The Dictator
Larry Charles, 2012
Score: C+
Red State
Got excited because for a second it looked like this brutally literal-minded thriller might actually end with the rapture — trumpets, horsemen, etc. — but no such luck. Red State is such a blunt, ugly attack on (among many other things) believers and belief that you might yearn for the brand of religion-tweaking that Smith employed a decade ago in Dogma, which wasn’t much subtler but was at least witty. Since then, he has progressed tremendously as a director — this is handsome, well-mounted horror, nervy, brisk and intense — but seems to have lost all perspective. This is an indiscriminately angry film, full of the sort of one-dimensionally evil assholes that hardly ever really exist, and aren’t much of a threat when they do. A few nice touches here and there — I loved John Goodman asking to get his orders in writing in the middle of a firefight — and Smith does marshal a tremendous cast for what’s really B-movie schlock, but alas he is mostly knocking down straw men and seething at phantoms.
-- Eugene Novikov
| Released: | 2011 |
|---|---|
| Genres: | Thriller, Horror |
| Starring: | Matt Jones, Kerry Bishe, Nicholas Braun, Melissa Leo, Kyle Gallner, Michael Angarano, Michael Parks, Stephen Root, John Goodman |
| Directed by: | Kevin Smith |
| Screenwriters: | Kevin Smith |
| Rated: | R |
I guess the reviewer is too tied up in his block-headed political dogma to give an honest review. This film was the exact diametric opposite of what he said. It was OBVIOUSLY intended to try to suggest UNDERSTANDING of the motives of ALL INVOLVED.
Nice try, Mister.
I agree with Scott.
Red State was not an attack on believers and beliefs, as the review stated. I think of it more as a filmmaker’s take on the “what ifs” of REAL evil assholes (looking at you, Fred Phelps), and their beliefs….exactly what a filmmaker should be doing. Indulging and exploring the “what ifs” of life.