Team America - maailman poliisi

In Team America: World Police we find everything that made South Park a cult hit, but unfortunately, it’s too watered down. We get funny singing performances, really breathtaking caricatures (Matt Damon), parody references to popular films (Star Wars and The Matrix paraphrases, a wonderful love song about Bay's Pearl Harbor sucking), and in it we find the paradoxical combination of the artificiality of the artistic aspect and the nature of the other components... But it’s diluted. For quite a long time, Team America only rides the wave of parodying the action film genre, which unfortunately quickly gets old. It lacks the lightness and exuberance of South Park, as if a clearly chosen genre would bind the creators' hands after all. Better characterized main characters are also lacking, we do not get to see the evildoings of iconic types such as Kenny, Cartman and so on. Nevertheless, the finale and the resulting idea of the film turn things around, and I thus find Team America to be a very intelligent and apt satire on today's world, which may lack more mature poetics, but it does not lack perspective. And I appreciate that. (21.02.2005)

Excellent set and puppet design, and some great jokes (and parodies and allusions). But also a lot of needlessly amoral and decadent scenes that aren’t funny, but rather cringeworthy, destroying the potential of a film that should have been more than it is (and I’m a fan of South Park). (06.08.2005)

Or when marionettes have sex... Uneven, funny, action-packed, parodic, unconventional, politically incorrect, overwrought and completely unique. (04.02.2005)

This movie is so full of good jokes, crappy jokes, interesting scenes, disgusting scenes, imaginative situations, awkward moments... On the other hand, there is one legendary scene that people will probably still remember twenty years later whenever this movie is mentioned, and that is the fantastic speech by Gary at the end. I may possibly be a very peculiar person, however, I just find it really funny, clever, and apt and whenever I think about it, it makes a lot of sense to me, and I can easily apply parts of it to contemporary society. Truth be told, it even helped me cultivate an air of indifference towards that dirty word started with D because I just smile and say to myself, it is better than being Kim-Jong Il. 6.3/10. (26.02.2021)

Searching for a deeper meaning and message does not make any sense in this unrestrained farce. Those who want to can talk about traces of Dadaism, nihilism, and decadence. It is not a satire on American politics or a specific ideology. The creators take shots at terrorists and statesmen, leftists and rightists. And they use expressive means and situational comedy on the edge of good taste and often beyond it. Surprisingly, vulgarities abound in the film more than among elementary school students... I don't like gratuitous obscenities, and I'm not a fan of South Park either, but (maybe precisely because of that) I liked Team America, though rather as a kind of escapade and oddity. Just like when a very reasonable person occasionally does something unreasonable and releases pressure, it is wise to occasionally watch this type of oddity and humbly return to peaceful waters. Although the film suffers from unevenness, many of the jokes are really good, and the visual concept and puppetry are worth it. Overall impression 70%. (26.05.2007)