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Re: Red State (Movie)
***CAUTION: SPOILERS CONTAINED IN THIS POST*** (not gonna use the tags for this one)
Finally saw it a couple weeks ago, and I thought it was really weak.
I don't think you oversold it Russ, because I walk into all movies with an open mind. I just did not get at all what Smith's point was in the movie.
I found myself at times wondering if Smith was trying too hard to turn Red State into a Martin Scorsese-type of flick. No redeemable characters. The thing is you still need an overall point for that concept, which he lacked.
"People will do anything if they believe it"
Really? No shit. When I heard Goodman say that and that was the driving point to the end, I was like... huh?
The tone shift occured way way way too much, so much at one point it came across as a film that even Kevin Smith didn't know what he was going to do with it. The local Sheriff is in the closet, kills one of the douche teenagers trying to escape, suddenly he gets benched by Goodman... yet the entire ATF unit turn around and DO THE EXACT SAME THING?!?!?! WTF? Completely null and voided that plot point in the film.
Then the hot girl turns around and tries to save the LEAST LIKEABLE of the teen boys... for what? One of these mother fuckers KILLED YOUR FATHER. Sure it was in self-defense, but that's not the point. Nobody in the history of this planet would defend some teenage high school "too cool for school" asshole that wanted to GANGBANG YOUR MOM FOR MONEY, his friend KILLED YOUR FATHER... and you're entrusting him to help save your family AFTER he tells you "fuck your whole family!" Then she kills her mom for seeing it the way I see it.
WHAT!?!?!?!
Then the girl escapes, gives a PERFECT exit strategy to the unit before any further complications arise, and they chose to send her back in for a "body count; no witnesses" massacre of the cult? (this scene actually happened before the event directly above)
The fuck?
At this point the entire cult is completely sympatheized in the movie. They are the anti-heroes. The coolest moment of the whole movie when SOMETHING happened of merit and having "a point", was when the "trumpets" sounded after the innocent execution of the unarmed boy & girl. Suddenly the film had motivation, which was lacking from the beginning.
Then...
It's entirely dropped. What the fuck? I mean WHAT THE FUCK? THEN to top it all off the ATF change course in their exit strategy and suddenly decide to ARREST EVERYONE ELSE!
WHAT!?!?!?!
Then we go to Goodman's hearing before the board. Despite the fact that the entire situation was NOT contained, no one at all answers for the fact that one of the ATF agents shot two unarmed KIDS in front of NUMEROUS witnesses. Totally unanswered.
The trumpets are washed away into "potheads fucking with the Christians across the valley with an iPod & a horn". Again... the fuck?
Then Goodman gets a promotion for this act of serial murder, and once again... "people will do anything if they believe it?" What? Under color of authority to kill an entire commune of people? THAT would've made sense if Smith had made a point to directly point his finger at police state-like practices and the corruption of the law.
Instead it was another slag on the cult, which at this point you're feeling sorry they're dead. You almost wished they had killed the guys and every ATF agent there.
Again I must've missed the point. But Kevin Smith has a bad habit of doing that to me. Watchable, not horrible, but not very good either. The film reeked of Smith's ignorance about a culture he understands so incredibly little about beyond TV, that he can't even make a movie correctly to slag them. Instead they come off as victims not perpetrators.
** 2 stars out of 4 - Fair
Re: Red State (Movie)
Listen it's a recommendation from you, nothing more. It's nothing to feel ashamed about. If you liked it you liked it.
Look at "J. Edgar", the Clint Eastwood-directed biopic starring Leonardo DiCaprio recently. DiCaprio's performance was praised universally, but Eastwood's direction was brutalized by most critics. I think the film has a 40% rotten rating last time I checked.
Yet known critic Richard Roeper turned around and gave it an A-
People see things differently. I've liked some really weird REALLY weird ass movies that NO ONE I know likes.
Halloween III for example... I think is the best Halloween sequel, and I usually argue it with intelligent reasons. Everyone i've ever said that to laughed in my face and called me crazy.
Different strokes. My dad is alot like you Russ in that he sees film's as pure entertainment. BOOM, explosion, BANG gun fight, POW bullet in the head, DAMN car chase, WOW car flip with explosion.
Was I entertained? Yes. Was it a good movie? Yes.
People go into stuff with different expectations. I go into movies asking "what's my motivation for liking this", if I can't find that -- I didn't like it.
Re: Red State (Movie)
I liked it, and I'm a lot like you Russ. But then I read Axlin's excellent post, and realize I don't disagree with any of it. Great analysis, Axl.
My brain just doesn't process shit fast enough to be able to watch a movie once and come up with that level of criticism. In fact, the sign of a "true" stinker is when I'm actually able to see these types of issues while I'm watching a movie, because that means it's brutally obvious.
