'South Park' creators put the 'F' back in funny

Trey Parker and Matt Stone have done it again. To the delight of their fans, they've managed to piss everyone off in just under two hours.\nThis time, the focus is the war on terrorism. With a cast of puppets inspired by the 1960s TV show "Thunderbirds," the writing team that brought us "South Park" ruthlessly assaults politics, pop culture and big-budget action films in "Team America: World Police."\nThe film centers on Team America, an elite police force designed to protect the U.S. from terrorism. North Korean leader Kim Jong Il is planning a massive terrorist attack unless Team America can prevent it. Complicating their battle is a coalition of anti-war Hollywood actors (the Film Actor's Guild or F.A.G.) led by a puppet version of Alec Baldwin.\nGary Johnston, a gifted Broadway star, is drafted to join the team and use his acting abilities to pose as a terrorist and funnel information from the enemy to Team America. The film follows Gary on his journey from average American to anti-terrorism hero. He faces all of the triumphs and pitfalls of the classic action hero, including a love affair, battling the realization of his responsibility and finally coming to terms with it.\nThe cinematography is deliberately crude, but it's obvious that the film was quite an undertaking. Against the backdrop of elaborate sets that recreate simpler versions of some of the world's most important cities (including Paris, Cairo and New York City) and landmarks (the Eiffel Tower, Times Square and the Great Pyramids), the marionettes display all of the elements of an action film -- fighting, blowing stuff up and even fornicating.\nThe marionettes -- more than 250 of them rumored to cost as much as $20,000 each -- appear primitive, but are actually incredible. With their simple facial expressions and movements, the puppets are able to convey all of the emotions and actions necessary for the film, even displaying better abilities than many of today's A-list actors. \nWith the hassle of actual special effects out of the way (it's much easier to blow up small-scale recreations of cities than it is to pretend to blow up life-sized cities), the film is free to focus more on the strength of its storyline and the wit of the writers. Filled with brilliant references to current events, including F.A.G., patriotic country music and, of course, the war on terror, the film pulls off a seamless combination of political and pop culture satire.\nPerhaps the most underrated element of Parker and Stone's films is the music. "Team America's" soundtrack contains more than 10 original songs written and performed by Trey Parker. Some of the film's funniest moments are in these songs, which include "Everyone Has AIDS," the patriotic "America, Fuck Yeah!," and "Montage," a nod to true "South Park" fans originally from the "Asspen" episode.\n"Team America" delivers intelligent humor in true "South Park" form, culminating in an amazingly clever, albeit vulgar, moral. The result is an ingenious satire that doesn't just entertain its viewers-- it enlightens them.