After many teases and a substantial wait, Red Letter Media’s 110-Minute HD review of Star Wars: Episode III – Revenge of the Sith is online for your viewing pleasure (embedded and linked down below).
Mr. Plinkett and Red Letter Media have developed a substantial following online with their thorough and ruthless reviews of the Star Wars prequel trilogy. Mr. Plinkett has aimed his shockingly academic eye for story, structure, and characterization at dozens of films, including the Star Trek franchise and Avatar, and yet it is the Star Wars reviews that have become true online events for the last two releases. There’s a lot to be interpreted on that subject (as has been done in the excellent Sewer Thread for Red Letter Media) but I think it ultimately boils down to the fact that the reviews have a little something for everyone.
To elaborate- for the hardcore Star Wars geeks there is genuinely logical and dispassionate deconstruction of everything that makes the PT so frustrating- those things that many fans may not have been able to quite articulate, but have just felt for years now. At the same time, Plinkett is often shining a very favorable light on the OT in contrast and thus vindicating long time fans with the same high-level critique. It’s the ultimate geek opportunity to have one’s cake and eat it too! For the rest of us who don’t feel any particular emotional investment in Star Wars..? Well there’s rape, murder, and visualized film criticism of an almost universally familiar set of films that are crammed with enough bullshit to provide lots of material. It’s win win for everyone.
I’m currently cacheing the latest review in a Starbucks so I can take it home (where I’m suffering with broke-ass internet for the moment), and watch it with my roommates. There’s something really fun and unique about enjoying a genuinely hilarious feature-length review with other film fans, so I hope Plinkett keeps up this habit beyond the low-hanging fruit of Episodes 1-3. I’m not sure where the Mr. Plinkett character will have to go be sustainable (the whole serial killer shtick is kind of a tight-rope walk between funny and tiring), but I hope all the folks at Red Letter Media figure it out. Perhaps they will become the Pixar of long-form video film criticism!
Enjoy the third review below, and make sure to visit Red Letter Media’s website and twitter feed.