Red Letter Media made a name for itself several years ago with a series of hilarious, thoughtful and slightly disturbing "reviews" of the Star Wars prequel trilogy.
The hour-long videos, broken down into multiple parts, have millions upon millions of views on YouTube for good reason: They are, quite simply, great. They break down why exactly the Star Wars prequels are so bad in ways that fans hadn't picked up on before, creating more appreciation for the original trilogy in the process.
It was only a matter of time then before the fictional Mr. Plinkett set his sights on Star Wars: The Force Awakens, and the result is every bit as entertaining as you would expect. Plinkett's review of Star Wars: The Force Awakens is a massive 105 minutes long, but it's also a little misleading. The review is far more than just a review of the latest Star Wars film: In many ways, it's a takedown of the entire culture surrounding Star Wars in the year 2016.
For example, Plinkett begins the video by discussing Disney's acquisition of Star Wars and how it means there will be a new Star Wars film every year from now until the foreseeable future. In a great gag, Plinkett talks about how he's happy he'll soon be in hell so he doesn't have to continue watching each new entry in the series, only for the latest Star Wars film to be playing in hell as well. He bashes cinematic universes and remembers a time when films were made by small teams of dedicated craftsmen, rather than the small armies responsible for films today.
From there he moves on to the current place of Star Wars in popular culture, first by doing a competent takedown of the "Star Wars Ring Theory," a popular fan theory that emerged recently that proposes George Lucas is actually a genius who used an ancient, cyclical storytelling technique to create the Star Wars saga. Plinkett admits the ring theory has some good points, but believes the saga's repeated imagery is less of some grand, interconnected storytelling technique and more of just how Lucas likes to use and reuse familiar scenes, imagery and tropes.
And there's much, much more where that came from. When it comes to The Force Awakens itself, Plinkett, predicatably, has a few bones to pick. The review for the film itself starts at around 54 minutes in. He commends the film's return to what made Star Wars, well, Star Wars, but at the same time feels like The Force Awakens is filled with missed opportunities.
The prequel trilogy, if nothing else, felt unique compared to the original trilogy. That's not the case with The Force Awakens. As numerous fans and critics alike have pointed out, it's essentially a "soft reboot" of Star Wars, complete with another Death Star for the heroes to destroy. Plinkett goes on to compare much of the film with that of A New Hope as others have done, but with his signature style that makes it all the more entertaining.
Anyway, the entire video is more than worth checking out. You can watch Red Letter Media's review of the prequel trilogy here.
