Matt Stone are the crudest, least
heroic heroes that I will ever have. After dabbling for
years in their profane and sophomoric indulgences on
Comedy Central’s animated “South Park” and then shoving
its characters into a spectacular motion picture, the
two have finally entered the political region of
satire’s gigantic map. The result is one that is less
likeable than some of their previous works, but funnier
and more daring, at the same time. Team America:
World Police may be the most tasteless film I have
ever seen in my entire life, but that didn’t bother me
in the least. It’s downright hysterical
The outrageous idea, itself,
is enough to make anyone laugh out of pure disbelief.
How ever did two warped guys convince a major movie
studio to finance a comedy about terrorists, starring
marionettes? But, all viewers must keep in mind that
this is a Parker/Stone film, as they watch it. The two
sophomoric, but tasteful filmmakers don’t pretend as if
they don’t know about the boundaries of humor and
offensiveness. They just like to push them as far as
they can, which just so happens to be a very long way.
Nevertheless, Team America enchanted me.
The movie follows a group of
terrorist-hunters who dub themselves as “Team America,”
and are sent on missions by their central computer
called I.N.T.E.L.L.I.G.E.N.C.E. The opening scene of the
movie follows them hunting down a group of terrorists
who have a weapon of mass destruction in Paris, France.
There, one of their team members, the beloved fiancé of
co-worker Lisa (voiced by Kristen Miller), is tragically
killed by the enemy. To replace him, they must recruit
Gary (voiced by Parker), an actor from the
Broadway-musical “Lease”. Gary will be Team America’s
token performer, acting his way into terrorists meetings
and babbling made-up lines of Farsi and emphasizing the
word “Jihad” at any oppurtunity he has.
As Gary goes into makeup,
North Korean Prime Minister Kim Jong Il (Parker) is
planning 9/11 X 1,000, in which he will release bombs
all over the world, and lead a new world order. He will
do this by pressing a button in his palace after Alec
Baldwin (voiced by Maurice LaMarche) delivers a
peace-bringing speech on behalf of the Film Actor’s
Guild (F.A.G.), which has belonging members such as Sean
Penn, Tim Robbins, and Susan Sarandon. Between this and
a suicide-bomber version of Michael Moore, with
mustarded-hotdogs in hand, the Team has their hands
full.
Keep in mind, all of this is
acted out as a puppet-play. When one member of Team
America drops his gun in favor of fist fighting with a
terrorist and “Making things interesting,” the two
basically bob up and down. Apparently, puppet’s arms do
not extend, in favor of crushing each other with fists.
They do, however, have hollow insides which can hold two
minutes worth of vomit inside of them. When a character
gives another oral sex, we see the recipient’s face
amidst the swaying strings of the other puppet.
Team America: World Police
makes fun of both political parties, but thankfully,
targets most of its jokes at the left. I finally sense a
bit of balance amdist Hollywood, thanks to Parker and
Stone. The best thing of all is: this movie doesn’t even
pretend to be factual. It goes ahead and mocks anyone
and everyone that it wants to, when it wants to. In all
of its grossness, Team America actually has
something to say about current-day-liberals. After Gary
delivers a gut-busting scatological analogy about the
relationship left, the right, and the true enemy,
out-staging Alec Baldwin at Kim Jong Il’s F.A.G. par-tay,
his opponent, the actor-turned-political-figure,
responds “But…but…the environment! And…global warming!”
Consider the unfortunate reality in that comment.
Amazingly, the film does not
directly toss cheap-shots at either presidential
candidate. The truth is that it really doesn’t need to.
Parker and Stone have made a satire that is crudely
observant, mocking the real fools of the earth, and not
wasting time on anyone else. In a sense, it is a scary
movie, marionettes or not. Make no mistake, I’m not
saying that there are any major truths in Team
America: World Police, but it did make me think of
some of its outspoken targets’ real priorities. F-Words
and puppet sex and nudity included, Team America
is one hell of a trip, both hilarious and wise, to one
degree or another.
-Danny, Bucket Reviews (10.17.2004)