The Unseen Movie Review

Team America: World Police

One short explanation will tell you all you need to know about this film: it’s from the people who brought us South Park. If you liked that, you’ll probably like this – if not, stay well away.

Yep, this is Trey Parker and Matt Stone’s take on George W Bush’s foreign policy. Told through Thunderbirds-style puppets.

But as with most things this pair of occasionally masterful satirists set out to do, simply offending fans of Bush isn’t enough – they want, as usual, to offend everybody. Namby-pamby peacenik liberals, redneck warmongers, the vacuous celebrity-centred culture we live in, terrorism, Hollywood clichés and vomiting are all equally at risk of having jokes made at their expense.

The thing many people will find themselves asking is “what’s the message?” In the US, both left and right claimed this movie to be upholding their own views – albeit in highly exaggerated forms. Is the film’s critique of Michael Moore genuine, or is its portrayal of the tubby film maker itself a satire on how he has been portrayed by his detractors?

Is there in fact a message at all? It’s left so very nicely ambiguous that it is entirely up to each individual audience member to decide. It is mostly played so very straight that it could almost be a genuine attempt at a Jerry Bruckheimer action flick along the lines of Pearl Harbour – all gung-ho patriotism, wooden acting (both literally and metaphorically) and stupidly simplistic plot.

So the other obvious question is, “is it actually any fun to watch?” For some people, even fans of South Park, the answer will be a resounding “no”. The obvious jokes are so obvious as to lose any novelty value after five minutes. From then on, the deliberately awful dialogue and rather basic action sequences (this is based on Thunderbirds, after all) could put some people off the task the film makers leave entirely up to their audience, namely thinking about what it could all mean.

At the same time as being prime satire – after all, the best satire is always so well-crafted that it can be nearly impossible to tell whether it is actually poking fun or not – this is an intensely silly movie. These are, after all, the same people who brought us the fat sociopath Cartman and the perennially dying Kenny, the people who brought us songs about bombing Canada, and a giant mechanical Barbra Streisand.

Is the state of the world post-September 11th 2001 a fit subject for taking the micky in such an unrelenting and heartless manner? Are terrorist atrocities and self-righteous western reactions to them, along with all the resulting loss of life, fair game for such puerile humour?

It all comes down to your attitude. If you like the wilfully offensive style of humour of the likes of South Park and Britain’s own spoof news show Brass Eye, don’t mind graphic sex scenes (yes, really – despite the puppets) and extremely strong language, and can get over the style of presentation here, then the unrelenting courage to take on all comers that is on display here should be right up your alley. If, however, you don’t find the idea of swearing marionettes, flatulence and mass killings to be a suitable source of humour, avoid this like the plague.

One thing is for certain – as with South Park, despite how it may appear at first glance, this is definitely not one for the kids.

posted by Nosemonkey @ 12:00 AM