Apr 16, 20214 min read

Team America: Political Lampooning at it's Weirdest

Updated: Feb 19, 2023

Reviews by:

@the_owlseyes

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What happens when South Park's creators have the will to produce a movie, the world is still shooked by 9/11 and the budget is restrained? A miracle. And they didn't do it by using animation, which is familiar to them, but with puppets. The idea came to them after watching Thunderbirds, the 60's series not the 2004 abomination, which involved actual puppets. If you think that the idea was bonkers, you still have to understand the genial mind of Trey Parker. Because the original title would have been The Day After the Day After Tomorrow, which would have made it a spoof of The Day After Tomorrow, a Roland Emmerich's disaster movie which had received mixed reviews, where the main theme was global warming. A zany premise and a zanier execution....the analysis is going to be seriously unserious.

PLOT

"Popular Broadway actor Gary Johnston is recruited by the elite counter-terrorism organization Team America: World Police. As the world begins to crumble around him, he must battle with terrorists, celebrities and falling in love" or...."American foreign policy stinks".

SCRIPT

To be fair...it's good because it's bad. Only the protagonist as a "story arch" and the other characters are just there to help him. This is a clear critics toward action movies, in the movie the targets are the 70's and 80's, but it's still valid today. Middle Eastern terrorism stereotyping is through the roof to mock the media's approach to it. The real actors portrayed are there to take a stand against the fact that the tabloid used to give a lot of relevance to theirs political opinions. One could say that the movie didn't age well and it's effective only on an American audience, which crippled the movie's at the time(doing a modest profit nonetheless) but today it would be a meme's gold mine. I think that the best way to summarize the script is with this scene.

Script: 8/10

ACTING

The voice acting is good. The voices are pretty recognizable if you've ever seen South Park. I don't think that's valuing the puppets physical acting would be fair, considering the fact that they have a limited number of expressions to convey. The fact that they're puppets could be off putting, in some scenes, but the comedic effect is granted. The funny thing is the R rating, cause of "gore and sex", which in itself is a banter toward the censorship.

Acting: 6/10

PHOTOGRAPHY

Flat lighting and bright colours exude 80's vibes but they're just there, without symbolism or a deep meaning.

Photography: 6/10

EDITING

It seems like they had a lot of fun. The movie has the usual tropes of action flicks like slow motions and fast cuts. Some shots are done in an way which reminds of toy commercials for G.I. Joe and such. Other kinds of editing, which are hard to miss bring again at Matrix. But the best scene for the producers was the sex scene, as Trey Parker pointed out in an interview: "It's a back-and-forth with the board. They said it can't be as many positions, so we cut out a couple of them. We love the golden shower, but I guess they said no to that. But I just love that they have to watch it. Seriously, can you imagine getting a videotape with just a close-up of a puppet asshole, and you have to watch it?"

Editing: 7/10

SPECIAL EFFECTS

It's all practical and there's a light use of green screen. Crafting this movie with puppets was the berst and worst decision of Parker. It paid off but the production has been troubled by the start and the employers were obliged to work overtime to finish it in time. Welcome to Marwen, a Steve Carell's movie, has used a similar concept but it was all cgi and didn't resonate with the audience. Just for that I think it deserves a high score.

Special Effects: 8/10

SOUNDTRACK

The movie have a good soundtrack, characterized by 80's music and the squad theme is inspired by toy's jingles and patriotic lyrics. The last one is a bit tedious after a while but it isn't bad. Expect the usual keys for actions and tragic scenes.

Soundtrack: 5/10

COSTUMES

The costumes are simple and stereotypical. The bunch uniform is like the Thunderbirds one. There's an underliyng sexism in it because men wear blu and women are in pink. This aspect winks at the fact that the 70's and 80's were the macho man's era. Social commentary through the lines is pretty on the nose and it's mostly conveyed with visual cues.

Costumes: 6/10

CONCLUSION

Script: 8/10

Acting: 6/10

Photography: 6/10

Editing: 7/10

Special Effects: 8/10

Soundtrack: 5/10

Costumes: 6/10

AVERAGE: 6,57

An enjoyable movie but it's not for everyone. If you like Trey Parker and his style you'll love it, otherwise you'll despise it. The political and social commentary is a bit outdated, except for Hollywood work ethics, racism, sexism and terrorism, but it's a nostalgic movie and could be considered a soft cult. In conclusion...

"Team America has once again pissed off the entire world by blowing up half of Cairo"

By @the_owlseyes

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