If you thought Star Wars: The Force Awakens could have been a better movie, or at the very least, different from A New Hope, then you aren’t alone. Last weekend, the guys at Red Letter Media released their latest Star Wars review featuring Mr. Plinkett (Mike Stoklasa) in their lengthy NSFW review of The Force Awakens.
Red Letter Media, famous for their movie review series Half in the Bag, made it big in 2009 when Mr. Plinkett’s takedown of The Phantom Menace went viral, it pointed out not only the storytelling flaws in the most anticipated movie of the 90s, but even basic flaws in movie making. Stoklasa’s alter-ego is back at it again and spitting pure fire, giving hot takes with a devil-may-care attitude.
Why am I reviewing someone’s review of a movie? Because it’s 95-minutes long, so it practically is a movie in and of itself. When the review focuses on The Force Awakens, it is entertaining. It points out all the flaws of The Force Awakens in a humorous way (like how it was a beat-for-beat remake of A New Hope with a little bit of Empire Strikes Back and Return of the Jedi thrown in, how it really was just a soft reboot, etc). Even though the Plinkett character has a dark and twisted sense of humor, the jokes land perfectly.
However, this could’ve been a little more focused. The review spends a lot of time criticizing “The Star Wars Ring Theory,” a fan theory that tries justifying how each entry in the Star Wars saga has similar moments and themes. That segment went on way too long to the point where I lost interest.
The review also goes after the sudden emergence of Star Wars prequel fans who went out of their way to defend The Phantom Menace, Attack of the Clones and Revenge of the Sith, and lecture readers about how these once derided films are “actually better than you thought.” Now, if they liked the movies, that’s their prerogative. But to break down the movies, write ‘listicles’ and talk down to readers is just rude.
Oh wait, I did something like that. Hi Pot, I’m Kettle.
This is definitely worth a watch if you have the time. I’d go as far as saying this is more entertaining than their Phantom Menace review. Even though it drags at times, the jokes keep coming and you’ll probably learn something while you’re laughing.
