Downrange (2017) - Movie Review

Welcome back!

This will be a slightly more professional review of Downrange, which is a horror thriller film I experienced on Shudder this past weekend. Sure, I'm a little late to the party since four reviewers already covered this film when it premiered at the 2017 TIFF Film Festival. But, who says I have to be early to the film review party anyway? I'm just a guy who loves watching films and decided to try my hand at reviewing films in general (note: reviews of certain TV shows will be coming soon.) That being said, let's get on with the review, which will be somewhat spoiler-free this time around. Crazy, right?

Downrange is a 2017 horror-thriller about a group of vacationing "friends" who become stranded in the middle of nowhere and end up facing off against a brutal and enigmatic sniper. The film stars Kelly Connaire, Stephanie Pearson, Ron Hernandez, and a cast of other actors I don't recognize due to the fact I haven't seen them in much else. I'm not sure if that's a good thing though. Then again, this is an independent film so you have to keep that in mind.

It was this film's premise that caught my attention. The thought of being trapped by a mysterious sniper in one location is quite terrifying and I'm the type of person who doesn't scare easily. If I was that type of person, then I probably wouldn't be watching horror films or doing much of anything in life. Anyway, Downrange's premise was rather interesting, which was all I needed to watch this film.

Now, let's talk about the overall good things in Downrange. For instance, the tension between the three characters (Keren, Jodi, and Todd -- I'd include Eric, but he didn't do much of anything while his "friends" struggled against their adversary) and the antagonist (the sniper) kept me invested. Not once did I feel the urge to shut off Downrange, even though its problems made me let out more sighs than I'd like to admit. We'll get into those issues in a bit.

Another good thing about this film involves some character development. There are certain scenes in which we learn some things about Todd (Ron Hernandez), Jodi (Kelly Connaire), and Keren (Stephanie Pearson), but that's it. The film doesn't attempt to add more depth to them, even at the beginning, for some odd reason. Additionally, the antagonist was quite menacing, but I had hoped for more from him. Don't worry, we'll talk about that in a bit as well. Also, the ending was quite brutal, although I saw it coming due to a closeup of a weapon malfunctioning. 

These points actually lead to my issues with this film. For instance, there wasn't much in terms of character development, even at the beginning of the film. How did Todd and Sara (Alexa Yeames) become a couple? Why did they decide to ride in their car with complete strangers without really getting to know them beforehand? Why isn't there any backstory on Jeff (Jason Tobias), Eric (Anthony Kirlew), Sara, and Jodi? The film never takes the time to set up these characters to the point of us caring about them in general.

Another thing I've noticed is the fact that all the characters were completely calm upon being stranded in the middle of nowhere. Why is that? If it were anyone else, then I'm certain they would've been terrified or upset at the fact they're stranded without cell phone service, much food/water, and so on. While I don't think overexaggerated or over-the-top performances would've worked for this scene, I would've loved to see more emotion from these characters. Maybe show us that they're, at least, concerned about their situation.

Furthermore, the antagonist (also known as the "enigmatic sniper") lacked any character development whatsoever. What was his backstory? Where else did he kill other people since there's no way he could've done it on the same road as the main characters without them noticing? Why does he kill other people? I had hoped the film would provide answers to these questions, but it never does. Instead, we see scenes of him eating beef jerky (uh, why?) and adjusting his scope as if we're supposed to be frightened by these moments.

The other problem with this film involves the acting. This was evident when you watch the actors in their roles at the beginning of the film. You can tell the acting is a bit awkward and emotionless until we get to the point of the remaining characters facing off against the film's antagonist. That's when it picks up a bit. Moving on. 

Another problem with Downrange is the overall conflict between the antagonist and the three main characters. While it had some interesting moments, I cannot stand how it all led to unnecessary and completely over-the-top bloodshed. And don't get me started with the police in this film. They make the cops in Super Troopers or Reno 9-1-1 look like they know how to do their jobs. The one thing that pisses me off about them is the fact they couldn't hit a shot to save their own lives. You'll see what I'm talking about if you ever watch this film.

My final thoughts? Downrange is an enjoyable film with many issues regarding character choices, character development, storytelling, and so on. But, it's entertaining at times and does have an ending that could be a surprise if you're not the type of person who can see it coming from a mile away. 

Grade: C+

Rating: this film surprisingly doesn't have a rating on IMDB, but it does contain strong violence, gore, and language.

1hr 30min

Red State (2011) - Movie Review

Welcome back!

I must warn you that this review will be more personal than the previous one. This is mostly due to the fact I used to love this film back in 2012, but I honestly didn’t know what I was thinking at the time. That being said, this review will contain spoilers, so I’d suggest watching the film before reading this review or you could just read the review and save yourself the trouble. Either option is fine by me.  

Red State is a 2011 horror/thriller about three teenagers accepting an online invitation for sex, only to discover something more sinister behind the scenes. It can be viewed with either an Amazon Prime account or a Shudder account, which is a cool platform for horror and thriller films. You can sign up for a 30-day free trial if you're using the code STUCKMANN during checkout. 

From the opening shot of Travis (Michael Angarano) and his mother (Anna Gunn), I knew I was in for a treat when the film’s script decided it wouldn’t flesh out these characters beyond mundane dialogue. By this, I’m referring to Travis’ mother asking him about some random project that’s supposedly due in several weeks. What was the point of her asking him about that? Why not ask him how he feels since he looks like he’s either lost in thought or distracted by something? Moving on.

Soon enough, we’re introduced to Travis’ friends, Jarod (Kyle Gallner) and Billy-Ray (Nicholas Braun), who are some of the worst written characters I’ve ever seen in a film. There are scenes dedicated to them, discussing their potential sexual conquest with some mysterious older woman like we’re supposed to care. Why though? These scenes do nothing to flesh out these characters nor make us care about them in general. Oh wow, they want to have a foursome with an older woman. Okay, so does a small percentage of the male and female population in the USA. Whoop-de-doo.

What’s even more baffling is the fact they acknowledge their foursome takes place at Cooper’s Dell, which belongs to Abin Cooper (Michael Parks, RIP.) If they knew this was a dangerous place, then why were they dumb enough to go there and meet with Sara, played by Melissa Leo? There’s even a moment in which she looks nervous or uneasy about the role she’s playing (i.e. pretending she wants to have sex with all three of them), but they’re too oblivious to notice this sort of thing. *Facepalm*

Speaking of which, we have Sheriff Wynan (played by Stephen Root), who is the typical married man having an affair with another man (Joey Figueroa, not like that matters since he appears one time in the film.) Why am I not surprised that's in this film? Additionally, there is a scene in which Abin Cooper blackmails him to keep quiet about the death of his deputy named Pete (Matt Jones of Breaking Bad), which adds to the never-ending pile of poor screenwriting, ridiculous character choices, and much more. Oh, and I almost forgot about the idiocy of Wynan, especially if you take into account the scene when he shoots and kills Travis because he thought he belonged to Cooper's congregation when he was, in fact, escaping from them.

Now, let’s talk about Abin Cooper and his congregation. In all honesty, they were some of the worst written antagonists ever shown in a film. I thought the villains in A Good Day to Die Hard were bad, but these people take the cake. Yes, I understand these people were supposed to be the exaggerated versions of Westboro Baptist Church or even the Branch Davidians from the Waco Siege of 1993, but give me a break with their goofy repetition of scriptures (taken out of context, of course) and their expository rants about anyone who doesn’t live like them.

One example includes Cooper’s rant regarding his hatred toward the LGBTQ community and other “sinners” who don’t live up to their delusional and hypocritical standards. Why in the hell did this film dedicate more screentime to this guy and his congregation? Why? What's even crazier is the fact his hateful rant lasted between 16 and 26 minutes. That time could've been dedicated to Joseph Keenan (John Goodman) because he seemed like the only decent character in the film. I would've rather the film focus on him, adding some development to his character, while doing some cuts to the antagonists instead of how this film turned out. 

This leads me to my next point. Red State contains some of the most ridiculous usages of exposition I’ve ever seen in a film. Every single character, including Goodman's Keenan, explains past and present events and/or incidents to the audience like we're supposed to care. For instance, let's take the moment Keenan receives a text from his superiors, claiming he needs to kill every member of the Five Points Trinity Church. He reads this text to one of his agents, Harry (Kevin Alejandro), when simple visual storytelling could've shown us what the text said and we could've seen the horrified look on Keenan's face as he reads the text before showing it to Harry. It's such a simple fix, but it's obvious it wouldn't be utilized in this film.

From now until conclusion, here's a list of other issues in Red State because I'm about done with this god-forsaken film:

• The editing was jarring, especially during the chase sequences, but it wasn't as bad as what you'd find in a Paul W.S. Anderson film or an Olivier Megaton film.
• The character development was severely lacking in this film. What were the backstories for Travis and his friends? How did they become friends? Why were they written to be crude teenagers instead of characters I'd relate to and/or care about? Not only this, but characters such as Cooper, his church family, and Joseph Keenan didn't have much development to them as well. If Smith took the time to develop these characters, then everything would've been just fine.
• Every single character, minus Keenan, was unlikable, which is confusing because the film tries to get you to care about the main three characters (if I could call them that) and even Cheyenne, who wanted to save the kids involved with Cooper's congregation. Sorry, but I'm not gonna care about characters who were written so poorly that they make my own poorly written characters look like masterpieces. 
• The shooting sequences could've been much better, especially since they followed the trope of characters possessing unlimited ammo. Now, I get Cooper and his church family had a stockpile of weapons, but there was no indication of them carrying extra magazines or bullets for their weapons. They just grabbed their guns and that's it.
• The ending was also exposition-heavy and a bit ridiculous. During this moment, Keenan explains to his superiors what happened at Cooper's church, but we're never shown these events. Instead, we're just given a summary (not even that) of what happened. Why not use flashbacks or show the events that went down? It's also baffling to see that his superiors wanted him to kill every single member of Cooper's clan because they hate people like them.

In conclusion, Red State did have some solid acting from everyone involved, so that's a plus. The concept was also...interesting but could've been much better than what we were shown on-screen. Maybe there will be a film that takes this concept and twists it so it has a much better execution with much better characters. I guess we'll see what happens. Thanks for reading.

Final Grade: D- 

Rated R, 1h 28min