ARTSETC.
Marionette Masterpiece
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Also by David Steinhaus:
- Revealing secret sex lives of celebrities (February 1, 2005)
- Vanishing Point finds lyrical balance (January 19, 2005)
- Linkin Park, Jay-Z perfect collaborative records (December 3, 2004)
- Jimmy Eat World returns strong on Futures (November 4, 2004)
- Affleck's new seasonal flop (October 28, 2004)
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by David Steinhaus
Friday, October 15, 2004
Trey Parker analyzes some of the jokes in his new film “Team America: World Police” on Late Night with Conan O’Brien by saying, “When you keep going with something funny for too long, it can easily become unfunny. But then, I’ve found that if you just keep pushing it, it can become funny again.” Matt Stone, co-creator of the movie, then adds, “And we push it even farther past that until it’s not funny again.”
“Team America: World Police,” written by Stone and Parker (the creators of South Park) and directed by Parker, focuses on a squad of anti-terrorism fighters. The team — despite its name — operates independently and is unaffiliated with any country. These “world police” have a secret base in Mt. Rushmore, fly around in high-tech vehicles, attempt to thwart any terrorist attacks detected by their super computer (I.N.T.E.L.L.I.G.E.N.C.E.) and usually demolish everything and everyone nearby in the process. Oh yeah, and did I mention that the entire movie is done with marionettes?
The movie that reportedly “puts the ‘F’ back in freedom” cost around $32 million to make and does its best to leave no one unoffended. But it also doesn’t allow anyone to go five minutes without laughing, either.
The very base plot centers on Team America losing a member in the film’s opening obliteration of Paris — to which the audience responded with cheers and applause). The team needs to find a suitable replacement and finds one in Gary, an actor starring in “Lease: The Musical,” a play that celebrates the fact that everyone in it has AIDs — as is fiercely demonstrated in the performance’s main theme, “Everyone Has AIDs.” So Gary is recruited for his acting skills and ability to infiltrate terrorist hideouts.
North Korean leader Kim Jong Il is Team America’s main enemy. Jong is played out like an insane Asian Cartman. He whines, throws fits and feeds U.N. weapons inspectors to his pet sharks. The other opposition to Team America is a group of liberal activist celebrities who form the Film Actor’s Guild, referred to throughout the film as F.A.G. Alec Baldwin — labeled the “greatest actor in the history of acting” — leads the group in its attacks against Team America. F.A.G. also includes Tim Robbins, George Clooney and a hilariously monosyllabic Matt Damon, among others. Parker and Stone eventually have their way with the celebrities, exterminating each of the stars in their own unique manner.
You may be asking, “Does the movie take too political of a stance?” I think the gallons of vomit that erupt out of one character lay out a resounding “No!” The president and the election are never mentioned once.
“Everyone will probably be so confused, they’ll just vote for Nader,” Stone said in a recent Rolling Stone interview. “If a movie makes you think that much, you’re too weak-kneed to vote anyways.”
The marionette idea was inspired by the British television series “Thunderbirds,” a favorite of Parker’s. At some points throughout the film it is easy to forget that you are watching puppets, with the combination of visually amazing sets and an engaging plot. But then that allows the filmmaker to use the woodenness of the actors to be even funnier. For example, it is hilarious in one intense fight scene where two puppets run towards one another and just sort of jump up and down together. The whole battle, when put to Bruckheimer-esque music, rivals any “Crouching Tiger” squabble that’s been seen before. The acting performances are brilliantly subtle, not necessarily due to great direction, but just to the fact that the marionettes have a very limited range of motion.
The songs in the film need a moment’s recognition. Trey Parker has once again brought some new classics to the table. There is the song all about how Pearl Harbor sucked. It goes, “Pearl Harbor sucked a lot/ And I miss you almost as much.” One scene is accompanied by the upbeat song “Montage!” which explains how to create the perfect training montage. And the one that had the audience chanting along was Team America’s theme, which consists mainly of the words, “America … F-CK YEAH!”
But “Team America: World Police” also knows when to take a breather from the humor. There are some very awkward and serious scenes that end up being funnier than some of the intentionally comedic ones. Even when there is nothing funny going on onscreen, I still found myself constantly giggling at the hilarity and extremely unbelievable scenes on screen.
The level of offensiveness in the movie is equally as high as the humor level though. Foreign dialects are especially emphasized to achieve this effect. For instance, Panamanians apparently say nothing else ever besides, “No me gusta!” Also, there is an already infamous sex scene that had to be re-edited nine times before the MPAA finally approved the movie for an R rating. I hear Jim Henson had the same problems.
A sense of humor is definitely the key to enjoying “Team America: World Police.” Without one, no one will be safe in the theater. And the film does have an actual moral behind it, but it is an analogy so dirty that it’s impossible to explain in print. Remember, when seeing this movie to ride out the jokes past the humor, past where it gets insulting and back to where it gets funny again. Also, stick with it until you get ill, annoyed and happy all at the same time.
Anonymous (October 15, 2004 @ 1:22pm):
My god, this reviewer truely captured the spirit of Team America: World Police. It's almost as if he can go inside of the creator's minds when ever he chooses. Even though I have seen this movie and want it to have my babies, I want david steinhaus to have my first born. Any of the five people who read this should know that this writter makes a great person to hold onto during some of the movie's "frightening" scenes.
-K. MacLeod
