Full disclosure off the bat: I am a big fan of Kevin Smith – both his work and the man himself.
This means I have kept the faith through some misfires in the past even when I thought that his radar was slipping – Zack and Miri had a hugely funny opening hour before tumbling into mediocrity and Cop Out was a reasonable homage to 80s action flicks but far too broadly played to tempt me to watch it more than once.
So I was fully prepared for Red State, Smith's first genuine move away from his preferred genre of dialogue heavy comedy, to be another misfire. A brave attempt to do something different but nothing more than that.
I was very, very wrong. Red State is very, very good.
Unfortunately, it's difficult to explain why without giving away most of the films plot and its various twists and turns.
If you're planning on seeing the film (and I highly recommend you do) then I'll leave you with this
The film has the aura of those bleak, violent movies of the 70s.
The cast are uniformly excellent.
The dialogue is full of profane, quotable lines and is very darkly funny in places.
The shaky cam won't be for everyone but switches to suit the various moods of the drama perfectly.
The twists in the plot may jar for some but to me seemed a more likely way for a situation like this to develop and escalate than movies of this type generally play out.
It is ultimately a very bleak statement on where the USA finds itself in the early part of the 21st century.
SPOILERS AHEAD
The initial premise – of teens lured to their deaths by promises of sex on the internet smacked of Hostel and its countless imitations but is nothing more than an introduction to the bizarre, apocalyptic cult led by Pastor Cooper – believers in an Old Testament, vengeful God and it quickly becomes apparent, insanely and violently committed to their belief in their need to appease this vengeful God. Christ is referenced but there is no sense in a belief in New Testament values.
Whilst the Westboro Baptist Church are an obvious parallel to Five Points and are referenced in the dialogue ("they're sue-ers, not do- ers"), the church and the escalation also carry obvious pointers to Waco and Ruby Ridge (the latter through the violence being provoked by the law enforcement agencies).
The film twists and turns away from the obvious path of this premise into other territory and quickly moves from being just a film condemning fundamentalist religious beliefs to also condemning the equally brutal and psychopathic political manoeuvrings of government agencies.
The most chilling scene, brilliantly played between John Goodman and Kevin Alejandro, involves no actual threat or violence – merely the agent in charge explaining coldly the full horror of the orders he has been given and why he has no choice but to carry them out. It sent a shiver down my spine that thousands of other horror movies have never come close to equalling.
Almost as chilling is the scene between Marc Blucas and Kerry Bishe where a girl attempting to flee the scene is handed a discharged gun and ordered back into the compound at gunpoint as if it was standard operating procedure.
The parallels between human beings killing in cold blooded defence of their beliefs, whether religious, political or simply borne of good old fashioned self interest are many and all are equally horrifying.
The ending is satisfying in a wholly different way, bleak but ironic. A new set of psychopaths are introduced and explain how the situation will simply disappear with blackly comedic dialogue ("Why? Because f*** people like this.").
Smith, lovable egomaniac that he is, takes the last line of the film for himself as a message to Fred Phelps and his ilk: "Shut the f*** up!"
It would be a shame if this was really Smith's penultimate movie as he seems to have found a voice that could do a lot of good for the world and has also carved himself a niche that he can basically do what he wants as long as he does it cheap enough.
Still, I'll believe it when I see it, like when Alan Moore keeps saying he isn't writing any more comics. Knock it off... you love this.
This means I have kept the faith through some misfires in the past even when I thought that his radar was slipping – Zack and Miri had a hugely funny opening hour before tumbling into mediocrity and Cop Out was a reasonable homage to 80s action flicks but far too broadly played to tempt me to watch it more than once.
So I was fully prepared for Red State, Smith's first genuine move away from his preferred genre of dialogue heavy comedy, to be another misfire. A brave attempt to do something different but nothing more than that.
I was very, very wrong. Red State is very, very good.
Unfortunately, it's difficult to explain why without giving away most of the films plot and its various twists and turns.
If you're planning on seeing the film (and I highly recommend you do) then I'll leave you with this
The film has the aura of those bleak, violent movies of the 70s.
The cast are uniformly excellent.
The dialogue is full of profane, quotable lines and is very darkly funny in places.
The shaky cam won't be for everyone but switches to suit the various moods of the drama perfectly.
The twists in the plot may jar for some but to me seemed a more likely way for a situation like this to develop and escalate than movies of this type generally play out.
It is ultimately a very bleak statement on where the USA finds itself in the early part of the 21st century.
SPOILERS AHEAD
The initial premise – of teens lured to their deaths by promises of sex on the internet smacked of Hostel and its countless imitations but is nothing more than an introduction to the bizarre, apocalyptic cult led by Pastor Cooper – believers in an Old Testament, vengeful God and it quickly becomes apparent, insanely and violently committed to their belief in their need to appease this vengeful God. Christ is referenced but there is no sense in a belief in New Testament values.
Whilst the Westboro Baptist Church are an obvious parallel to Five Points and are referenced in the dialogue ("they're sue-ers, not do- ers"), the church and the escalation also carry obvious pointers to Waco and Ruby Ridge (the latter through the violence being provoked by the law enforcement agencies).
The film twists and turns away from the obvious path of this premise into other territory and quickly moves from being just a film condemning fundamentalist religious beliefs to also condemning the equally brutal and psychopathic political manoeuvrings of government agencies.
The most chilling scene, brilliantly played between John Goodman and Kevin Alejandro, involves no actual threat or violence – merely the agent in charge explaining coldly the full horror of the orders he has been given and why he has no choice but to carry them out. It sent a shiver down my spine that thousands of other horror movies have never come close to equalling.
Almost as chilling is the scene between Marc Blucas and Kerry Bishe where a girl attempting to flee the scene is handed a discharged gun and ordered back into the compound at gunpoint as if it was standard operating procedure.
The parallels between human beings killing in cold blooded defence of their beliefs, whether religious, political or simply borne of good old fashioned self interest are many and all are equally horrifying.
The ending is satisfying in a wholly different way, bleak but ironic. A new set of psychopaths are introduced and explain how the situation will simply disappear with blackly comedic dialogue ("Why? Because f*** people like this.").
Smith, lovable egomaniac that he is, takes the last line of the film for himself as a message to Fred Phelps and his ilk: "Shut the f*** up!"
It would be a shame if this was really Smith's penultimate movie as he seems to have found a voice that could do a lot of good for the world and has also carved himself a niche that he can basically do what he wants as long as he does it cheap enough.
Still, I'll believe it when I see it, like when Alan Moore keeps saying he isn't writing any more comics. Knock it off... you love this.