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Men In Black 3

It’s not a sequel that needed to be made, but thanks to the charm of its leads and a tone that harks back to the wit and humour of the original, it’s a pretty enjoyable trip.

Bel Ami

The excellent female support cast saves this patchy effort, which is let down by its leading man and a flat screenplay.

The Dictator

A disappointing, often repulsive and mean-spirited mess of a film with seemingly only one real criterion on its agenda: to shock and offend.

The Woman In Black

Packed with atmosphere, this old-fashioned but deftly told ghost story delivers ample chills and thrills.

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Red State (Film)

by Anthony O'Connor | October 10, 2011 16:17 | Edited October 10, 2011 16:19

A somewhat return to form for director Kevin Smith, this flawed but strangely compelling indie flick is refreshingly unpredictable.

Red State represents director Kevin Smith's (Clerks, Mallrats, Chasing Amy) return to making indie films his way, and an ardent upthrust middle finger to what he feels is an antiquated studio film release system. Whether you agree with his frequent incendiary rants, blogs and tweets or not, it has to be said that it's nice to have this Kevin Smith back. Red State, for all its flaws - and there are many - feels like a grungy, nineties indie film from the Smith who gave us Clerks, as opposed to the watered down Jersey Girl and Cop Out Smith of recent times.

 

Kevin Smith's scripts are at their best when he's dealing with real issues. Specifically, sex or religion. In Red State, both are addressed. The movie starts off with a familiar horror device: a group of young guys looking to get laid. These three high schoolers make an online arrangement with an apparently accommodating lady who will service all three of them. We then spend twenty or so minutes following these hormonal youngsters into a nearby county as they talk about sex, sideswipe the local sheriff's car, talk about sex some more, and finally arrive at the desolate looking trailer of the accessible woman. It's not at all surprising what happens next - they drink beer, it's spiked, and they wake up in the church of Pastor Abin Cooper, who preaches fire and brimstone from his pulpit as the boys shiver in cages. What is surprising is how effective this first section of the movie is. Coming off as a variant of Hostel or The Texas Chain Saw Massacre meets evangelical Christians, it looks like we're in for a savage, violent ride.

 

It's then that Red State changes gears dramatically for the first, but far from the last, time. Pastor Abin Cooper (played with admirable zeal by Tarantino and Rodriguez regular, Michael Parks) launches into an astonishingly long sermon decrying the various ills of the modern age. Cooper's fictitious church is Smith's withering parody of real life religious organisations that turn up to celebrate at the funerals of young homosexuals who've died of AIDS, amongst other things. It certainly lends Parks' performance gravitas, as most people who've seen those religious nut-jobs have wondered, "Why are those people like that?" Getting a glimpse behind the walls of such a church does feel fresh, and even a little dangerous. It's heady, nasty stuff that Cooper preaches, but it goes on for way too long. The tension that Smith has so cleverly ratcheted up is diminished, and you begin to wonder if this is really a horror movie at all... and then it changes gears again with a gay man being cling-wrapped to a crucifix and further nastiness.

 

Then the film changes gears once more, and we're with Agent Joseph Keenan (John Goodman), who provides an extremely lengthy and wordy introduction to the siege-style part of the movie at Cooper's compound, which plays more like a nihilistic action flick, and is sadly the weakest element of Red State (Goodman's excellent performance notwithstanding). We're not going to tell you where the movie goes next, although it should be noted that it shifts perspective at least three more times, and has an ending that almost, but doesn't quite, pull an hilarious about face.

 

So what we have at the end of this strange collection of stories is a third horror, a third cult vs. government, and a third of people talking in endless, unwieldy word slabs. It would be easy to dismiss the film as an unfocused mess, and many have, but there's something about Red State that really sticks with you. The constantly shifting focus makes it almost impossible to feel for any one character, and there are sections where you'll find yourself wishing that they'd just get back to the action - but Smith, and an extremely talented cast (full marks go to Michael Parks, John Goodman and Melissa Leo - all of whom deliver excellent performances), make it interesting enough that you'll drink the punch... and perhaps wonder why you did a bit later.

 

Red State is not a huge success, but nor is it a total failure. It begins a number of interesting scenarios and then ends them in a strangely perfunctory manner, over and over again, and calling it a horror film is a gross simplification. It is, instead, a cerebral rumination on the nature of religion, and how God and government can be used to justify all manner of atrocity. Kevin Smith really deserves credit for creating and delivering a project that he truly believes in. Red State is an interesting mess, but in an age where one is often able to predict the end of a film in the first ten minutes, it's refreshing to have something this nutty to watch.