Mr. Plinkett Takes on Hollywood

From the dawn of civilization to 2003, humans created five billion gigabytes of information. Now, thanks to the Internet’s mainstream adoption, we create that much data every two days. Everyone is a publisher now. But much of the content published is derivative; we’re witnessing the birth of ‘metaculture’ – a cornucopia of mashups, parodies, reviews and remixes of “old media”, encompassing everything from Twilight fan blogs and YouTube movie reviews to labours of love like “The Brick Testament”, a complete Bible re-enactment in Lego.

It is perhaps apt then, that the subject of this review is itself a review, namely Harry S. Plinkett’s video review of the 2009 “Star Trek” reboot. This is no ordinary review, it’s a feature-length film in its own right, skilfully merging insightful critical commentary with the sort of dark, politically incorrect comedy you might find in South Park or Pulp Fiction.

The film, available to watch at redlettermedia.com, is the latest review by film-maker Mike Stoklasa. In the first review, his fictional protagonist Plinkett, a slovenly old man with homicidal tendencies, systematically destroyed every aspect of Star Wars: The Phantom Menace, from characters and storyline to the over-use of special effects. That review was highly respected; Lost co-creator Damon Lindelof endorsed it with the tweet “Your life is about to change. This is astounding filmmaking.”

The style, which continues in the Star Trek review, is unique – slickly-edited montages of movie footage, interspersed with VHS “home movies” which reveal female captives held in his basement – an homage to Silence of the Lambs. Plinkett’s soulless, psychotic monologue keeps you hooked, exposing his dark past as the review progresses.

Instead of doling out Plinkett’s usual derision for bad film-making and sloppy writing, the Star Trek review praises the film as a “guilty pleasure”. What stands out, though, is Stoklasa’s use of the review as a vehicle to highlight the “dumbing-down” of Hollywood. Juxtaposing the original 1979 Star Trek movie with its 2009 counterpart, he explains how science fiction movies used to be slow and intellectual, but are now just fast-paced action films: “People don’t want a peaceful vision of the future any more… they want SHOOTING!”

The Boring Scale, as used by Mr Plinkett to explain the changes in Hollywood science fiction over the last 30 years

He laments this loss of cerebral sci-fi, but quickly digs deeper: “If you think they’d ever release a film like that again to mainstream audiences, then you need to understand how the world works”. In startlingly clear terms, he goes on to explain how the Hollywood moneymaking machine drove every decision about the movie, from casting to storylines. As you watch, and you realize your enjoyment came not from good writing but from Hollywood pushing all the right buttons, you find yourself feeling cheap and exploited.

Then comes the tour de force. After revealing the alarming fact that “In the last two years, 96% of Hollywood movies have been sequels, remakes, reboots or re-imaginings,” he offers an insightful explanation: The increase in competition from multi-channel TV, 24 hour news, social media and mobile devices has created a “blurring effect” on modern pop culture, and, overwhelmed with choices, we (and thus film-makers) now cling to anything we might recognize – from old TV shows to comic books and videogames. A stream of movie posters validates his point – with some movies such as Hulk, Robin Hood and Karate Kid being remade more than once.

Mr. Plinkett's graph of the blurring effect on modern pop culture, caused by increasing choices

Having convincingly established this basic premise – that the new Star Trek movie “specifically exploits the iconic images and phrases of the 60s TV series for mass audience appeal” – he continues with a detailed deconstruction of the decisions that formed the movie, from the “hyper-charging” of character traits and deliberate “spelling everything out to the audience” through to the pains the movie goes to in establishing that every character is straight, or as Mr. Plinkett phrases it so delightfully, “has a case of the not-gays”.

There’s plenty of nitpicking to keep long-time Trek fans happy too, and Stoklasa successfully establishes his credibility as a science-fiction geek with “The Plinkett Equation” – a mathematical proof factoring in celebrated episodes from all five Star Trek shows to show how the “parallel universe” plot device (which allowed the rebooted Star Trek universe to exist alongside the prior TV shows) was fundamentally flawed.

Plinkett’s “Star Trek (2009) review” is essential viewing for any discerning movie-goer. It doesn’t just entertain, it educates. Most impressive of all is that Stoklasa has turned the trend of “dumb YouTube reviewers” on its head. His oafish character actually says very smart things, taking on the very phenomenon he observes – mindless movie-goers who crave style over substance. The review is absurdly long by YouTube standards, and yet, disguising his insights with profanities and dark humour, he not only engrosses you but challenges your beliefs. Suddenly it’s hard to look at a Hollywood blockbuster in the same way again.

Watch it now at redlettermedia.com.