Mostly a depressing character study, followed by an ending of horror and revelation. Red, White and Blue is a low budget drama miscategorized, in my opinion, as a horror movie. There is no denying the horror elements at the end that are pretty intense, but for the most part the film is more reminiscent of Requiem For a Dream mixed with an exploitation film from the 70's. Taking place in Austin, Texas; the film follows Erica (Amanda Fuller) who goes out every night and is basically a nymphomaniac, to the point where she has no emotional attachment to anyone. That is until she meets an odd war veteran by the name of Nate (Noah Taylor). Though she initially doesn't like him, Erica and Nate begin a relationship that isn't fully revealed until the final shot. The film then jumps to Franki (Marc Senter), a failed musician almost in his 30's and his band never took off. Franki's mother is dying, when he finds out he contracted HIV. These two stories will collide into a giant conflict that will have a tragic ending for all involved.
Though flawed, overall I did enjoy the movie only because that ending finally brought something noteworthy to the table. The acting was great from the two leads. Amanda Fuller and Noah Taylor really throw themselves into their roles. However, Marc Senter's acting was spotty. The writing is mediocre. Over all the plot was thought out, and the resolution does deliver a hard punch, even the final shot is another jab to the gut. The problem isn't with the ending or the resolution, it's with some of the dialogue and it's hard to see the relationship between Nate and Erica developing, other then that they are both damaged goods. The film is all about building to that ending. I did have an issue with the direction too, though I understand the reason the director made some of the choices. Each scene cuts after only like 30 seconds in the beginning, as the film goes on the scenes get longer. But during the first 45 mins the film is constantly cutting, giving the film a choppy feel. Some will like this, some will not. I personally found it effective, but only for 10 to 15 minutes tops. Fair warning, this film is extremely graphic. The first 5 minutes features explicit group sex under red lights along with other sex scenes, you will feel like you are watching a weird porn movie at first. The violence at the end is brutal (try killing a person by wrapping their whole head in duct tape).

7.5/10 - Red, White and Blue is good when you see the big picture with that final shot, but it doesn't fully balance out the problems the script has earlier and the choppy editing that I am pretty sure may have been done on purpose. This is only worth checking out if you are really into exploitation films. I say that mainly because I have a hard time imagining regular audiences will like this movie because it doesn't paint a pretty picture of anything.

 

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