Religion is bad? Is that what you're telling us? It can be bad? Is that it? In the right hands a trusted master, in the wrong hands a tool of evil? Is that it? I was never too sure, but Smith aims for just the right tone and subject putting on screen a veritably menacing figure in the cloth cut from Fred Phelps that demonstrates that Smith merely had nowhere to go with this material. I saw literally dozens of indie films in the same vein when the entire Red State and Blue State debacle began and I've seen much better than what Kevin Smith has to offer. Not to say that "Red State" is a badly made film. It has some technical prowess behind it and it has something to say but what, I'm currently at a loss, to be honest. It postures itself time and time again to the audience that it's saying something of considerable merit to us, but what?

Parks has always been something of an under appreciated character actor over the years in his bit parts and supporting performances, and here he is able to flex his abilities to the maximum as this evil genius who is unfettered in his ability to dole out extenuating circumstances for defying the holy bible. What's bad is that he knows what he's capable of. And what's worse is that he can convince his followers to do whatever he wants. Even if it openly defies the tenets of the holy bible. Beyond that "Red State" is a mostly unfocused and mean spirited practice in torture porn that pretends it has something really honest to goodness important to tell us about religion, it's just never sure what. I'd love to believe this is supposed to be open to interpretation, but it shouldn't be my job to fill in the holes for a man like Kevin Smith whose had more than enough time to polish out this script, so filled with endless exposition and clunky back story that the narrative screeches to a halt time and time again, just to make it perfectly clear that Abin Cooper is an evil religious deity whose power may be tough to thwart in the face of his followers.

By the time the third speech rolls around about the evil Abin Cooper and his church, I was about ready for the story to continue on and wanted to discover the fate of the hapless moronic teenagers drugged and ready to be tortured for lusting after a woman. Wait... where have I seen that premise before? Ah yes. Hostel. Made by Eli Roth, another director I detest for doling out nothing but torture porn pretending to be something richer and more intellectual. I digress, "Red State" is an important film if only for its ability to elevate its director in to a higher echelon of filmmaking that proved once and for all that Smith could ride on his reputation and thumb his nose down at honest hard working indie filmmakers struggling for distribution deals right now. Beyond that as a film it bears little significance in a world where religion has been put under the microscope time and time again through books, and documentaries. It's nothing but a ho hum cringe inducing effort from a man who has little to offer a genre I hold near and dear to my heart.

His fans will of course give him a cookie for trying, because we apparently owe Kevin Smith the benefit of the doubt time in and time out.

Admittedly one of the most grotesque films of 2011, "Red State" has nothing to offer in the form of religious or political commentary. It's merely a "Hostel" rip off with barely any story foundation to keep it afloat. Stay for the performances, but don't bother with most of the filler.