Red State
Stars: John Goodman, Michael Parks, Michael Angarano, Melissa Leo
Director: Kevin Smith
2011
It’s been an interesting last few years for Kevin Smith. He’s been kicked off an airliner for being too fat, become a fulltime pot head and taken to arguing with film critics on the internet. That is life imitating art, folks. And now, he’s reinventing himself as a film maker. For this is not one of his usual suburban comedies packed with drunken foul-mouthed misfits – it’s a grimy, ultraviolent exploitation thriller, with bonus social comment on religion and law enforcement, and the accountability of both. You have to admire Smith’s balls (not literally, pervert) at trying something this unusual at this stage of his career, and fortunately for him the film hits more often than it misses. Only major slip ups come toward the end, when there is a certain bizarre occurrence and John Goodman is consequently required to deliver one of Smith’s trademark undeliverable monologues. Speaking of which, any tired viewers may find themselves lapsing into a coma during Michael Parks’ many extended diatribes spoken at one word per minute. Still, it’s fine work across the board from a solid cast. The camerawork is mostly handheld, but not too shaky. There are a couple of crazy footchase scenes which use just about every camera trick in the book to amp up the adrenaline, so plenty to enjoy there. Sound design is also classy, with gunshots sounding particularly juicy. A truly nasty film in places – there are more heinous, heartless executions on show here than I have seen onscreen in a long time – but Smith remains a joker at heart. A short final scene ends things off with a laugh.
7/10
