The Film Thugs Movie Show

Red State

“How much do you think a cross like that costs?”

“Do you mean in dollars or common sense?”

-ASAC Brooks and Joseph Keenan, Red State

“First of all, if you write a screenplay without conflict or crisis, you’ll bore your audience to tears.”

-Robert McKee (Brian Cox), Adaptation

Kevin Smith. Can anything original be said about him any more? Here is a guy who went from convenience store clerk to indie-auteur in the matter of a few years. He has made some outstand films, and some that were less than outstanding. He defined a genre, has millions of rabid fans, and has inspired countless independent filmmakers. Oh, make no mistake, Smith is an important and influential film maker.

I have LOVED some of Smith’s work in the past (Dogma, Chasing Amy, Mallrats, yeah, so I loved Mallrats, what of it?), I’ve liked some (Clerks, Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back), disliked others (Clerks 2, Zack and Miri) and outright hated some (Cop Out, and yes, I believe that Cop Out was objectively bad, but you can read about that HERE).

Also, I am in that group of people that liked Jersey Girl. It was a very heartfelt and personal film that got a massive shit end of a massive stick for no reason other than it was a departure from his established brand. Sadly, the reaction was so poor that he went right back to his comfort zone. I say sadly because he proved that he could do films that were more. Not that there is anything wrong with his “Jersey” movies, but as he got older they began to lose that personal feel. He was no longer making movies about his own world, but rather a remembrance of what it was like back then.

But throughout his career I have always wanted to see more from Kevin. Not that I find his output lacking, rather I wanted to see him break out of that comfort zone. “Jersey Girl” let me know he could, and could do so well, and I always wanted to see him challenge himself more.

Well, he did. “Red State,” is a strange one. There is no other way to put it. It is, by far, his most sophisticated filmmaking. It is also, by far, some of his least sophisticated storytelling.

What the hell do I mean by that?

Simply put, from a technical aspect, the camera work, the building of tension, and the starkness of it all was a complete departure for him. Watching this I was completely blown away from the technical aspect. Out of nowhere Kevin went from a “put the camera there and film it” director to “not only can I move it, but I can move it well.” I think this film had more visual stylistics than damned near everything he’s done before combined.

But it didn’t look busy, showy, or show offy. His camera work, use of perspective, and overall film grammar were stunning and effective. They added to the emotion of the scenes and gave new dynamics to the character interactions. On that level this is the best thing Kevin Smith has done.

But…

The story left me a little flat. I didn’t know what he was trying to say with this.

Basically there is either no protagonist, or a protagonist so unlikable that you don’t really care too much about what happens to him. You have a villain without much going on other than his zealotry. Yeah, there are some attempts at giving his side, and you definitely get that he believes himself to be God’s hero, but he was just plain mustache twirling evil. Then you have the ineptness of the government.

So, what is it about? I don’t mean plot, I mean thematically. Because, here’s the thing, whatever your opinion of Kevin or his films you have to admit that he is very good at giving what is happening meaning. From Dante learning to take some responsibility for himself and his actions in “Clerks,” to Holden finding out about the strength it takes to actually love another person in “Chasing Amy,” to Zach and Miri learning how to realize what is right in front of them, Smith has always been a writer who gives thematic weight to his films.

That being said, I repeat the question; what is it about?

I have been asking myself that question since I watched this movie a few days back and I can’t really come up with anything.

Is it about the dangers of dogmatic funtimentalism?

Is it about the danger of following institutional logic?

Is it about the pervasiveness of corruption in our society?

I honestly cannot say.

We begin with one story, shift to something completely different, then do a complete 180 and end up with yet another different story. I have no idea what he was trying to say. That’s where this movie suffers.

It just can't decide what it wants to be. And there are some other issues.

First off, there are way too many dialogue dependant scenes. There are massive amounts of information we get by simply being told. I can’t fault Smith too much here because he had some amazing actors giving amazing performances. Hell, Michael Parks has an amazing monologue that he delivers like… well, like Michael Parks. He absolutely kills it, but the problem is… well, it’s a really long monologue. In the end, no matter how good a monologue is, it is still someone talking for an extended period. Smith does some interesting camera moves, but it is still a long bit of talking in the middle of a film. There is no catharsis from the speech, it doesn’t pull things together, it just happens.

The primary storytelling device seems to be long monologues where we are told what we need to know. John Goodman enters the scene, playing an ATF agent investigating Parks’ Westboro/Branch Davidian type church, and proceeds to give a long monologue giving us all the information we need up to that point. It comes as one side of a phone conversation, and Goodman absolutely nails it, but it’s… again, a long scene of a guy talking.

The tie up at the end might as well have been a monologue. There wasn’t any sense of resolution because there was nothing at stake other than the external conflict.

Basically it started out as a movie about three guys trying to get laid, it then becomes an escape movie, and finally ends up as a siege movie. But none of them had any emotional stakes other than escape and survival.

If a movie doesn’t have internal growth or change, if your characters don’t learn anything or have any discernable arc, then there is no crisis in your film. If there is no crisis or growth there is no real meaning. If there is no real meaning then why the hell am I watching?

The internal struggle is the key to Smith’s work and it is missing here. Let me show you…

Clerks- External- Making it through the day/girlfriend trouble. Internal- Appreciating and finding meaning in what you have.

Mallrats- External- Get the girl. Internal- Becoming strong enough to deserve the girl

Chasing Amy- External- Relationship. Internal- Being comfortable enough with yourself to accept others flaws.

Dogma- External- Stop the apocalypse. Internal- Accept the nature of faith.

Zach and Miri- External- pay the rent. Internal- Seeing the beauty of what is in front of you.

That’s right, even “Zach and Miri,” a movie Smith himself has major issues with, has an overarching theme and internal conflict that gives it meaning.

“Red State” frustrates me because Smith had the chance to do something amazing here. He self produced, and self distributed this thing. That means he had total creative control. Nobody could tell him what to do with it. He could have gone to town. But he didn’t. He went halfway to town and decided that was good enough.

Now, let’s talk ending. The ending was almost amazing. Almost. He set up to do something unique, ballsy, and challenging as hell. Honestly, for a minute I though he was going to do it and I was ready to stand up and applaud in my living room. Then… it doesn’t happen. We get something that feels decidedly like a tacked on after though. It got me because I thought I was going to get something close to the meaning I wanted, and instead got… another dialogue scene.

I know that Smith is known for his dialogue, but he needs to have more. In the end, this felt like the first draft of a script that could have used a rewrite or two. To quote my co-host, “It felt undercooked.”

Let me be clear, this film shows that Smith knows how to direct a movie. It looks amazing and is an amazing departure from what he normally makes. For that I was thankful. I have always thought that Smith could be an amazing filmmaker if he pushed himself, and here he shows the beginnings of what he could do.