I'm sorry when the remaining teenage local boy has this chance to get out and he does this little speech about his two besties being dead so he don't give a shit, it just lost me. Then when the agent killed him anyway....(I guess there's spoilers now!) Sorry, it became a fantasy then, absolutely zero sense. I had 2 or 3 stars, now it gets one.

I was blown away by this movie. I hadn't heard of it until the other day, when I found myself scrolling through some lame Top 10 Films Tarantino Wishes He Could Have Directed or something equally as click-bait-y. But Tarantino did comment on this film in particular, highly favourably--and a film doesn't get a better recommendation than that, really. So I had a certain amount of expectation, but it was surpassed. I am a bit of a film addict, so when I say this movie blew me away, I mean it. I'm not going to bother blurbing the film or anything because that is 80% of the other reviews already, but for those of you interested in a random bloke's 2p, this film felt real to me. The acting never felt like acting and I was placed right in the middle of the conflict, literally jumping from moment to moment. John Goodman is ALWAYS a good guy to have in a film, but all of the others really held their own too. I think it would be easy to pass the film off as perhaps being a bit "confused" or "garbled" but those descriptions only go as far as describing how much of the film some viewers were able to individually take from it or maybe their Online- University-Major-In-Film-Critiquing egos that tell them all films have to follow a basic formula of arch and character development... Whatever. Regardless, I thought the film was an unforgettable thriller with snappy writing, a terrific script, memorable performances and a truly engrossing and amusing balance of poignant reality, overwhelming brutality, and powerful dialogue--with a delightful element of humour and not-taking-itself-too-seriously. It is immediately up there with some of my favourite thrillers and is therefore obviously recommended. ...I had no intention or writing a review but it was that good.

John Goodman Michael Parks "Red State" tells the story of three teenage boys looking for a hot night, that stumble into an extremist church instead and are threatened with death and the actions this leads to.My five stars are a hard judgment. There would have been reasons to give it a six, but somehow it doesn't feel right. Learning that this was one of Terentino's favorite films of 2011, I get the feeling we don't share a taste in films.What's really good though about Red State is the casting. Exceptional acting by John Goodman and Michael Parks really create believable characters and there are several more that really put their heart in it. I guess that the topic of religious fundamentalism is as urgent as ever and surely delivers good points for a thrilling plot. Altogether, I have to state nonetheless that there was plenty of time wasted in this film. While some aspects of the story fall quite short we get to see extensive preaches and minutes of shooting instead. In my opinion a more clever use of time would have put some more depth into the story. Also in the end the film just tried to include a few to many aspects like terror laws, faith in general, hidden homosexuality and thereby misses to create one stringent viewer experience.I am most certain that some people will love this movie and I can think of quite a few reasons to justify this, all in all it just wasn't a hundred percent my cup of tea.

This is a really good film – don't let the rating fool you:-) Tight plot, no wasted scenes. Some great dark humour, but also a really tense main plot. It shows up everyone and everything for the foolishness it is: teenage lust, fire-and-brimstone preachers, government agencies, dogs (!), terrorist legislation, you name it and the film slams it. Do yourself a favour and see this film – please! That way you will not miss out some beautiful, vintage Kevin Smith dialogue: "What do you recon a cross like that costs?" — "You mean in dollars or in common sense?". So, to conclude – this is a film that deserves a lot rating that it has, in my opinion. Kevin Smith has never shied away from complicated topics and this is no exception. But the lightness of touch makes this film more of a tongue-in-cheek satire than some of his other much darker films.