Putting the "F" back in Freedom.
Marionette superheroes fight to end terrorism and put tired celebrities out of their misery.
Written and directed by the creators of South Park and utilising the same style of "super-marionation" wooden marionette characters seen in the old Thunderbirds classic TV series. The politically-minded comedy action adventure tells the story of Team America, a group of superhero-style adventurers who travel the world fighting terrorism and other evils. Specifically, the story focuses on Gary Johnston, a rising Broadway star who's reluctantly recruited by Team America to go undercover and expose the power hungry North Korean dictator Kim Jong Il who's brokering a deal to sell weapons of mass destruction to terrorists. Along the way they must fight enemies on all sides (including a group of Hollywood liberals such as Alec Baldwin, Liv Tyler, Matt Damon, George Clooney and more) to stop the bad guys, and traverse the globe across Paris, Cairo, Panama, South Dakota and Korea to do battle.
Special Agent Matti
Team America: World Police is fun but the puppet gag isn't enough to carry the whole film. Sooner or later (preferably sooner) you need some good meaty plot and characterisation, otherwise you end up with a skit show. Trey Parker and Matt Stone have created something in between. Which is not to say that the first half isn't hilarious, but the end is just a little bit hackneyed. I know that they're taking the piss out of Hollywood (all the way through) but a piss-take should give you more than the original. It needs a good half-hour shaved off to be great.
Good fun, but.
M (Sexual references)
97 minutes (1:37 hours)
Film: 2 December 2004
DVD rental: 19 May 2005
VHS rental: 19 May 2005
