Friday, January 7, 2011

Mr. Plinkett Reviews Star Wars III: Revenge of the Sith



The whole thing is here. I have things to say, but to avoid spoiling the review, which is awesome, I'll say them in the comments.
Posted by Mr. Pony
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9 comments:

Mr. Pony said...

Late in part one, Plinkett says that the only people who like the prequels are "drooling idiots that just like lightsabers, or tiny babies". Being on record as not hating the prequels, and in fact owning up to enjoying some parts of them, I think I have to admit that I fall into the former category. So, sorry about that.

At one point I wrote (and never published) a big huge essay about why I found the prequels totally watchable. The essay was confusing, but it basically came down to this: I use them for parts. I love the Star Wars Universe, and while the storytelling in Star Wars I-III isn't terribly compelling (and as Plinkett points out, retarded), the pieces of things that make up these admittedly lame stories are still pretty great, and they fulfill childhood dreams and ignite my imagination. I can't help but enjoy all the little details, from the TIE-Fighter cockpit of the Jedi Starfighter, to the way the clones paint their own helmets to express their individuality. The parts of this that Lucas touched may be rotten, but this isn't all Lucas' vision.

Plinkett makes some great points about how the action scenes don't matter because we don't give a shit about the characters, and in most cases he's right. Except for that space battle in the beginning of Revenge of the Sith, which I can't help but move to the edge of my seat for. Because I'm piloting that starfighter. That's me, flying like that. It's all pretend, but that's where I was (developmentally) when I saw the first trilogy. Pretending. Like I used to picture myself flying the Millennium Falcon, or floating rocks with the Force, or putting a restraining bolt on a recalcitrant droid. It's nostalgia, and I really can't help it, and I really don't care that much about the story, or the filmmaking. I probably should. It sure is fun to see how badly done it is. But I'm not surprised to see that I didn't notice. I bought this set for the parts.

January 7, 2011 at 10:43 PM
Mr. Pony said...

Also, Plinkett makes a point about how Coruscant is completely unaffected by the war. He makes this point to show a wasted dramatic opportunity, but I think it's very easy to compare the entire arc of the prequels to the events of the W. Bush Presidency, in which we fought two wars with little to no impact on our homeworld's lifestyle.

It's ridiculous to think that Lucas planned all that, but Plinkett spends so much time talking about the impossibility of a war with little to no impact on the home front, I felt it deserved mention that we are currently living one.

Also, Galactic Empires are fucking big.

January 7, 2011 at 10:59 PM
Mr. Pony said...

Ah, Plinkett.

January 7, 2011 at 10:59 PM
Lungclops said...

23:15-23:18 of part I was splendid.

January 8, 2011 at 1:28 PM
kamapuaa said...

The thing I really liked about this set of reviews was his analysis of the lazy ass film making style. I was amazed when he was driving home the constant over-over-two shots in the dialog, as well and the fact that so much of the discourse was in the form of short walks to nowhere, and couch sitting. I also loved the shot analysis against Citizen Kane. Genius.

January 10, 2011 at 8:43 AM
Lungclops said...

These reviews almost justify the existence of the Star Wars prequels. At long last, something good has come out of this whole mess.

January 10, 2011 at 2:42 PM
kamapuaa said...

Hey, the Clone Wars cartoons are pretty entertaining.

January 11, 2011 at 8:17 AM
Mr. Pony said...

I enjoy the Clone Wars. Especially the Galactic Senate C-SPAN episodes, oddly.

January 12, 2011 at 11:40 PM
Pickle Litsell said...

Ruby Tenneco put me on to Plinkett for his Star Trek reviews but I'd missed these till a few days ago - then you guys post it here. They are really fun and inciteful - loved the stuff about getting the black $ by casting Sam Jackson, and the hilarious stuff about George sat in his greenscreen studio with his two monitors and a cup of coffee.

"Execute code 66" hahaah

And the way he says '....Oh.'

Am now thinking about looking out some of the fan-edits of these disappointments.

Every film school should be showing this great reviews at induction 101.

January 19, 2011 at 12:57 PM

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