Red State User Reviews

Kevin Smith's Red State is a movie I've been wanting to see all year. He's been pimping out this movie for quite some time with word-of-mouth and his little smodcast podcast, and I have to commend the man that he made quite a great little indie film here. This is a shocking and provocative film, only let down by one of the most anti-climatic endings in recent memory.

Smith's Red State is basically the director's social commentary on what should happen to West Boro Baptist church, and believe me, I don't think I'm the only one who is tired of their warped sense of Christianity. The film starts out with a trio of super horny high school kids who have turned to an online sex website for a night of fun and debauchery. Problem is, they don't realize that it's a trap. The film opens with us learning a little bit about Abin Cooper's church, a fundamentalist preacher who has taken things to extremes. Basically their church, amongst other illicit acts, captures those they believe to be doing wicked and kills them in an almost snuff film fashion. These boys get captured, dragged into a service, and are set to be killed. The events that unfold after this are of the highest tension of any film I've seen this year.

Michael Parks is the real star of Red State though. He brings the correct amount of insanity to his character, pulling off a creepy and memorable role. The other character I would point out is John Goodman, who is a charismatic ATF agent. He's given orders that aren't really justified, and he does what he feels is right.

Putting the great performances aside, the film builds its tension into what I expected to be quite a conclusion, and it sort of just falls flat at the end. The final outcome of the events unfolded is perhaps one of the bigger disappointments I've had with a recent film. It is the anti-climatic of anti-climatic endings. With that out of the way, Red State is still a film you can walk away from with a lot to think about.

With so many crap films out there today, especially in the month of October (it seems like literally the scum of the year was dumped into this past month at the box office), it's really easy to overlook a film like Red State. Your best bet is to catch it on Netflix, since it has been streaming since November 1st. This isn't the typical Kevin Smith you are use to, that's for sure. He's matured, he's grown up, and he's produced quite a little film here. It's just too bad that I'll remember it more for the anti-climatic ending then I will for being a great social commentary.