When some people find a niche, they like staying there. That's probably why half of Kevin Smith's directorial efforts feature his beloved stoner duo, Jay and Silent Bob. The six movies Jay and Bob appear in are comedy gold, but unfortunately, Smith's efforts to make movies without them haven't really been accepted all that well. Jersey Girl and Zack and Miri Make a Porno under-performed at the box office, and Cop Out was brutally savaged by critics.
Perhaps that could be one reason why for his latest film, Smith chose to try something different and stray away from the comedy genre he's called home since the release of Clerks in 1994. His destination: a horror movie. Loosely inspired by Fred Phelps and his hate-mongering Westboro Baptist Church, Red State is a stark departure from the nine comedies Smith has directed previously. It is different not only in tone and in content, but in how Smith approached it.
Instead of signing the distribution rights over to some big studio, he actually chose to distribute the movie himself, even taking the brave step to refuse to spend a dime on advertising. Smith's been taking the movie around the country as sort of a traveling road show, only recently teaming with Lions Gate to release it to DVD and video-on-demand services. But as much as Smith has talked up his movie on Twitter and his podcasts, is it worth the hoopla? I just have to find out.
The movie begins by introducing us to Travis (Michael Angarano), Jared (Kyle Gallner), and Billy Ray (Nicholas Braun), three Texas teenagers who just want to get laid. And thanks to that glorious tool known as the Internet, they think they've hit the jackpot. They've received an online invitation for sex from a woman (Melissa Leo) willing to take all three of them on. So yeah, of course they're gonna jump at a chance at that.
But what they don't know is that they've been drawn into something beyond their wildest nightmares. The lady who'd sent them the invitation had drugged their beers, and the three sex-starved teens wake up to find they've been kidnapped by the Five Points Trinity Church. An extreme religious cult led by Pastor Abin Cooper (Michael Parks), the church subscribes not to the idea of a forgiving, peaceful God, but one of hate and fear.
And believing himself and his church to be the vengeful wrath of an angry deity, Cooper plans to take his church's hatred for the world outside their chapel's walls to a new extreme. He fully intends to spark a violent crusade against not only the homosexuality that he's convinced is to blame for all of America's faults, but also against straight people engaging in what he deems "sexual deviancy." The church kills a gay man they'd also lured in under false pretenses, with Travis, Jared, and Billy Ray as their next targets.
But when a police officer passing through the area overhears gunshots, he reports back to Sheriff Wynan (Stephen Root). Members of the church kill the officer and to keep the law off their back, Cooper blackmails the sheriff by threatening to send his wife provocative pictures of the sheriff with another man. Sheriff Wynan retaliates by calling in a team of ATF agents led by Joseph Keenan (John Goodman) to bring down Cooper and his cult. What results is a standoff between the ATF and the Five Points Trinity Church that'll make the Waco siege in 1993 look like a friendly get-together.
Smith has tackled religion before, but Red State is a much more visceral, vicious movie than Dogma even thought about being. There is so much rage and anger in Red State that I'd have honestly never guessed he'd made it if I hadn't been aware of it beforehand. There's the occasional witty quip and one-liner, but beyond that, it's absolutely nothing like anything Smith has done in the past. It's almost like Red State was made by a different filmmaker who had the same name by coincidence.
I say that because I'm used to seeing Smith directing no-frills comedies. But Red State is a violent thriller, and the gritty, raw cinematography that Smith puts to use makes it definitely stand out visually from his prior efforts. And although the horror elements and influence are obvious, a thriller really is what Smith's made here. It doesn't completely work as horror beyond a certain point, but as a thriller, it totally works and Smith's direction helps Red State soar.
I also thought his screenplay was top notch despite some flaws I'll get into later. Again, the script doesn't really make itself evident as Kevin Smith's handiwork beyond a few jokes and clever jokes here and there. It's not loaded with references to hockey or pop culture, and the frank sexual discussions are kept to the first twenty minutes and then ditched altogether. Every scene in the movie is absolutely dead serious, the levity kept to a bare minimum.
But you can tell it's Smith's handiwork by the sheer amount of dialogue there is. Seriously, nobody ever stops talking. I don't think there's a single quiet moment whatsoever in this movie. The movie is so verbose, so talkative that you almost want the actors to shut up for a second and let the visuals take charge. (This complaint makes the very last line of the movie, someone yelling at a particular character to "shut the f—k up," funnier than it should be.) But hey, it's a Kevin Smith movie. A Kevin Smith movie without a ton of dialogue would be like a Quentin Tarantino movie without some woman's feet being front and center.
And as for those flaws with the script, I mentioned, there's really one that really stuck out seriously for me. I know most horror movies are supposed to have characters that are a bit on the stupid side, but this one had a character that was King of the Horror Movies Dummies. One of the kidnapped teenagers manages to secretly get free from his restraints and find a machine gun. And as he tries to escape, he ends up in the middle of the church's entire congregation. And just what does he do? Not a damn thing. He just charges straight for the door the first chance he gets. The dumbass kid doesn't fire a single shot. Yeah, there were kids in the room, but surely they'd have all hit the deck when he opened fire. As far as I could tell, he was the only one armed, so he could have taken out at least two or three before somebody managed to sneak up on him in the chaos. Yeah, the kid running out the door leads to a surprising twist, I'll give it that. But Smith could have had him try shooting and the gun jams, or he accidentally left the safety on and panicked, or something. Maybe this is me just nitpicking at little things, I don't know, but Smith could have had him at least try something.
The acting, though, totally makes up for the flaws. I will admit that I didn't like every actor — I thought the actors playing the three teen victims sucked and Melissa Leo's overacting was barely tolerable — but the majority of the performances are really good. Kerry Bishé makes a fine contribution to the movie, playing a young cult member who simply wants to get the children among them to safety. I also thought Stephen Root was great in his relatively short appearance in the movie, but then again, I usually enjoy his work anyway.
But Red State is carried by two performances in particular. One comes from John Goodman, whose performance is strong, credible, and quite effective. Goodman is fantastic in the role, effortlessly conveying all of the conflicting emotions his character is going through. It's an awesome bit of acting that I'd definitely call one of Goodman's best.
He's outshined, however, by Michael Parks. Parks is the best part of Red State, playing Reverend Cooper as a charismatic yet frightening monster. Every second he's on the screen is captivating. This is no more evident than in the monologue he has near the beginning of the movie, where he delivers a sermon to his congregation explaining just how homosexuality has supposedly destroyed America. Parks is fascinating to watch; he's terrifying yet you can't take your eyes off him. It's definitely one of the best performances I've seen in a while, for sure.
Red State is not a perfect movie. Truth be told, it's a mediocre thriller with two fantastic actors. But despite any complaints I have with it, the movie is worth watching just to see Smith step out of his typical comfort zone. Parks and Goodman are the biggest drawing points, sure. But the movie was a big risk on Smith's part, and I admire Red State for that. And while I didn't quite care for this one, I'm actually a little disappointed that Smith says the next movie he wants to make — Hit Somebody, a sports comedy based on Warren Zevon's song of the same name — will be his last directorial effort. And the reason I'm disappointed is because I want to see where the bravery it took to make Red State would take him
Final Rating: **
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