Team America: World Police

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Team America: World Police
Directed by Trey Parker
Produced by Frank C. Agnone II
Amine Tay
Anne Garefino
Trey Parker
Michael Polaire
Scott Rudin
Matt Stone
Written by Trey Parker
Matt Stone
Pam Brady
Starring Trey Parker
Matt Stone
Kristen Miller
Masasa Moyo
Daran Norris
Maurice LaMarche
Jeremy Shada
Fred Tatasciore
Matt Damon
Music by Harry Gregson-Williams
Cinematography Bill Pope
Distributed by Paramount Pictures
Release date(s) October 15, 2004 (Theatres)
May 17, 2005
(DVD and VHS)
Running time 98 min.
Language English
Budget $30,000,000
Allmovie profile
IMDb profile

Team America: World Police is a 2004 comedy film, written by Trey Parker, Matt Stone, and Pam Brady and directed by Trey Parker, who are also known for the popular animated series South Park. The film is a parody of romantics and their associated cliches and stereotypes, the 2003 invasion of Iraq and the resulting war, with particular humorous emphasis on the global implications of American politics, unilateralism and jingoism. The title of the movie itself is derived from domestic and international political criticisms that the U.S. frequently and autonomously tries to "police the world".

The film, which features a cast entirely composed of marionettes, focuses on a fictional team of political paramilitary policemen known as "Team America: World Police," who attempt to save the world from a violent terrorist plot led by Kim Jong-il. The film was primarily inspired by Thunderbirds, a popular British television show created by Gerry and Sylvia Anderson which also featured an all-marionette cast, though Stone and Parker were not fans of the show.[1] Like Parker and Stone's South Park, the film was subject to much critical and political debate, receiving praise for its humor and satire while also drawing controversy for its simplification of current issues. The film also drew controversy due to an extended sex scene between two of the film's puppet characters.

The film was released in the United States on October 15, 2004 and, despite receiving mostly positive reviews, was a box office disappointment, barely recollecting its production budget and failing to exceed the performance of South Park: Bigger, Longer & Uncut. The film was released on DVD in the United States on May 17, 2005, available in both R-rated and Unrated versions.

Contents

[edit] Plot

Team America: World Police exists for the sole intention of stopping terrorists from performing evil deeds. The team, located within the structure of Mount Rushmore is composed of Lisa, a young psychologist; Carson, Lisa's love interest; Sarah, an alleged psychic; Joe, a typical all-American jock who is in love with Sarah; and Chris, a technological and martial arts expert who harbors a mysterious yet deep mistrust of actors. The team is led by Spottswoode, a United States government agent, and the team's information is received by I.N.T.E.L.L.I.G.E.N.C.E., a highly-advanced supercomputer. The film itself opens with the team interrupting the activities of a group of terrorists in Paris, France. During the ensuing gun-battle, the "Team" manages to lay waste to a good portion of the city, destroying the Eiffel Tower (which then collapses onto and destroys the Arc de Triomphe) and the Louvre among other things. Following the action, Carson proposes to Lisa, but the moment is cut short when a surviving terrorist guns Carson down.

In search of a new member, Spottswoode recruits Gary Johnston, a Broadway actor with college majors in Theater and World Languages; Gary is hired as a spy, utilizing his talents to infiltrate terrorist organizations. Unbeknownst to the team, North Korean dictator Kim Jong-il is supplying international terrorists with weapons of mass destruction, planning a mysterious worldwide attack. I.N.T.E.L.L.I.G.E.N.C.E. is informed of a terrorist meeting in Cairo, Egypt, and Gary successfully infiltrates their group; during this time, Lisa and Sarah both become romantically attracted to him. Chris, however, hates Gary solely because of his resentment toward actors.

The team attempts to capture the terrorists, and although they successfully foil their plan, their actions again leave most of the city in ruin; the group is criticized by the Film Actors Guild (F.A.G), a union of liberal Hollywood actors. Meanwhile, the United Nations assign Hans Blix with the task of inspecting Kim Jong-il's lair, but the investigator is killed by Kim Jong-il's man-eating sharks. As the team relaxes following their victory, Gary expresses his guilt to Lisa, remembering a time where his acting talent caused his brother to be killed by gorillas. As the two express their feelings and have sex (after Gary promises that he'll never die), a group of terrorists blow up the Panama Canal.

The Film Actors Guild blames Team America, believing that they (rather than the terrorists or the person who supplied them with WMDs) are responsible for the terrorists' actions. Gary, realizing his acting talents have once again resulted in tragedy, abandons the team, causing considerable conflict among the remaining members. Believing the terrorists to be operating within Derkaderkastan, the original members depart, only to be attacked and captured by terrorists and the North Koreans. Meanwhile, Michael Moore infiltrates the team's base and destroys their equipment by suicide bombing the area. Kim Jong-il, upset with the terrorists' actions, expresses his frustration and despair ("I'm So Ronery").

Meanwhile, a very depressed Gary becomes an alcoholic, only to be reminded of his responsibility by a drunken drifter, who compares the world's three dominant personalities to human sex organs. He then profusely vomits for 56 seconds. In North Korea, Kim Jong-il reveals his plan to host an elaborate peace ceremony, inviting not only the Film Actors Guild but also the world's political leaders; during the celebration, a series of bombs will be detonated throughout the world, reducing every nation to that of a Third World country. Gary returns to Mount Rushmore and finds the area in ruin, although Spottswoode and I.N.T.E.L.L.I.G.E.N.C.E have survived. After regaining Spottswoode's trust by performing oral sex on him, and undergoing a one-day training course, Gary is sent to North Korea.

Gary proceeds to infiltrate the lair and frees the team. They are confronted by the Film Actors Guild and a violent battle ensues leaving most of the F.A.G.s brutally slain. Soon after, Chris confesses to Gary that his mistrust of actors is due the fact that he was gang-raped by the cast of Cats when he was 19 years old. They confront Kim Jong-il; although initially unsuccessful, Gary convinces the world's leaders to unite by reciting the drifter's emotional speech. Kim Jong-il is then defeated by Lisa, only to be revealed as an alien cockroach from another planet; Kim Jong-il flees in his spaceship and departs, promising to one day return. As Gary and Lisa begin a relationship, the team reunites, preparing to combat the remainder of the world's terrorists.

[edit] Targets of satire

Team America itself satirizes the perceived jingoism that leads American administrations to take unilateral foreign policy action that critics deride as "policing the world". The Film Actors Guild (F.A.G.) satirizes the naïve and egotistical nature of Hollywood celebrities' political activism. The "Film Actors Guild" is a reference to the Screen Actors Guild.

There is a scene early on in the movie where Gary (the main puppet character in the movie) is in a play called Lease, singing the song "Everyone has AIDS". This is a satirical play on the musical Rent, wherein several of the characters are suffering from AIDS. Gary himself parodies Mark Cohen, one of the main characters of the play, evidenced by the telltale scarf that Gary wears, which is Mark's trademark.

According to Parker and Stone, to avoid being pigeon-holed as simply a movie about the 2004 U.S. election, the film deliberately does not name any American politicians; Kim Jong-il and Hans Blix are the only real political figures directly identified in the film. Team America acts without any guidance from the White House or the Department of Defense. However, Team America's incompetent and needlessly destructive operations satirize contemporary American counter-terrorism policies.

Political and social commentator Andrew Sullivan considers the film brilliant in its skewering of both the left and right's approach on terrorism. Sullivan (a fan of Stone and Parker's other work, as well) popularised the term "South Park Republican" to describe himself and other like-minded fiscal conservatives/social libertarians. Parker is a registered Libertarian.

Many Hollywood actors are directly satirized, by name. Sean Penn is portrayed making an outlandish claim about Iraq, which might be a reference to the portrayal of happy, kite-flying Iraqi children in Fahrenheit 9/11: "Before Team America showed up, it was a happy place. They had flowery meadows, and rainbow skies and rivers made of chocolate, where the children danced and laughed and played with gumdrop smiles." Janeane Garofalo's character states, "Our job as actors is to read the newspapers, and repeat what we've read on TV, like it is our own opinion." In the film, Alec Baldwin is portrayed as the leader of F.A.G. and proclaimed on two different occasions to be "the greatest actor ever". Shortly before the film's release Penn sent Parker and Stone an angry letter inviting them to tour Iraq with him and ended it with the words, "Fuck you." A transcript of the letter was later posted on the Drudge Report.[2] They also stated that Baldwin took a very different view of the film, even offering the use of his own voice for the Alec Baldwin character. Matt Damon was also parodied to be mentally handicapped, only saying his name throughout the movie, similar to the character Timmy in South Park.

Filmmaker Michael Moore is depicted as a suicide bomber, while referred to as a "giant socialist weasel" by the supercomputer. Stone explained the reason for this portrayal in an MSNBC interview:

We have a very specific beef with Michael Moore...I did an interview, and he didn't mischaracterize me for anything I said in Bowling for Columbine. But what he did do was put this cartoon [titled A Brief History of the United States of America, written by Moore, animated and directed by Harold Moss] right after me that made it look like we did that cartoon.[3]

Bowling for Columbine includes a brief interview with South Park co-creator Matt Stone, who suggests that South Park was largely inspired by his childhood experiences in Littleton, Colorado. He presents a vision of Littleton as painfully normal, and highly intolerant of non-conformist behavior.[citation needed] In a segment that followed the interview, an uncredited cartoon in a style Stone describes as strongly reminiscent of South Park implies that the National Rifle Association and Ku Klux Klan are somehow connected. The segment was not produced by Stone or Trey Parker, and it became a point of contention between the two and Moore, as they believed Moore meant to imply they had authored it.[3]

Team America also parodies movies relying on ethnocentrism in their US American audience. When a new location is shown, the caption will give the place's name and its distance from the United States in miles (in reality measured from New York City). All landmarks in Paris and Cairo are closely located. Also, other languages are simplified to the point of ridicule. French is reduced to stock phrases such as "sacrebleu", the only Spanish line is "no me gusta," repeated several times, and Arabic is given as a guttural combination of the words "derka", "jihad", "sherpa", "baccalà", "Mohammed" (once with "Ali" added), and "Allah". The Korean language was also simplified for the movie, some of these words were used in one of South Park's episodes (Osama Bin Laden Has Farty Pants). While no real Korean words were actually used in speech, the real verb endings of "~~ㅂ니까 (~~mnikka)?" (sentence ending in a question) and "~~ㅂ니다 (~~mnida)" (sentence ending in a statement) were used after nonsensical words to give the dialogue a Korean-like sound. A few lines do sound like authentic Korean: when the guards see Gary, one says something like "nuguya, i saekki," or "who are you, son of a bitch?" The movie's soundtrack features a song entitled "North Korean Melody", reminiscent of North Korean pop music such as the Pochonbo Electronic Ensemble; its only recognizable words are "Kim Jong-il," referring to Kim's cult of personality, the usual topic of the country's mass entertainment. Despite not using real Korean words in speech, real Korean written characters are used in all Korean writing in the movie. The stereotypical Asian pronunciation of English "R"s instead of "L"s is used heavily by Kim Jong-il, but ignores the fact that there is no R sound in the Korean alphabet, and would actually be the reverse, "L"s instead of "R"s (e.g. "roundhouse" becomes "loundhouse"). For example, he greets people with "Herro," and calls Hans Blix "Hans Brix," even singing a song in the movie entitled "I'm So Ronery". When Koreans write their names or introduce themselves, they always use their family name first: Kim (family name) Jong-il (given name). Western culture is the opposite. So, when Hans Blix meets Kim Jong-il in Kim Jong-il's palace, Blix addresses Mr. Kim as "Mr. Il."

The film's opening credits (in which the Paramount logo sequence runs in reverse), as well as the blowing up of famous landmarks, satirizes the film styles of movie makers Michael Bay, Don Simpson, Jerry Bruckheimer, Roland Emmerich and Dean Devlin. Indeed, one song in the film makes particular reference to how Michael Bay "missed the mark" when he made Pearl Harbor, and that the film "sucked".

In some scenes, particularly in the Panama Canal scene, hemp plants are placed around the scenery, made to look like ferns due to their relative size. Also, some plant leaves were made up of shredded dollar bills.

Despite the teaser trailer's boast that George W. Bush and John Kerry (along with several other celebrities) are "going to be really, really mad when they see Team America: World Police", neither Bush nor Kerry are actually seen or mentioned, although marionettes that look similar to them (and their wives) can be seen in the audience of Lease, a parody of Rent.

[edit] Filmmakers' response to critical reaction

In an interview with Matt Stone following the film's release,[4] Anwar Brett of the BBC asked the same question that many film critics[specify] had wondered aloud in their reviews of Team America: World Police. "For all the targets you choose to take pot-shots at," he asked, "George W. Bush isn't one of them. How come?" Matt Stone replied, "If you want to see Bush-bashing in America you only have to walk about 10 feet to find it. Trey and I are always attracted to what other people aren't doing. Frankly that wasn't the movie we wanted to make." However, Trey Parker and Matt Stone had mocked Bush in their television series South Park, although only prominently in the episode "A Ladder to Heaven", and in the TV series That's My Bush.

Kim Jong-il, a noted film buff,[5] has never commented publicly about his depiction in Team America: World Police, although shortly after its release North Korea asked the Czech Republic to ban the movie.[6]

[edit] Box office performance

Team America made $12.1 million in its opening U.S. weekend. The film eventually grossed a total of almost $51 million, with $32.8 million in U.S. domestic receipts and $18.1 in international proceeds.[7]

[edit] Individuals parodied

Famous people depicted as puppets in the film are: Michael Moore, Alec Baldwin, Sean Penn, Tim Robbins, Helen Hunt, George Clooney, Liv Tyler, Martin Sheen, Susan Sarandon, Janeane Garofalo, Matt Damon, Samuel L. Jackson, Danny Glover, Ethan Hawke, Kim Jong-il, Peter Jennings and Hans Blix. With the exception of Jennings, all are killed in dramatic and extremely violent ways (e.g. Moore suicide-bombing Team America's Mount Rushmore headquarters and Samuel L. Jackson getting his head split open by a kung-fu kick). None of the real-life actors lent their voices, although Alec Baldwin expressed an interest in doing so and realised his portrayal in the film was not to be taken seriously. Both Clooney and Damon are said to be friends with Stone and Parker, and according to a report, Clooney has stated that he would have been insulted had he not been included in the movie.[8] Also, Damon was meant to be an intelligent person in the movie, but when Stone and Parker saw that his puppet "looked retarded", and from an anecdote from Damon in which he stated his fatigue with people coming up to him and shouting his name, they decided to have him only able to say his name.

[edit] Music

Marc Shaiman was originally hired to compose the original score and help Trey Parker compose the film's songs. He helped compose "Everyone Has AIDS" and "Derka Derk (Terrorist Theme)" (with Trey Parker composing the rest of the songs on his own, according to the end credits). He submitted a score, but the studio rejected it and fired Shaiman, hiring Harry Gregson-Williams as a last minute replacement. (Parker had instructed Shaiman to score the film as if it were a typical action movie, which they agreed would make the movie funnier, while the studio felt the score should play up the comedy.) In a curious twist, Shaiman later conducted the orchestra in the film's scoring sessions.

The film's songs include:

  • "America, Fuck Yeah" Played throughout various parts of the movie, along with the "America, Fuck Yeah Bummer Remix"
  • "Freedom Isn't Free": Played when Gary decides to take a "detour" with Baxter, the limo driver. The song concludes with the declaration that freedom in fact costs $1.05 (or possibly "a buck o' five"). It is a parody of patriotic country songs like Courtesy of the Red, White, & Blue (The Angry American) by Toby Keith.
  • "Derka Derk (Terrorist Theme)", an instrumental parody of "Cantina Band" from Star Wars.
  • "Only a Woman": Played during the love scene between Gary and Lisa.
  • "I'm So Ronery": Sung by Kim Jong-il when he feels everyone else is incompetent.
  • "Montage": Sung when Gary is training with Spotswoode. The song is a stylistic parody of "Push It to the Limit" by Paul Engemann, "Hearts on Fire" by John Cafferty (Rocky IV soundtrack), and "Holding Out for a Hero" by Bonnie Tyler, songs famed for appearances in '80s films. A slightly different version of the song was featured in the 6th season South Park episode "Asspen."
  • "North Korean Medley": Gibberish song (Kim Jong-il's name repeated over and over) used to distract the group of people in Kim Jong-il's large mansion before Alec Baldwin's speech.
  • "The End of an Act": Played after Gary quits Team America and gets drunk. It's a love song featuring the refrain "Pearl Harbor sucked, and I miss you.". This song's lyrics and musical style are parodies of love ballads commonly written for action films that the film satirizes, such as "I Don't Want to Miss a Thing" by Aerosmith which appeared on the Armageddon soundtrack and "Take My Breath Away" by Berlin which appeared on the Top Gun soundtrack.
  • "Everyone Has AIDS", sung by Gary in the Broadway musical Lease (a parody of Rent).
  • The song played while the team is debriefing and partying is Steppenwolf's "Magic Carpet Ride"
  • The song playing when the team walks through Kim Jong-il's palace is Tomoyasu Hotei's "Battle Without Honor or Humanity", which was also featured in Kill Bill.
  • There is also a bonus song sung by Kim Jong-il named "You Are Worthress Arec Barwin" during the end credits of the film. The song provides some explanation of the film's ending sequence and Kim's motivation for blowing up the entire world/killing all of humanity.

[edit] Cast

★ Team America: World Police ★
Actor Character(s) (Voice)
Trey Parker Gary Johnston ★ Joe ★ Kim Jong-il ★ Hans Blix ★ Carson ★ Matt Damon ★ Drunk in Bar ★
Tim Robbins ★ Sean Penn ★ Michael Moore ★ Helen Hunt ★ Susan Sarandon ★ Other voices
Matt Stone Chris ★ George Clooney ★ Danny Glover ★ Ethan Hawke ★ Other voices
Kristen Miller Lisa
Masasa Moyo Sarah
Daran Norris Spottswoode
Phil Hendrie I.N.T.E.L.L.I.G.E.N.C.E. ★ Chechnyan Terrorist
Maurice LaMarche Alec Baldwin
Chelsea Marguerite French Mother
Jeremy Shada Jean Francois
Fred Tatasciore Samuel L. Jackson
Scott Land Lead Puppeteer

[edit] See also

[edit] References

  1. ^ Trey Parker and Matt Stone talk Team America: World Police
  2. ^ DrudgeReportArchives.com © 2008
  3. ^ a b ‘Team America’ takes on moviegoers msnbc.com, October 15, 2004
  4. ^ Interview with Matt Stone. BBC.
  5. ^ "North Korean leader loves Hennessey, Bond movies", CNN, Jan. 8, 2003
  6. ^ "'Team America' unsettles Team Kim in Pyongyang"
  7. ^ Team America: World Police (2004).
  8. ^ CLOONEY SUPPORTS TEAM AMERICA DUO (2006-01-31). “...the Hollywood big-hitters all insist they would have been offended to be left out of the film.”

[edit] External links

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