Red State (2011)

“An unlikely film from that Kevin Smith” indeed.  It wasn’t at all what I expected from “that” Kevin Smith.  His movies always go a certain way, a teenage/coming of age way.  This one doesn’t at all!  The movie pretty much builds up to a shootout followed by a message (most likely about the Westboro Baptist Church.)

The actors fulfill their roles very well, especially Michael Parks.  How come he isn’t in more stuff?  Anyway, if you can get through his one really long hate-filled sermon early on, you’re in for a really good rest of the movie.  It’s starts slowly but builds up with great momentum and ends with a deus ex machina moment.  Probably on purpose.  (What’s this guy [me] talking about?  Just watch the movie and you will hopefully make the connections if you have an IQ greater than ounces in a pint.  If you answer that, you should be able to figure it all out.)  John Goodman and Kevin Pollak also star as ATF agents, they’re good, really good.

I was really skeptical about Red State mainly since I had no idea what the hell it was supposed to entail.  Well, I watched it and was surprised at first, but then after a day or two of thinking about it, I really liked it.  That means 4 stars.  As for the IMDB 10 scale rating I might place it around a 6 though, since it’s average.

Find the trailer on YouTube, watch it, then watch the movie.