Here, Mark celebrates the superb actors in Kevin Smith’s movie…
This article isspoiler-free,but if youd prefer to seeRed Stateknowing absolutely nothing about it, proceed with caution.
Its a horror film, and the bulk of the action takes place in middle-America.
Specifically, it takes place in Coopers Dell, which is home to the fictional Five Points Trinity Church.
Theyre sub-headed as Sex, Religion and Politics three topics youre not supposed to broach in polite discussion.
Like most of Smiths previous work,Red Stateis anything but polite.
An American treasure, you fat prick!
Perhaps thats true, but the mighty Goodman is on top form all the same.
Every character has some crucial role to play in the escalating circumstances that transpire at Coopers Dell.
At the beginning ofRed State, however, we find three characters who appear to be our heroes.
Kyle Gallner plays Jarod, Michael Angarano plays Travis and Nicholas Braun plays Billy-Ray.
In the grand scheme of things, the high-schoolers are not our protagonists.
The main Sex scenes come earliest in the film though.
Of course, it transpires that a mostly-male menage a quatre is the least of their problems.
The head and patriarch of the church is Abin Cooper, played by Michael Parks.
The character really believes hes doing whats right by God.
Elsewhere amongst his devoted family, Melissa Leo plays Coopers daughter, Sara.
The Five Points Trinity Church is ably represented by the superb cast.
Theyre hateful bastards, sure, but theyre not cartoon villains.
Thats whyRed Statebecomes all the more complicated with the arrival of Politics.
Goodman, something of a Coen brothers regular himself, is phenomenal in the role.
Keenan leads a team of agents to the ranch, and, quite simply, all hell breaks loose.
If anything, his arrival makes a bad situation even worse.
Its not the kind of role you usually see John Goodman play, but golly, hes good.
And in these scenes, the film rests heavily on John Goodmans very capable talents.
But hey, its apparently something of a Marmite film.
Your judgement of whether or not it pays off in the end is entirely subjective.
In conclusion
Youve never seen Smith direct a film like this.
But the attraction there is Smiths writing, which is uncharacteristically functional in parts ofRed State.
Weve seen Smith wrangle with religion in his writing before, withDogma.
The Catholic League protested that film, and the Westboro Baptist Church (inevitably) protested this one.
WhileDogmahas a wordy script and an all-star cast,Red Stateis symptomatic of the filmmaker trusting his casts instincts.
You wont see many other $4 million movies with a cast this strong.
