Red White & Blue

That's what this movie is: torture porn. True, the first two thirds of the movie are your basic indie flick about lost, tormented souls trying to find comfort on each other, or in the most desperate acts. Nothing spectacular, nothing new, but more or less well done. And completely irrelevant. Nothing of the character's dramas is left when things start rolling.

The last half an hour is obviously what the director intended to leave in our memories. And it is pure gratuitous exploitation. The viewer is just being thrown from one torture scene to another, expecting the level of violence to keep increasing(and believe me, it does). When the last confrontation between two characters is about to begin, all the viewer can think is how graphic and sickening it is going to be: no emotional tension is expected, and none is given. The fact that the violent third act takes much less time than the drama doesn't change the fact that it is the violent stuff that Red White and Blue is about.

It is obviously not a case of a movie becoming something else in the end. What happens is precisely the opposite: the long set-up is just an excuse for sickening stuff at the end. That will give the horror fans a chance to say they enjoyed a film with character development, and that they are not just fans of the gross stuff, etc. Pure BS. This is as much an exploitation film as I Spit in Your Grave, Cannibal Holocaust, Last House on the Left and the like. Yes, I am degrading this movie from its artsy pretensions to the genre it really belongs. You make enjoy this if you are a horror fan, but don't fool yourself.

Red White and Blue is not for everyone. This movie with grab your emotions right from the beginning (good or bad) and keep building upwards.

There is no clear antagonist or protagonist; I'm sure we could label some, but it detracts from the complex interactions and subtext. This movie has layers and it will stick with you for several days. I repeat - this movie stays with you and reaches some dark places.

The acting is very good and Noah Taylor is engrossing. I can not believe this guy is not cast in more roles, seriously. Taylor gives a stellar performance of the performance you almost wished you had never seen.

I recommend highly.

Noah Taylor really shines in this movie. He was perfect for the role. There are no good guys here just bad people and worse people. Don't watch this movie unless you want to be brought down a few emotional steps.

This movie really affected me right from the beginning. I felt drawn in hanging onto every word and movement of Emily (The main female character) and Nate (The post traumatic Iraq war Veteran).

Unfortunately I can't really go into too much detail on the plot creating a rather boring review but I really wanted to let people know just how enticing and well made this movie was. This was one of the best Drama revenge movies I have ever seen. It was so realistic to me it was like watching something real. The emotions I felt towards the characters is not something I normally experience in watching a movie but the bleakness and story lines of each character was just so real to me.

I found the relationship between Emily and Nate to be especially captivating. Two outcasts who are thoroughly screwed up very slowly make this special bond that they seemed to never have in life before. You don't really know what to make of the two with his history of torture and hers of being extremely unemotional and sexually promiscuous. You're not really sure what to make of the relationship until things unfold and you realize what's really going on.

Franki, the third main character in the movie is your typical stupid kid whose dreams are to make it big with his band. He cares for and loves his cancer stricken Mother very much. When he has an encounter with Emily it causes his whole world to spin out of control and loses his sanity.

If you miss this movie you are missing out on a good one. I went in thinking it would be a gore feast but it wasn't, it was actually very tame on the gore. Instead I went through an emotional roller-coaster that lasted from beginning to end. This movie is a must see.

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I have to say that this movie grew on me after I watched it... mainly because I watched it with wrong expectation. In comparison to Rumleys last movie "The living and the dead" it doesn't catch you with visual and sound effects and its not revenge movie either. "Red white and blue" is a pretty bleak drama that for most of its time focuses on showing the lives of three characters. The focus is on the characters and there is not much do distract from them except for the strange time skips in editing which at first annoyed be but have a more than logical reason in the movie. Everything relies heavily on the actors and I think for an independent movie they made quite an effort here.

Rumley denies painting anyone in this movie good or bad. You have to watch an endless spiral of pain and wrongs that never seem to make a right but there is always a reason for actions that on first sight might seem illogical. The way the characters are interwoven and the similarities between them are slowly coming to light while the plot turns into a revenge movie culminating in some pretty drastic measures is brilliant. The movie is gritty and brutal in parts but I think Rumley managed to play these elements in a way that works psychologically and not visually. The way the story is told is excellent and the finale is not a lame twist that turns everything upside down but makes you realize you have been watching a revenge movie from the first frame onwards. I think Rumley put a lot of thought into this movie and it deserves that people sit down and take a little time to think about it too.