When Kevin Smith is on, he's on. No one writes funny, shoot-the-sh*t dialog with as much realism and bawdy hilarity as he does. And on that route, he occasionally stumbles into some dark emotional truths that can blow you away quite unexpectedly.
I had almost completely given up on finding that Kevin Smith again, though I check his site and IMDb for news regularly. I began to believe the famous Roger Ebert anecdote where Smith was quoted as saying something to the effect of "I'd make anything if given enough money." Then I saw the trailer this spring for Red State.
Whether this film is a calculated stab at sensationalism, or a genuine attempt at expanding his palette, Smith doesn't sleepwalk through this one.
As with most traditional horror films, Red State starts out all zany as heck, with three teen friends, led by Travis (Michael Angarano), tracking down the poster of an anonymous sex ad. After a few beers with the older woman (Melissa Leo, in a performance that will be remembered some time for its creepy intensity), they find themselves condemned prisoners of right-wing wacko preacher Aben Cooper (Michael Parks, who Smith might have reigned in a LITTLE) and his cult-like "family."
Smith has a lot to juggle in this picture, but he constantly surprises you with his adept choices both script-wise and in the editing room. From about the half-hour mark, we're launched into a psychotic full-tilt shoot-em-up as Cooper and his nut-jobs square off with the ATF, led by John Goodman, who lends much credibility with his tired, hardened, "I'm getting-too-old-for-this-s*** attitude. Still, nothing happens quite the way you think it's going to.
The goal of Red State is ambitious, maybe a bit TOO ambitious. It not only aims to expose the insanity of right-wing evangelical fanatics, but also indicts the government that write them off as no real threat and not the peak of a rising iceberg of malcontents. It's hard in the context of this film to see it in any other terms than how the ATF sees it --- AK-toting fascists are the same whether they're Al Queda or abortion-clinic bombers. And the evangelicals are portrayed so broadly that it was hard to see them as anything but entertaining exploding targets. The speech Goodman uses to wrap up the picture is searing, not only in its content but in how he delivers it (again, wrapping up the movie in this fashion is NOT what you'd expect from a blood and guts outing like Red State).
But, this is not a carnage candy picture, where you walk away without a care in the world. It makes you think...and it is entertaining (and at times maddening). I can't think of a KS jam I could say that much about since "Chasing Amy."
I had almost completely given up on finding that Kevin Smith again, though I check his site and IMDb for news regularly. I began to believe the famous Roger Ebert anecdote where Smith was quoted as saying something to the effect of "I'd make anything if given enough money." Then I saw the trailer this spring for Red State.
Whether this film is a calculated stab at sensationalism, or a genuine attempt at expanding his palette, Smith doesn't sleepwalk through this one.
As with most traditional horror films, Red State starts out all zany as heck, with three teen friends, led by Travis (Michael Angarano), tracking down the poster of an anonymous sex ad. After a few beers with the older woman (Melissa Leo, in a performance that will be remembered some time for its creepy intensity), they find themselves condemned prisoners of right-wing wacko preacher Aben Cooper (Michael Parks, who Smith might have reigned in a LITTLE) and his cult-like "family."
Smith has a lot to juggle in this picture, but he constantly surprises you with his adept choices both script-wise and in the editing room. From about the half-hour mark, we're launched into a psychotic full-tilt shoot-em-up as Cooper and his nut-jobs square off with the ATF, led by John Goodman, who lends much credibility with his tired, hardened, "I'm getting-too-old-for-this-s*** attitude. Still, nothing happens quite the way you think it's going to.
The goal of Red State is ambitious, maybe a bit TOO ambitious. It not only aims to expose the insanity of right-wing evangelical fanatics, but also indicts the government that write them off as no real threat and not the peak of a rising iceberg of malcontents. It's hard in the context of this film to see it in any other terms than how the ATF sees it --- AK-toting fascists are the same whether they're Al Queda or abortion-clinic bombers. And the evangelicals are portrayed so broadly that it was hard to see them as anything but entertaining exploding targets. The speech Goodman uses to wrap up the picture is searing, not only in its content but in how he delivers it (again, wrapping up the movie in this fashion is NOT what you'd expect from a blood and guts outing like Red State).
But, this is not a carnage candy picture, where you walk away without a care in the world. It makes you think...and it is entertaining (and at times maddening). I can't think of a KS jam I could say that much about since "Chasing Amy."