Red State: Kevin Smith

WARNING: REVIEW CONTAINS SPOILERS

It's been a full day since I watched Kevin Smith's Red State and for the life of me, I can't decide whether or not I love this film or if it pisses me off. It starts off like a normal horror/thriller. Three young teens go to a trailer in the middle of nowhere under the pretense of having a four-way with a woman they met over the internet. They are drugged and wake up as prisoners inside the Five Points Church, a local cult modeled after the Westboro Baptist Church that preaches against homosexuality. They discover, to their horror, that the church has been committing sacrificial murders of local homosexuals. That's all fine and good. Good suspense, some great scares, and one hell of a performance by Michael Parks as the leader of the church, Abin Cooper. But then the film turns on a dime and becomes a police procedural that follows ATF Agent Joseph Keenan (played by the always awesome John Goodman) who becomes involved in a shootout with the church after they murder a local police officer. The ATF agents mess up and accidentally kill one of the three boys who manage to escape, thinking that he is a member of the church. As a result, Keenan is given the order to storm the barricaded church and kill everyone inside, thereby covering up the ATF's mistake. Shots are fired, another boy dies, several church members are killed, and one of the young women in the church tries to make a deal with the ATF to spare the children. This is interrupted by loud trumpet blasts that echo throughout the area. The church members cheer because they realize that the RAPTURE has started! And then, in one of the most severe cases of cinematic whiplash in history, we are transported to a court martial session where Keenan explains that the rest of the church members were captured and that the rapture wasn't real, just some marijuana farmers blasting trumpets over loud-speakers in an attempt to mess with the church! I...don't know what to make of this film. It makes no sense, has some of the worst cinematography and editing that I've ever seen, it can't stick to a single storyline...yet it is one of the most compelling and engaging films that Kevin Smith has ever made. See it for yourself and decide on your own opinion concerning this film...I'm still not sure if I've made up my own!

6/10