If you are easily offended and don't enjoy vulgarity for its own sake, Team America: World Police is probably not a film for you.
The creators of South Park certainly kept to their guns, and their strategy was obviously to offend everyone uniformly. I appreciated that attempt. Liberals and conservatives were both attacked and the world politics of the day as well.
As only a moderate fan of South Park, I was surprised to find myself laughing out loud at many of the pranks in the film. Often, when I thought I could clearly see the direction a scene was going to take, the scene would take a different direction that was equally funny.
The audience seemed to enjoy the film more than me, laughing so loud that I couldn't hear the dialogue for a moment.
I really don't expect to be caught off guard with displays of shock humor, but Trey Parker and Matt Stone did an excellent job of taking scenes as far as they could. Yes, there were scenes when I rolled my eyes for a moment, but they quickly passed, and I was laughing again.
The movie, as its title suggests, takes place all over the world. The opening sequence takes place in Paris where the five-member Team America group thwarts a terrorist with a weapon of mass destruction and his gang.
As happens in most locations in this film, fighting the terrorists consists of destroying the city especially historic icons. Innocent bystanders are often killed as well. This is good for a small laugh but becomes tiresome.
The puppetry is essential for the comedy in the same sense that South Park is funny because it's a cartoon. The puppets' faces exhibit plenty of expression and happily went beyond my expectations.
However, the strings are left extremely visible, obviously an intended effect. The limitations in the puppets' movements are made fun of because it is so obvious. This doesn't hamper the film in any way. In fact, it adds to the humor in quite a few scenes.
Yes, the puppets have sex in a very graphic manner in a scene that is remarkably long. There's no doubt that once again Parker and Stone pushed the R rating as far as they could.
Sexual references and foul language are constant, and the fact that puppets are used takes none of the gore out of this action movie. Characters are sprayed with bullets that leave bloody holes and most death scenes involve a great deal of blood. Heads explode and characters are cut in half without mercy.
The film attacked the action movie genre more than anything else. It was a worthwhile attack, and future action films may even change because of it.
The scenery is loaded with detail and is very impressive. It brings a great deal to the film. Many scenes would have come off poorly without all this attention that was involved. This included the many peoples in their cultural environments. Naturally, they very realistic just impressively constructed. There are many details in the film that would take more than a single viewing to spot.
Once again, Parker and Stone use a lot of music in the film, but the songs are stronger than those found in "South Park." There wasn't a single song that failed to bring laugh.
Like "South Park", this film is unlikely to bring love from any celebrity. None of the celebrities are accompanied by their true voices. All the celebrities used are viciously attacked and usually killed. I have no idea how defamation suits are avoided.
All together, the movie was an excellent satire that brought actual laughs. It's not a film for everyone and don't expect subtleties. It will never grace my DVD collection, but I would definitely watch the film a second time.
