The Americans pull the strings. (Team America: World Police (DVD))

Member Name: Ailran

Product:	Team America: World Police (DVD)
Date:	23/08/05 (160 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Hilariously funny, over the top and has to be seen to be believed

Disadvantages: Sits on the fence a bit, very rude and crude

Imagine if you will a world where it is not only you having your strings pulled by your boss, imagine a world where everyone in it has strings attached to all their body and are made of wood. If you can do this you are well on the way to having a mental image of what the world of 'Team America: World Police' looks like!

'Team America' is the latest film from Trey Parker and Mike Stone, the creators of South Park (which I really hate!). They have taken the sensibilities of South Park and put them into a world of supermarionation or puppets.
'Team America' is the brains behind the adultification of kiddies cartoons doing their take on Thunderbirds.

It is sick, twisted, foul mouthed, full of violence and absolutely hilarious! Not since Peter Jackson's 'Meet The Feebles' has there been a film that subverts your memories of childhood icons so well.
It has been a while since I've heard so many people laughing out loud in a cinema and normally at things they really shouldn't be laughing at (a man throwing up, it's treatment of foreign nationals)

'Team America' is Thunderbirds in a modern, adult world. They have a base in Mount Rushmore, replete with opening heads and mouths to allow their various different vehicles to fly off to fight terrorism, just like International Rescue.

When we first join Team America they are in Paris. The city, and the world, is in imminent danger from terrorists that are getting weapons of mass destruction (WMDs) from somewhere. Team America rush in and by using superior firepower win the day. After this mission they decide they need to recruit an actor into their ranks. Someone who will be able to infiltrate the terrorist recruiting organisation undiscovered. Only an actor has the power to fool these men and find out where the WMDs are coming from.

From then on the story follows fairly traditional lines. The new boy has to be accepted by the rest of the team, the team has to stop the terrorists and uncover it's leader while dealing with it's own internal problems in America, problems that are caused by FAG (Film Actors Guild). The portrayal of the actors is superb, I will not tell you who is involved but they all look spot on and I'm not surprised that some of them (Sean Penn in particular) are up in arms over it.
'Team America' has some truly wonderful lines in it, my favourite being 'Well now I've seen everything' responded to by 'Have you seen a man eat his own head?'
It also has two of the funniest, most laugh out loudest scenes you'll ever see. A martial arts fight and a sex scene that just have to be seen to be believed. If you are not laughing after watching these you really are in the wrong film!

The only downside I can immediately think of is that the writers have managed to sit on the fence about US policy overseas. This may seem an odd thing to say seeing as Team America themselves can certainly be seen as a parody of American actions overseas, especially the way they act when not on American soil but they also heavily attack the liberals of the acting community very hard. It is difficult to decide where Parker and Stone stand, or whether they decided to take the safe option and attack everyone!

Amazingly Trey Parker not only wrote and directed the film but also did a large number of the voices and wrote and performed the soundtrack as well. And while bringing up the soundtrack 'Team America' has some of the best songs I've heard for a long time. They fit the sequences they are played behind. The Team America attack song, the montage song and 'Aids' are all ones to listen out for. I'm saying this as someone who hardly ever notices music in films; unless it is a vocalist/band I recognise and don't know the song (ala 'Accidentally in Love' by the Counting Crows in Shrek 2)

Finally the American rating for this film made me laugh. We may think we have to put up with odd additions to 12A certificated films (best examples Belleville Rendezvous with its warning of 'Mild Slapstick' and Le Divorce with 'Brief Injury') but the rating for Team America in America is: - R Rating (under 17 only allowed with a parent) contains graphic, crude, sexual humour, violent images and strong language: All involving puppets.

All in all if you liked South Park you'll enjoy this, if you didn't but like a bit of adult humour know and again you'll still probably like it. I loved it and cannot wait to get the chance to see it again.

Summary: How the Thunderbirds moving should have been made