I totally understand the confusion. The opening act is almost identical to the movie HOSTEL, in which a group of teenage boys take a trip to a remote location to score some free ass. What they find instead is a nightmare that begins to take us into a familiar feel, of torture porn territory before turning wildly and becoming something else entirely. What it becomes is incredibly interesting, a insane, yet fun, look at old school, fire and brimstone story telling, fueled with far right wing extremism and fixated on preparing for the apocalypse.
What makes this such a effective satire is a combination of Smith’s writing and Michael Parks’ brilliant performance as preacher Abin Cooper. Smith doesn’t go ridiculously over the top with this, instead he crafts a recognizable background out of Old Testament scripture. The Bible is quite clear about how to deal with sinners and Cooper’s offshoot brand of “Christianity” is not as much about God loving as it is about God fearing. And Smith is allowed to make a strong point with that. It is a background so coherent that it actually makes more sense than the preaching of Fred Phelps, who Smith initially set this satirize on.
Parks tears it up as Cooper, giving an Oscar worthy performance that exceeds his beloved dual roles in KILL BILL. This is no wimpy parody of Phelps; Parks put himself in the waters of this role and never emerges to so much as make a joke. He is incredible, absolutely spot on, to the point that you can understand not only how his church could be taken in by it, but how others might get into it as well. And I see how Smith might mistake the scariness of that as horror. But it is not.
RED STATE neither looks nor feels like anything Smith has ever made before, which of course, I mean that in the best way possible. Everything about this technically is way above everything else he’s ever done. The cinematography totally captures the look and feel he’s aiming for, the acting is notches above every performance hes ever gotten out of an actor, and there isn’t a single moment of anything that feels like Smith-talk in the entirety of the film. If you were to remove Smith’s name from the credits, no one would remotely have a thought in they're mind that this was one of his films. It is a extreme jump as an artist that shows - despite his recent films - he has maturated as a filmmaker, resulting that he is somebody with something to say and the talent to say it.
I, in no means find the film to be perfect, but Smith has said that he wants to take out 5-10 minutes that he assures us we won't miss. John Goodman gives the level of performance you’d expect out of one of his Coen Brothers roles (which means that it is totally inspired.) The film is a real charm. There really aren’t any good guys here, no real hero's to ride it out with. Smith’s purpose is to set up a very fucked up situation only to turn human nature loose to make it worse, while he makes a kickass series of twists and turns that continually manages to surprise time and time again.
So, the question most of you are probably asking is: is this worth a $10 online ticket via YouTube? If you have to even ask that question, then the answer is no. Smith has set up a deal where you may watch the film a month early (via YouTube for a $10 rental). If that sounds ridiculous, the film will be released in a number of theaters this October, see it then. It totally will be Worth It for the ticket price!
Get it on YouTube:
http://bit.ly/pskAUM
Trailer:
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