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Review of Team America World Police
The movie is essentially a parody of your standard summer blockbuster. In this case we have "Team America", the stereotypical hodge podge band of freedom fighters brought together to kick ass (not surprisingly) for America and for Freedom. It turns out that marionettes are the ideal vehicle for such a film: the summer blockbuster genre has at its very core the super huge special effect. A parody would be hard pressed to convincingly duplicate these effects. But these are puppets. So the effects are supposed to look silly. And this is fortunate: the film takes constant blissful pleasure in the blockbuster tradition of demolishing national monuments, from the Eiffel tower to Mount Rushmore.
Our team of freedom fighters hits all the standard cliche's: we lose a member, find a replacement, who gets jaded and ultimately must come to terms with his feelings about his job while the team comes to accept the new guy.
Of course, there is some sort of a plot as well. In South Park the movie, Parker used Saddam Hussein as his evil joke. This time it's Kim Jong-il. He's really no different than Saddam was last time around. Just a ludicrous bad guy. In this case he's busy masterminding a stupid plot where he unifies the hollywood liberals and various terrorist organization as part of your standard wreck the world plan. It's thin, but no thinner than what it parodies.
I think my general concern going into this movie was the politics. The movie could very easily get mired down in preaching a point. But thankfully it never really does that. It simultaneously makes fun of liberal hollywood actors, and the rah rah 'Go America' right wing stereotype. But the movie isn't really picking sides: it's more about parodying the genre of summer blockbuster then it is about right vs left or war vs peace. Thats a good thing. Parker has proven time and time again that he can make simple points very well. South Park has addressed countless social issues over the years, and the feature film really took issues like censorship and parenting in a very meaningful way. Team America doesn't spend much time trying to seriously address the issues. It's just simple fun.
The other major concern that I harbored was that the marionette jokes would run thin. As I said before, the use of marionettes works great for mocking special effects, but the film easily could have constantly referred back to the fact that we are watching puppets. There are only a few jokes like that. Since they are used so sparingly, they make it all the more amusing when it happens. And there's a lot of hilarity to be derived from puppet sex when the film is pretending to be serious about it.
Like all of Parker's movies, they come out guns blazing, and 30 minutes in, I find myself needing a commercial break. The jokes are constant and funny. Maybe too funny. By the middle of the film you see something funny but are so desensitized that it's tough to muster another laugh. Of course then they turn around and beat you over the head with something new.
It's also worth noting that the facial puppetteering is really cool. Everyone involved should be really proud of themselves for pulling off something so visually unique.
I really enjoyed the film. I went in with high hopes and was pleased to have them all met. Even my wife, who is quite sick of South Park and wasn't looking forward to watching this at all came out absolutely giddy with laughter.
If you're a South Park fan, you'll love this movie. If you're a fan of summer blockbusters, and can tolerate the language, you'll love this movie. If you're a prude, watch something else. As for me, this is the first movie in months that I decided to buy the DVD before it was over.
Which sadly translates into extreme-right poltics, kids loving things like "the ownership society," failing or refusing to understand what FDR did, etc.
This is pretty bad because people who would like to keep things like social security and the SEC alive. Its natural to dismiss authority in the form of the two political parties, but if GenY and GenX think far-right politics with a close relationship with the GOP is good for them, then they are only fooling and hurting themselves.
Oh well, back to fart jokes and celebity bashing. Didnt both these guys receive federal aid when they went to college? Arent they both Hollywood celebrities as much as anyone else? I mean, they arent like indie rockers who shun the mainstream, they show up at all sorts of fancy galas, events, awards ceremonies, etc. Can you smell the H word? I can.
I'm so sick of this "cool neo-libertarian crap." You get to whine about taxes, blame everything on the two party system, and then still be about legalizing drugs and being pro-gun. The best part is you just memorize a couple lines and you seem like a bright guy at parties. Sure beats donating to the ACLU or being associated with liberal 'girly men.' And of course none of this will be put into practice so no one can call you on your ideological BS. Nothing like complaining with no plan to do something about it.
Matt Damon
They must be using some really high tech marionettes in order for it to be mentioned in slashdot
Do you mean the people that were devastatingly on target about the idiocy of trying to conquer Iraq, long before it happened, long before perps began to admit failure?
Do you mean the Governorship thief that inspires rewriting the Constitution for foreigners with Nazi ties, so they can be President?
Tired cliches indeed.
Ironically, the Troll is rated funny, and the ac who is annoyed by the troll is rated troll.
Just one question... Who was the dumbass mod that did this?
spongebob is an idiot. you're an idiot. go drink troll juice mr trolly troll troll.
The reason girls and Windows users don't understand UNIX is because all the documentation is in Man files.
Am I the only one that thinks Taco comes off as an asshole almost everytime he says something?
Damn! The dude starts a crappy but popular website and he thinks he's God or something? He can't even spell!
What do he mean "if you're a prude, watch something else?"
What kind of language is that? "watch" is imperative. I'll do whatever I feel like -- irregardless of whether I'm a prude or not.
He probably orders stuff with "give me" instead "can I have." Rude bastard.
I thought that is what GW is for. I swear, he can make me go from crying for all humanity to laughing hysterically - and he intends neither.
My beliefs do not require that you agree with them.