Quite the drama surrounded Red State, from the Clerks guy, Kevin Smith. Most famously, Smith bought Red State and released it himself. That was back in January at Sundance. So, now that the movie has finally made it to this neck of the woods, what's it like?

Set in middle America, a group of teenagers end up in a whole heap of trouble after receiving an online invitation for some nooky. When they arrive at the lovin’ location, things take a turn for the worse and they end up being abducted by religious fundamentalists and are kept prisoner in a compound run by Abin Copper (Michael Parks). For the later half of the movie, the story changes into a violent escape from the nutjobs coupled with a police siege led up by John Goodman.

Red State is essentially a movie of 2 quite distinctive halves. And it’s the first half that really hammers home the religious fundamentalist crackpots, and it really puts out the perception that these people are walking amongst us, every single day. This is made more convincing by a pretty decent cast, in particular Michael Parks, who is rather outstanding. Alas, the second half doesn’t make as much of an impact. Out is the creepy, eerie almost terrifying fundamentalism  and in comes your average shoot out, which to be fair, isn’t that bad as it twists, turns and fires magazines of bullets around the place, coupled with a rather healthier looking John Goodman.

Performance wise, there are a few unknowns here, but Parks is on fire, and his followers all rock the subservient vibe rather well. The teenagers are very likeable and you make a connection with them quite quickly which in turn helps as the story unfolds and you really feel sorry for them.The movie does move at a decent enough pace and your not really left hanging around in any capacity.

I’m genuinely a big fan of Kevin Smith, and this is certainly a different departure for him compared to the rest of his filmography. There’s no point in hammering on about why he made this movie and the drama surrounding it. That’s old news. Instead, take this as a movie from the filmmaker Kevin Smith, not the Clerks guy. By no means is it amazing, but it’s solid enough to make it more than watchable.