Team America: World Police

The most realistic view of today's world and puppet sex. There are few movies that truly capture the essence of American in the post 9-11 world. Matt Damon is amazing as Matt Damon.

As much as I hate to admit it, Trey Parker and Matt Stone are actually quite talented in a sick twisted, strange, little way. After laughing my butt off during South Park Bigger, Longer & Uncut, I couldn't wait to see this movie. I was not disappointed.

This could be by far the funniest film this year. The plot is easy to follow, as it borrows from most action flicks you see these days, but the way in which it is made is incredible. The fact that these are puppets is enough to make you laugh throughout the entire film. The jokes are funny and don't fall flat. As I was watching the opening, I thought it might run out of steam as it went on. My ticket said it went for almost 2 hours, and I wondered how it would sustain the entire time. It flew. The film is a guilty pleasure.

And parents, before you take your kids to see this, then complain it was disgusting, please read the R Rating! Sit back, relax and watch, but not with coke in your mouth. It will get spit everywhere.

A guilty pleasure for sure. The humor is brazenly sophomoric, but this film gets away with it. Seeing marionettes performing the outrageous events in this chaos evoked some of the loudest laughs I've enjoyed in quite some time.

Terrorists, led by Korean dictator Kim Jong Il (sounding a lot like Elmer Fudd with a head cold) who has a routine aspiration to take over the world, are up against the Team America World Police. Peace activists from Hollywood also find their way into this film's psychotic universe. The socio-political mockeries are rampant everywhere, and no one is safe from this movie's vigilante response. Characters are impaled, decapitated, shot up, burned up, drowned, blown to bits etc.

The deliberately hokey puppetry work is priceless. Wires are clearly visible, (but cleverly not visible when the focus joke of a scene would be upstaged by their appearance), and the awkward, jerky movements while walking or dancing are integrated well. Puppets seen bouncing around in vehicles, or sitting stiffly in their chairs make the effect obvious too. My personal favorite action scene is the aerial dogfight while the Team America freedom fighters are discussing their soap opera love entanglements while they blast enemy planes in cheesy special effects explosions.

No mention of this film would be complete without acknowledging the brilliant love ballad, "Pearl Harbor Sucks, and I Miss You." This gag was absolute genius (and I couldn't agree with the sentiment more). Some of the other music score was clever too, fitting the general tone and style of the movie's humor.

There's a lot of language and intimate scenes not appropriate for all audiences. There seems to be a trend lately to show somebody puking, too, and the movie has a grossly protracted scene of this which seems like the film makers felt obligated to include it. Some of the in-your-face gross-out humor is overdone, but the movie is still overall a laugh riot.

Recommended for most audiences, if gross-out humor doesn't bother you.

Team America:World Police does have its flaws but it is a hilarious and exceptionally crafted satire. It is very easy to be offended by this sort of film, as this film pokes fun at everybody and everything and is not kind about it. And I do admit the plot is a little obvious, some scenes like the vomit sequence are drawn out a bit too much and some(heavy emphasis on this word) of the writing goes overboard. But it is very funny, with some genuinely hysterical moments especially the lampooning of Hollywood stars and works surprisingly well as a satire with clear sardonic wit in places. Technically and visually, this film is exceptional, the backgrounds, puppetry and lighting are all superb and award worthy. The music is also excellent, and there is some great vocal work. Overall, Team America:World Police isn't for everyone, I for one had to see it a few times to completely get what was going on. It is flawed, but it is very well done as a satire. 7/10 Bethany Cox

I'm sure plenty of parochial critics will berate this film for anti-American values during the current "war on terror"....BUT...the great thing about this film is that no one is spared being mocked. This bears the standard of a great film by expressing the ironies innate in every argument in this quasi-political tale; from socialist Michael Moore, fashionably charitable celebrities to the terrorists and the, ahem "world police." This couldn't be more accurately summed up than in one of the funniest ever analogies that is employed in this film; the "Dic*s, P*ssies, and a*s*holes, argument." This film also wonderfully parodies the standard conventions and cliché's of the action film genre to create an entertaining, and gleefully controversial film.