RED STATE - a review my DjfunkmasterG

[DjfunkmasterG]

I decided to put this review in the media section because although Kevin SMith pitched RED STATE as a horror film, it clearly is nowhere close to even being a horror film, unless you consider being abducted by a bunch of Ultra Right Wing, Old testament preaching whack jobs horror. then whatever.

This 83 minute long.... WASTE OF TIME, only has one true redeeming factor and that would be Michael Parks as the cult church leader. The rest of the time the movie is either edited together way too quickly, or extremely miscast in some respects.

Like many other folks I am a John Goodman fan, but he was not put too good use at all here, in fact in some instance I cringed at the lines delivered by John, but I don't fault John for this I fault Smith.

I completely understand what kevin was trying to do here. Red State is more or less a walk down memory lane of the WACO incident, and of course tying into the Phelps family without directly making a film about the Phelps with the Phelps cast in all the roles. Also, Kevin takes a jab/stab at how the government still uses the patriot act to infringe upon the rights of all individuals whether you're an honest to goodness christian or not, the meaning behind the film calls to alert people about how the gov't can automatically re-classify zealots as domestic terrorists with just a simple approach of implementing parts of The Patriot Act... however, what you get is a totally fucked up and forgettable film, that maybe put into the hands of a competent director, who knows how to work with this type of material... this may have been more exciting.

Now, I won't be totally negative. There are some stand out moments, like Michael Parks... and some of Smith's script is great stuff, but really could have used some re-writes here and there. However, the overall product is just MEH

I seriously suggest you find a torrent or wait for it to hit Netflix streaming because this is not a film that I feel most people would re-watch multiple times unlike Smith's previous efforts.

My rating 2 out of 5 stars

Gary


EDITED: Corrected Typo in Title

[AfterMovieDiner]

As for my 2 cents worth, I actually liked the flick.

I never expected it to be a horror film, despite him proclaiming it as such. For me, it was a B-Movie, a grindhouse picture, a cult film. Much like what Tarantino was trying to do with Grindhouse only unlike the horribly misjudged, Death proof, it actually succeeds.

If you watch those old cult/Americana B-Movies, Red State has a lot of the same elements, apart from its starry cast, it has a low budget, only one or two set pieces, more or less a single location, a little bit of cod-politics and a taboo subject matter, some gruesome bits and some hyper-reality bits. It even had the cheap looking cinematography and colour palette of a B-Movie.
I think the problem everyone has with Red State is that it was a Kevin Smith film starring some fairly big name folk and the fact that, for all his gabbing, he sort of marketed wrong. It is not a horror movie. I agree.

The way his career has gone, biting the hand that fed and created him, setting up his own radio station, selling off and turning his back on his past and writing an epically personal 2 part self-declared final film is bound to rub a ton of people up the wrong way, especially if they had misconceptions about who he is and while I fully accept that people might not like Red State I think if people saw Red State 20 years from now on some low-bidget, b-movie, grindhouse style boxset, they would think it was pretty damn good.

Very often a film is won or lost on people's expectations of it and I saw it at Radio City music hall, did not have the best seats and was not really expecting much (I paid more to see the Q&A afterwards). Well, actually the Q&A sucked but the film blew me away. I really liked it, I didn't get bogged down in it's simplistic and heavy handed message I just watched it unfurl as a simple little low budget movie and for me, on that basis it really worked.

Just me 2 cents as I said

I am certainly not claiming it was one of the best movies ever.

[LouCipherr]

Dj, are you sure we watched the same movie? Waste of time my ass. This film is worth the watch if just to see Parks work his craft like the master that he is. You need to lay off the meds.

I'm with AMD, I dug the film, a lot.

When the first trailer was released, I said right here on HPotD it looked more like the "thriller" than a horror movie, and not one single person agreed with me.. You included, Dj. I'm not gonna tell you "I told you so" - I'm just gonna say "I knew it!"

No, wait, I am gonna say it: "I told you so!" :lol: :p

I wasn't disappointed, mainly because I followed the long and twisted path that Red State followed from script inception to completion and the subsquent screenings and reviews during the US Red State tour, as well as listening to all the "Red State of the Union" podcasts. If you did too (or even put in 10% of the effort I did), nothing here should have been a surprise at all. It was exactly what was to be expected. Where people thought this was going to be some sort of vicious off-the-wall horror film, I have no idea. While Smith did indeed say it had "horror elements" I don't think it was never tagged as a full-on horror movie except maybe in the very early stages. Later he described it as a thriller with horrorific elements and as a "brain chigger of a movie"

While I liked the film, it did have it's problems. The first 15 minutes (which focused on the 3 kids trying to find this chick on the internet to have sex with) felt very forced, as if it were just a way to get the story moving about Abin Cooper (Parks) and his church. It just felt.. well, like I said, forced. Once that's over and they start focusing on the church, it really picks up the pace and quickly. This first section is also where it feels like a typical "Smith" movie - after that, you'd never believe it was him that made this film.

There's one really good thing about the movie - it leaves you guessing a lot. You're never sure who is going to make it out alive and who isn't or what direction the movie is heading. This made for very a tense experience as the movie flew along at a very brisk pace. While I won't give any spoilers here, I will say this: whoever and whatever you think is going to happen in the film, chances are, it's going to turn a direction different than you were expecting.

While Parks pretty much rules this film without a doubt, I have to give props to Goodman. Dj thinks he was miscast, I think he was great for the role. I can't figure out what "cringe-inducing" lines he delivered that Dj is talking about...?

One thing I found pretty cool is how the film is broken up into three distinct "acts" - which is explained further when you view the credits for the film (and as you're watching it if you're paying attention).

Also, I didn't see this as a "WACO" type of reenactment, these people were more like extremist, gun-nut, Westboro Baptist Church freaks. Sure, there was a gun fight, but that's the only similarity to the Waco, Texas incident that I could see. Abin Cooper was more way more Fred Phelps than David Koresh. Oh, and speaking of Fred Phelps & the Westboro Baptist Church - they did take a stab at them in the movie, which I found quite funny. :D

It's going to be a very polarizing film, that's for sure. As AMD said, it's not the "greatest" but it's certainly worth a watch if you want to see an unpredictable thriller with Master Parks at the helm.

[Danny]

Just watched it, actually surprised how much i dug it, the trailers made it looks like hostel meets a waco reenactment and the way it starts i figured thats just what i get then it takes a turn i didnt expect. its very oddly paced with a too many characters with too few actual lines if any at all. But its definitely NOT a horror film, its not even a thriller really. Its hard to quantify or label real easily but i guess i would recommend it. Its not smiths best but its far from his worst film, nowhere close.


Kinda makes you wonder what he could have done if he abandoned the tired-ass dick, fart and stoner jokes schtik a decade ago and try more variance in his work like this.

oh, one other thing:
the bit with the horn? for a spit second i thought smith was going maximum overtroll and actually ending with the rapture. in retrospect that mightve been done if he had a bigger budget :lol:

-- -------- Post added at 12:20 AM ---------- Previous post was at 12:10 AM ----------


Dj, are you sure we watched the same movie? Waste of time my ass. This film is worth the watch if just to see Parks work his craft like the master that he is. You need to lay off the meds.

I'm with AMD, I dug the film, a lot.

When the first trailer was released, I said right here on HPotD it looked more like the "thriller" than a horror movie, and not one single person agreed with me.. You included, Dj. I'm not gonna tell you "I told you so" - I'm just gonna say "I knew it!"

No, wait, I am gonna say it: "I told you so!" :lol: :p

I wasn't disappointed, mainly because I followed the long and twisted path that Red State followed from script inception to completion and the subsquent screenings and reviews during the US Red State tour, as well as listening to all the "Red State of the Union" podcasts. If you did too (or even put in 10% of the effort I did), nothing here should have been a surprise at all.


just pointing out that nobody should ever be expected to put that much effort into a film before its released to be able to enjoy it. i dug it, but i did because of the film, people wont dig it for their own reasons. Not having wasted a few dozen hours hearing about it first should not matter, and its certainly not to the films credit if you feel someone would need to do so in order to enjoy it properly rather than it be able to stand on its own two legs, if you get my meaning.

[DjfunkmasterG]

It still sucked... 'nuff said.

[LouCipherr]

just pointing out that nobody should ever be expected to put that much effort into a film before its released to be able to enjoy it. i dug it, but i did because of the film, people wont dig it for their own reasons. Not having wasted a few dozen hours hearing about it first should not matter, and its certainly not to the films credit if you feel someone would need to do so in order to enjoy it properly rather than it be able to stand on its own two legs, if you get my meaning.

No one was "required" to put in that effort before seeing the film to dig it, trust me - when I said "even if you put in 10% of what I did" I mean, basically, if you just listened to Smith one time talk about the film, there should've been no surprises. My wife didn't know jack squat about Red State 'till she saw it, and she liked it (although, in her words, it was an "uncomfortable movie to watch" because you never expected what was going to happen - too many twists & turns in the plot). Smith's "Red State Sessions" podcasts were nothing more than interviews with the cast/crew but he never divulged anything more than the most thinly described generalization of the plot. Kev kept it a secret on purpose for that exact reason - he wanted the film to stand on it's own, and I think it did.

I think those podcasts were more marketing than anything, and the way he went about it, it was probably a good idea to do so since he shunned the "traditional route" and went his own way.

I also agree with what you said about if he had just abandonded his schtick from years ago and tried shit like this more often, what else could he have accomplished? I'll be honest with you, I was REALLY looking forward to Red State. Hit Somebody? Not so much. I have zero interest in hockey nor the premise of that film, so I'll end up passing on that one.

Oh, and what you said in the hidden/spoiler above:

Man, when I heard that "horn" so-to-speak, I though he might've copped out right then and there with the ending of the movie. I heard it and said outloud, "oh, NO FUCKING WAY!" - thank god it didn't end like I thought it was going to at that point. :lol: I didn't care for the last 2 minutes of Parks in the prison cell, but I don't know how else he could've ended the flick to be honest.. other than, perhaps, wasting Abin Cooper and the entire clan


It still sucked... 'nuff said.

What, your opinion of the movie? Yeah, it does still suck, but so do you, so..... :lol: :lol: :p

[DjfunkmasterG]

What, your opinion of the movie? Yeah, it does still suck, but so do you, so..... :lol: :lol: :p

:FINGER:

The movie sucks!

[LouCipherr]

:FINGER:

I suck!

Yes, you do, Dj. :lol: :p :D

[DjfunkmasterG]

Yes, you do, Dj. :lol: :p :D

Oh so now we're editing... I guess you had to just use your creative control huh?

Guess what?

RED STATE still sucks.

:elol:

[Neil]

As for my 2 cents worth, I actually liked the flick.
You're not alone - http://www.cinemablend.com/reviews/Red-State-5459.html

[JDFP]

Saw it earlier today and actually digged it much more than I thought I would, very enjoyable film overall.

What I like about it is that there aren't any good guys or bad guys, just blurs of grey (like so much of reality). Goodman is golden (My God, how much weight has he lost?) in the role and Parks was fantastic. Honestly, the three teens at the beginning of the film annoyed the piss out of me so I didn't feel any type of issues with how things went for them. The Church starts out being the bad guys, but to be honest by the half-way point when the federal gov't goes after them with the intent to do what they did (I'm being cautious here to not spoil anything) I actually found myself rooting for the congregation over the bastard feds who were even worse (the congregation was brainwashed, the feds were "just following orders").

As far as the issue mentioned in prior spoilers:

When the horn started blowing I couldn't help but begin laughing my ass off. I honest to goodness thought it would have been an EXCELLENT ending to the film in showing the pastor standing face to face with Goodman yelling at him that the end has come and then cut to black and end the film and allow the viewer to use their own interpretation, the last 5 minutes after that seemed to be tagged on and really decreased for me what I thought would have been a FANTASTIC way to end it. I found myself actually hoping to see flames start shooting out of the sky and angels of fire start killing off both groups as being equally evil.

Overall, I'd give the film 3/5. It's not a masterpiece by any means, but it's definitely worth seeing once. I think if the last 5 minutes had been cut out and it had ended a bit different it would be closer to a 4/5 for me. Still, I enjoyed it.

j.p.

[LiamLynch]

It felt like different two movies.

The first part felt like a hostel-esque, kidnap-torture affair. Then the second half felt like a seige movie, ala The Alamo or even Night of the Living Dead.

I haven't seen this kind of dicotomy (sp?) since From Dusk Till Dawn.

Overall, I would say it is slightly better than Cop Out, but nowhere near as entertaining as Clerks.

[bassman]

It felt like different two movies.

The first part felt like a hostel-esque, kidnap-torture affair. Then the second half felt like a seige movie, ala The Alamo or even Night of the Living Dead.

I haven't seen this kind of dicotomy (sp?) since From Dusk Till Dawn.

I agree, except From Dusk Till Dawn did it much better. The first half of this movie actually DID feel like a horror movie, even though some say it's not, but the abrupt shift in the second half ruined it.

I didn't necessarily dislike the movie, but it just left a sour taste in my mouth. As they say, it was "meh". It's nice to see Smith venturing out into other genres, but his first attempt left a bit to be desired. I'll agree with DJ's 2/5.

BTW.....I caught it on Instant Netflix, in case anyone else wants to catch it there.

[MikePizzoff]

Just watched it tonight. Enjoyed it more than I thought I would, but when it ended I gave my girlfriend an "it was alright" shrug. Some parts were awesome, but other areas left me wanting more. Enjoyed the social commentary aspects. Wasn't really feeling the Coen/Tarantino-esque ending, too much.

I'd watch it again... I actually get the feeling I may like it better upon a second viewing. Wouldn't mind having it my collection, either. But, I'm in no rush to do either of those things.

[AcesandEights]

Finally got to watch this last night...not bad, but not good, either. I'm pretty ambivalent and I was a bit bored at times, but I saw two major pros for the film:

1) Smith trying to broaden himself (figuratively :p)

2) Goodman, at times hard to take seriously, but at other times actually riveting in his casual approach to being dead serious about his delivery. Watching him was easily the high point of the film for me.