Who are Team America? What do they do? Why do they do it?
These are all fine questions. The Masked Reviewer can tell you
a few things about it.
Team America: World Police is being written, produced, and directed by Trey
Parker and Matt Stone. You may remember them from Baseketball,
Orgazmo, "That's My Bush!", and, oh yeah, "Southpark".
The Southpark movie is pure genius; Team America may
well blow "Southpark" away. It's a "Thunderbirds"-style marionette
action flick. It's a comedy. It's a musical.
It's also likely to be the most controversial thing that Trey Parker
and Matt Stone have done, which is saying something. Apparently,
the White House has put pressure on Paramount (the distributor) not to
release the film. They're worried, it seems, that it will create a
big brouhaha. But, it's not just the right wing that will be
upset. The producers have promised that Michael Moore, John Kerry,
and a number of prominent liberal activists will be equally (if not more
so) appalled.
What's the hubub about? The subject matter: terrorism. It
pokes fun at an issue that no one in this country can joke about, lest
they be supporting the terrorists. Matt Stone and Trey Parker have
made their career off of irreverent humor. It will undoubtedly be
hated by many (probably many people who will hate it without ever seeing
it). It will be controversial and stir a huge debate about free
speech and "appropriateness" and the Masked Reviewer will bet big money
here and now that there will be several people in the media who will use
the debut of this film as a reason to dig out that footage of Janet
Jackson at the Superbowl (you know the footage, you know you do).
Family values, propriety, "save the children", all that stuff.
And, it's good to have that coming to the forefront again.
You can look forward to some deeply clever moments in this film.
The Masked Reviewer has high hopes...it could be even better than the
Southpark movie. What? Is the Masked Reviewer on crack?
Wasn't it just a silly little movie with guys making really lowbrow
jokes? Oh no, it was much more. It was a very intelligent
social commentary. It dealt with protecting children and taste and
censorship and war and many other issues. Team America will
be very edgy, guaranteed, and will bring up some interesting ideas.
Part of the reason the Masked Reviewer has such high hopes is because
no one is taking on this topic. It's "too soon" for most
people. It's scary. It's divisive. There are too many
things that would be considered bad taste. Trey Parker and Matt
Stone aren't worried about that. So, they'll get first shot at a
lot of these issues; everyone, every perspective, every argument will be
mocked. A lot of people will be mad.
All that aside, the movie will be awesomely funny and visually
spectacular. They've decided to go "old school" and hired the
Chiodo brothers who did the special effects for Killer Klowns from
Outer Space and Critters. There's no high-tech computer
graphics...it's models and marionettes, and if nothing else, it'll be
great to see something different. In addition to the Chiodo
brothers, Team America will benefit from a bunch of former FX
people that worked on Star Wars and the Muppets.
When Southpark: Bigger, Longer, Uncut came out, the TV
show was big. Now, it's huge. Baseketball wasn't
exactly a huge hit, but Team America will be. You won't
hear much about it before the October release, but their marketing will
be done by the media and the controversy. It may get more buzz
than Fahrenheit 9/11. It will be a polarizing film (chock full of
controversy for both left wing and right wing flappers), but fans of "Southpark"
are sure to be pleased. The Masked Reviewer predicts: Excellent
Movie.
Here's a trailer, if you want a little taste...
Official Team America
Website
PREDICTION RECORDED: July 31, 2004
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