Red State: secta mortal

OK. So after reading the other reviews and deciding to watch this based on the positive reports, I feel compelled to offer a more realistic review.

First of all, this is not the masterpiece it's made out to be. A lot of Kevin Smith fanboys seem reluctant to give him a bad review.

So here we go, it's a bit of a mess really. It seems to be getting a lot of praise for switching genres but honestly, it just comes across as confused. Yes, the performances are pretty good and some of the camera work is exceptional (the escape/chase scene is noteworthy) but overall it's almost like three films in one. This might sound like a good thing but not the way it's presented here.

And as for everybody trying to get clever over the title, the meaning is pretty clear to me. It refers to both the political and the government angle that the authorities can lock any suspected terrorist up for an indefinite time. A la communist/red states.

Overall, some good performances, memorable dialogue and decent cinematography fail to save this confused mess.

This action-horror film changes directions about once every 15 minutes. On the whole, I enjoyed it.

The downside is that every twist kills the momentum. There's not much continuity, and the last five minutes or so are quite arbitrary. I was expecting something to tie it together at the end, but there was nothing like that.

It's never dull. Instead of a gradual build up, this film dives into the action fairly quickly and never slows down. I enjoyed it as a way to burn a few brain cells.

...I have to write more lines to get this review to post. There's a bit of classic Kevin Smith dialogue at the beginning. It's nothing brilliant, but it's fun.

Always amazed to see the variety of reviews. How one can watch this and compare it to a Scooby Doo movie or call it a Bollywood knock-off, and others view is a critically acclaimed. Ahhh, the eye of the beholder.

Anyway, I enjoyed it for Kevin Smith's screen writing and the performances of Parks, Leo, Goodman, and Bishe. Parks' gospel singing was a plus.

It's not horror; it's not Tarantino. It's Kevin Smith. He's great at writing irony and duality in specific circumstances. There isn't character development, just characters that express themselves. I care about them because of what they have said, not what was said about them.

And how can you not love the Goodman soliloquy about the bloodhounds.

Just watch it. Like Smith says in his "Making of ..." video, what may seem like a bad movie for $20 in a theater cane be a favorite movie when you see it in five hours at home.

I've never considered myself a Kevin Smith fan. While I liked "Mallrats", what I've seen of his other works has left me unimpressed. When I heard he would be tackling a horror film, I wasn't exactly enthused by the prospect, though horror is easily my favorite genre. In fact, I had pretty much forgotten about it until I came across a trailer online. That trailer, combined with the solid cast Smith was able to line up, changed my tune, so I was excited to see the film available on pay-per-view. After watching it, I can safely say that it's Smith's best film to date, which in itself isn't the highest of praise. However, it's also one of the best films I've seen all year.

Through an online ad, three teenage boys find a woman who is willing to have sex with all three of them at the same time. They go off to meet her, but it turns out to be a ploy, and they soon find themselves held captive in the rural compound of Abin Cooper and his fundamentalist religious cult. Cooper's group, known as the Five Points Church, is well-known for protesting at funerals of gays and causing various other commotions due to their beliefs. However, the true extent of how far they're willing to go due to the demoralization of America will soon be known to their three captives.

Smith's films have always been heavy on dialogue, and "Red State" is certainly no different. The dialogue here, though, is no laughing matter, particularly as Abin Cooper delivers a lengthy, vitriol-laced sermon to his flock. Michael Parks ("The Evictors", "From Dusk Til Dawn") has been around for a long time, but never has he been more on top of his game than he is here as the Five Points Church matriarch. You hear hyperbolic terms like "tour de force" thrown around all the time, but Parks' performance in this film is one that truly deserves to be described as such. The hateful conviction with which Cooper gives his sermon and the psychotic glee when he belittles those who don't share his beliefs are scarily real thanks to the strength of Parks, who never misses a beat.

The dialogue and film in general are clearly Smith's take on Fred Phelps and his infamous Westboro Baptist Church, but the film switches gears midway through and throws in some commentary on the Waco/Branch Davidian fiasco as well with the introduction of John Goodman as Joseph Keenan, an ATF agent poised to take out Cooper and his clan. After the local sheriff gets wind of the church's murderous activities, he contacts Keenan, who has been watching the group for quite some time. Keenan leads several ATF agents to the compound for a simple in and out, but after his second in command is shot dead, his superiors inform him that no one is to leave the compound alive, hostages and children included.

From here, the film takes more of an action turn as opposed to the horror-oriented first half. We bare witness to a thrilling shootout as Keenan struggles with his conscience and unlikely allies inside the compound try to find a way to bring the children to safety. Anyone familiar with the events in Waco or documentaries on the incident, such as the infuriating "Waco: The Rules of Engagement", will definitely see the parallels between the real life happenings and what goes on here. Smith's film is just as much an indictment against the ATF and government B.S. as it is against those who give religious people a bad name.

Goodman gives the other great performance of the film as the ATF agent stuck between a rock and a hard place. While his confliction is evident even after he relents and follows the orders of his superiors, he really shines in his final scene where he must explain the events to two government officials. I've always been a huge fan of Goodman's, and his monologue in this scene is some of the best acting of his career. Indeed, belief is a powerful thing. It's what you choose to do with it that defines you.

Also in the cast are Academy Award winner, Melissa Leo, as Abin's daughter, Kevin Pollak in a "mind-blowing" cameo and the always quirky Stephen Root as the troubled sheriff. Smith assembled quite the cast for this venture. Independently financed, the method of release for this film has been odd to say the least, but I'm just happy to have seen it. The tone of the film is sporadic, always shifting and keeping the viewer off kilter. There is a little humor thrown in too, as is to be expected with Smith, but this is a pretty serious picture overall. If I had one qualm with it, it's the whole explanation for the trumpet bit, which seemed a little out there and overcomplicated. Other than that, I thoroughly enjoyed what Smith delivered here.

If what I've heard is true, and Kevin Smith is intending to retire from filmmaking after his next movie, at least he went out with a bang. "Red State" is a successful change of pace.

I know, there are many directing flaws here, particularly with the overly long preaching sermons given by the lunatic pastor in this story, but the story itself does bear some credence. The casting was well chosen, and they certainly lived up to the characters they portrayed.

The one take away comment I'll offer at this juncture is that this film is truly terrifying, is definitely not for the faint of heart, not because of excessive gratuitous violence and such, which there really is not that much of, but in the depiction of the scenario, culture and characters that are represented.

I have seen and met, first hand, lunatic nut case religious fanatics, which almost perfectly match what is presented in Red State, because I have traveled through and have spent some time in "red state" areas. As far as I'm concerned, this film has captured exactly what these types of areas and fanatical religious entities are like. Trust me on this one . . . been there, done that.

Maybe this entire film seems too over the top cliché', stereotypical over dramatization and simplistic rendering of this type of culture and its purveyors of bigotry and hate, but before one makes too hasty an evaluation along such lines, I would suggest you have not seen what I have.

Just for reference, I am not gay, and this is not what my commentary is about. My commentary is oriented toward the predatory social pathology of fanatical extremist religion, an unfortunately all too common form of a serious mental disorder with often horrific consequences which can be witnessed here, in the USA to this very day, in the 21st century.

As for other reviews here, yes there are flaws, and given the opportunity that this story could have provided for a truly great film, yes, it did fall a bit short. Having said that, however, this was not an overtly bad film either, and considering what is portrayed and how it was presented, I still grant Red State a fairly high rating.

There have certainly been far worse films with completely absurd, irrelevant stories which have received rave reviews, so I would advise a bit of caution in how some of the other reviews here should be taken.

Given all that . . . 7 stars for Red State