Posted on 06/01/2005 10:33:19 PM PDT by ambrose
Team America World Police
South Park's creators return with a send-up of the "War on Terror" using a cast of puppets
Team America: World Police sets its sights on the "War On Terror" with a group of 'Thunderbirds'-style marionettes emerging from their secret headquarters inside a hollowed-out Mount Rushmore to battle terrorism around the globe. Only the twisted geniuses behind 'South Park' could come up with a project so shamelessly designed to cause offense. Team America: World Police is the latest outing for Trey Parker and Matt Stone, whose reputation as equal-opportunities offenders precedes them by many miles. Even so, they've never been quite as shocking as they are here.
Faced with Arab extremists being armed with WMD by North Korea's Kim Jong Il (imagine Cartman crossed with Ronnie Corbett and a James Bond villain), Team America recruit Broadway actor Gary Johnston (voiced by Parker) to help them infiltrate a terrorist cell. Meanwhile, back home, liberal Hollywood types led by Michael Moore, Alec Baldwin and Tim Robbins are campaigning against Team America's international meddling while naively joining forces with the scheming North Korean dictator.
Taking its visual cues from small screen marionette adventures like 'Captain Scarlet', 'Thunderbirds' and 'Terrahawks', Parker and Stone's film manages to blow the world up for much the same price as Pearl Harbor director Michael Bay blowing his nose. Within the first 10 minutes the Eiffel Tower, Arc De Triomphe and the Louvre are demolished. Later scenes feature such mind-bogglingly fiendish events as Hans Blix (Parker again) being fed to sharks by Kim Il Jong ("Inspect that you cockflucker!"), Michael Moore turning himself into a suicide bomber, and a graphic marionette sex romp (though this was trimmed for American release).
All of this deliberately offensive material is likely to come as no surprise to anyone who's ever watched 'South Park'. However, what is a surprise is just how politically one-sided so much of it is. Ruthlessly satirising Hollywood's liberal clique of anti-war protesters (they're branded the Film Actors Guild - or FAG - just one of many homophobic jibes), Team America presents Michael Moore and co as pompous fools ready to sell America out to terrorists. It all builds towards a rousing speech that's a (barely) veiled metaphor for the fight against international terrorism. "We're reckless, arrogant, stupid dicks," explains Gary. "And the Film Actors Guild are pussies. And Kim Jong Il is an asshole." The upshot is that dicks (Team America) have to fuck both assholes (the terrorists) and pussies (the liberals) in order to keep the world a safer place.
It'd be a relief to be able to dismiss such facile political posturing as a bad joke, but the sad fact is that Parker and Stone have never been so one-sided. With no mention of Bush, Guantanamo Bay or the neoconservatives, it's clear that this pusillanimous puppet tale doesn't have the gall to attack the real life puppet masters who pull the strings.
Verdict
Offensive, funny and foul-mouthed, this manic marionette comedy has its finger on the pulse, its mind in the gutter and its politics firmly in the White House.
Its hard to ridicule the side that is so obviously right and will inevitably be the eventual victor--you heard me, inevitably.
I love reading these reviews for Team America--this is, I think, the fourth--that whine about it being one-sided. I've never--NEVER--read this complaint about any other satire or parody film, not to mention politically "serious" films like F-911.
I never knew there were "rules" for comedies. It's unfair to ONLY bash one side, you must bash all sides in a comedy. OK, tell that to the maker of The Great Dictator, To Be Or Not To Be, and Dr. Strangelove (I don't recall too much mockery of anti-nuke/anti-war people in that one).
I may even buy the DVD just to support (and re-enjoy) these blatantly politically INcorrect 'puppets'.
F#*k YEAH!
I loved seeing Mickey Moore blast himself into whale chunks. Also, seeing Team America cap some of the most loathsome Hollwierd types was fantastic (Jeanine Garofalo's head imploding was delicious).
There are 3 kinds of people.
Dirks!
Pouisses!
and The French (a--holes)
Bella Abzug lookalike Roger Ebert actually whined that releasing 'Team America' so close to the election might affect the outcome. The porky Disney coolie didn't have these reservations about 'Fahrenheit 911', to which he gave an enthusiastic thumbs-up, the hypocrite.
One sided, sure, but I battled folk here about the wonderful show, Penn & Teller's Bull Sh**. Freepers got all high and mighty about the show that ripped on Mother Theresa (but oddly no one bitched about the tooling that Ghandi got).
Of course, none of them spoke up a week later when the show exposed the blatant liberal bias and BS speech codes at our universities.
Same as it ever was....
Seperated at birth....
Roger Ebert and Micky Moore.
Didn't see that episode. I'd already cancelled Showtime.
Same as it ever was.
What, your condescending attitude?
I have to admit that I took special relish in the opening sequence when La Tour Eiffel went splat. I know, it is schadenfreunde, but I just couldn't stop the chuckles...
You would have liked it, they completely tooled over Noam Chomsky and ripped the crap out of a diversity guy at a Minnesota university.
A very right winged episode, sorry you missed it by being a one note activist.
You're so superior. How do you manage to deign to speak to us proles?
</Sarcasm>
Team America, F-Yeah!!
-Dan
I watched it with my grown son. I almost died. Never ever, ever, ever watch it with your kids. I wanted to melt into my chair. I covered my face,
Easy, I just took leasons from the holier than thou born again christians on FR that attack rather than try to reason and think.
(not sarcasm, but I wish it was)
Sure, its a flux capacitor, but Buckaroo Banzai already had the overthruster well before Back to the Future.
Team Banzai!!!
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