Rating summary

Movie		4.0
Video		5.0
Audio		4.5
Extras		2.5
Overall		4.5

Team America: World Police 4K Blu-ray Movie Review

"MATT DAMON!!!"

Reviewed by Kenneth Brown July 20, 2024

South Park overlords Trey Parker and Matt Stone hate working with actors, love to offend, and have a long-standing affection for lofi animation and Thunderbirds-era marionetting. The result? Team America, a wildly unapologetic geopolitical satire that -- in an era in which America has become an unironic, self-parodying outrage machine -- all but demands a modern sequel. Racism, sexism... really all the ism's are locked, loaded and on full display as Parker and Stone gleefully take shots at everything and everyone, daring you to complain and challenging you to cancel their patented brand of no holds barred comedy. It's as bold a move as ever, but really just the outrageous schtick they've employed for decades. (The once attention-grabbing days of construction-paper Jesus fighting Santa for ownership of Christmas plays like a quaint children's short all these years later.) Does it still work? By some voodoo or dark magic, hell yes it still works. In their desire to engage the offended and unoffended alike, Parker and Stone have retained their ability to critique American culture and eccentricities in a manner that, despite all the bombast and bluster, actually brings people to the table to, ya know, think. Talk. Interact. Discuss. Learn. It wouldn't be my path to peace, mind you, but by God, if you love to offend and want a better world, this might just be the way to do it. And don't worry. Even if the true messaging escapes you or, worse, you're blind and deaf to the none-too-subtle satire in the shadow of your hoisted fist and the clamor of your shouts to "fight, fight, fight", there's plenty of vomiting marionettes, hilarious puppet sex, brazenly faux-racist undercover missions, and jabs at famous actors aplenty; more than enough for Team America to earn your laughs.

Broadway actor Gary (voiced by Trey Parker) is recruited by ex-CIA spook Spottswoode (Daran Norris), the handler of the infamous Team America national security task force. It seems a band of Middle Eastern terrorists have concocted a plot to attack targets around the globe with weapons of mass destruction, which requires the acting skills of Gary in an undercover mission straight out of a progressive's nightmare. But he won't be going at it alone. Backed by Joe (Parker), Sarah (Masasa Moyo), Lisa (Kristen Miller) and Chris (Matt Stone), specialists in various areas of counterterrorism, the team soon finds themselves embroiled in a bigger, more nefarious world-domination scheme organized by North Korean leader Kim Jong-Il (Parker) and members of the Film Actors Guild, who are determined to sow chaos around the world.

Click here to read Michael Reuben's 2015 review of the film, which he calls a "unique film by anyone's standard." Warning, "avoid it if you're easily offended, but otherwise it's worth your time."

You can also click here to read Brian Orndorf's more positive 2023 take on the movie, which he calls "certainly unwieldly at times" but "impressively mounted, with the production refusing to go cheap and easy with this valentine to action cinema and screwball patriotism of the day."

Team America: World Police 4K Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

A tale as old as time: a tale of three releases. The first came courtesy of Warner Bros. in 2015, offering a solid though oversaturated and noise-reduced presentation that didn't fully capture the lean, mean grainy puppetry of Team America. It was decent but far from ideal. The second, with props to Shout Factory, arrived in 2023 with a newly mastered 4K presentation on a 1080p Blu-ray disc. It offered a notable upgrade, albeit one that wasn't, for whatever reason, delivered via a 4K UltraHD disc. The third, credited to Paramount, graces us in 2024 with a native 4K presentation born of the same recently minted master, as well as an unrated BD minted from the Shout Factory source. (Wondering why Paramount didn't drop both cuts on 4K discs and call it a win-win? Keep wondering. No answer is available.) Bottom line? The Paramount set is the clear way to go, even though the lack of a 4K unrated version is a slight disappointment.

Colors are far more natural this time around, with the added benefit of HDR enhancement, better contrast, far more natural saturation and primary resolve, more convincing (um) skintones, and deeper, more satisfying black levels. The palette is awash with rich royal hues, particularly in the North Korean sequences, not to mention an array of good ol' red, white and blue, which pop with an intentional invasive garishness that add punch and power to action scenes. Detail is excellent, despite being decidedly less razor-sharp than you might expect. The swaying, swinging marionettes aren't exactly cooperative when it comes to perfect focus and clarity, but the textured faces, wild strands of rebel puppet-hair, costume stitching and other nuances are beautifully captured without encoding flaw, as is the original elements' fine veneer of grain; unsullied and unrepressed by any nagging DNR. Paramount has been all over the place when it comes to delivering catalog films au natural and smeared with noise reduction. For whatever reason, Team America gets the A+ treatment over other movies you'd think would "deserve" it more (if there is such a thing in a world where any and every presentation could be this faithful to its theatrical presentation and filmmakers' intentions). Moreover, there isn't a hint of blocking, banding or other such issues, and internationally policed puppetry has never looked so good.

Team America: World Police 4K Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

The Paramount release includes the same DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 surround track as the 2023 Shout Factory edition. Praising it, Orndorf says, " the mix preserves sharp dialogue exchanges, with puppet performances defined throughout the listening event. Scoring cues are equally clear, with strong instrumentation and dramatic position. Soundtrack selections are also crisp, with a bigger rock beat and vocals. Surrounds push out musical moods, also dealing with city and building atmospherics, along with community bustle. Sound effects are active, offering some low- end explosions and moving gunfire, with mild panning effects."

Team America: World Police 4K Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

Paramount's 4K Blu-ray release includes the same special features as the 2023 Shout Factory version, of which you can find a detailed breakdown here. Presented in standard definition and relegated to the set's standard Blu-ray disc, the extras include:

• Team America Introduction (SD, 5:10)

• Building the World (SD, 12:42)

• Pulling the Strings (SD, 10:09)

• Crafting the Puppets (SD, 8:01)

• Capturing the Action (SD, 6:44)

• Miniature Pyrotechnics (SD, 4:50)

• Up Close with Kim Jong-Il(SD, 5:10)

• Dressing Room Test (SD, 2:05)

• Puppet Test (SD, 4:10)

• Storyboards(SD, 12:12)

• Deleted/Extended Scenes and Outtakes (SD, 6:07)

• Two Trailers (SD, 3:55)

Team America: World Police 4K Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

The best bits in Team America -- aside from the instantly infectious and memorable songs -- are the bits where Parker and Stone simply toy with the silliness and within the confines of marionetting. Strings have never been so funny, nor has international intrigue, drunken breakdowns in alleyways and sex between dolls been so outrageous and hilarious. The satire, for better or worse, is as on-the-nose as it comes and feels a tad tame and dated in light of the far more pressing domestic and global crises of 2024 (which are nearly countless at this point). But you're probably not picking this one up for nuanced geopolitical commentary, are you? Whatever the case, Paramount has you covered with a striking, wholly faithful 4K presentation created from a new native master, an excellent DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 surround track, and a decent chunk of extras.