journal features

movie review - Team America: World Police

the journal of Michael Werneburg

twenty-eight years and a million words

Toronto, 2004.10.25

This movie was one of the greatest disappointments I've had at the cinema since... well, since the first Star Wars prequel, I guess.

This movie had a lot of irritating bits, but one of them was really inexcusable. It wasn't the boringly incessant demonization of movie stars (some of whom, noticeably, this movie's creators have collaborated with in the past), or the frankly dumb recurring bits with the boss demanding oral sex from the action hero or the belaboured them of "We're all dicks, pussies, or assholes". What bothered me about this was the outright recycling of quite a bit of work from the South Park TV show. I hope these guys haven't run out of ideas, but having seen things like the 'montage' sequence - right down to re-using the song - in a movie after having seen it in their show was a surprising let-down. And it wasn't just the montage bit. The characters all sounded just like South Park people, the characterizations were all pretty much identical, and the choice of semi-purposeful hammed-up pseudo-animation was very much the same as the 'paper' animation of the TV show. The only difference was that the undercurrents of humour and warmth from the show were missing in this movie, leaving only the nastiness and vulgarity.

Not recommended.

rand()m quote

One day you will take a fork in the road, and you're going to have to make a decision about which direction you want to go. If you go one way, you can be somebody. You will have to make compromises and you will have to turn your back on your friends. But you will be a member of the club and you will get promoted and get good assignments. Or you can go the other way and you can do something [...] for yourself. If you decide to do something, you may not get promoted and get good assignments and you certainly will not be a favorite of your superiors. But you won't have to compromise yourself. To be somebody or to do something. In life there is often a roll call. That's when you have to make a decision. To be or to do.

—John Boyd, US Air Force