Film Review - Red State

Kevin Smith is back! Easily his best film for a decade, Red State demonstrate a real ballsiness and confidence like we've never seen from him before. His directorial style has picked up a few new tricks, and they're used surprisingly effectively, reminding me at times of Tarantino at his best, Inglourious Basterds in particular. He rackets up the tension, the action, the claustrophobia with a deftness he's never shown before.

However, it's not all great news. Things begin to get a bit tedious and repetitive in the second half, thanks to shoot-out after shoot-out after tedious bloody shoot-out, followed by a sudden Coen-brothers-style interruption where we're told the story's ending, rather than see it for ourselves. Comparisons to Burn After Reading may be considered a compliment to some, but not to me.

But we are talking minor niggles here. If Kevin Smith hadn't shot himself in the foot by recently pissing off both film critics and distributors, this might have been his best shot at Oscar glory. The screenplay is one of his best- considered and intelligent, with his trademark base humour down a necessary, effective minimum. But the cast are flawless. Melissa "fucking" Leo outdoes her Oscar-winning turn in The Fighter by a long shot, Michael Parks is terrifyingly sincere and John Goodman grounds things superbly. Even the bit players get so show off some highly convincing acting chops.

Genuinely unpredictable, but nowhere near as unpalatable as you might expect.

(c) SRW 2011. All opinions are mine. If you like what you read, all the better; if not, other opinions are available.