Red Sands - Movie Review
Red Sands is, when you get right down to it, an example of high concept storytelling faltering because the idea is good but the execution is off. Alex Turner's film has a great premise-a group of US soldiers in Afghanistan are sent to guard a road (that doesn't seem to exist...) and ensure that Al Quaeda operatives aren't using it to carry out nefarious activities.
While on the way there, they encounter a strange statue in the hills, which turns out to be a sort of "container" for the spirit of an evil Djinn (the creature behind the whole "genie" myth). When one of the crew breaks the statue by using it for target practice, an ancient evil is freed. You can bet there'll be Hell to pay because this Djinn is nothing like what you saw on I Dream of Jeannie.
The film fits in nicely with the growing "military guys encounter supernatural horror while at war" subgenre and it's easy to see the influence of the South Korean horror flick R-Point at various junctures in the narrative. The problem is that R-Point eventually pays off after spending time setting up the creepy atmosphere, while Red Sands never quite manages to rev up the engine, let alone completely deliver on the things promised by the premise.
There are two distinctly different ways to look at Red Sands, and depending on which view you take the film is either an interesting exercise in restrained and atmospheric horror or a complete letdown. There's an undeniable tension and sense of dread in the film's presentation. Turner's scene compositions highlight the desolate situation the soldiers find themselves in (they're cut off from everyone by a sand storm at one point) and never-changing shades of brown convey the feeling that Afghanistan is a land of the dead. The inclusion of a spooky Afghani girl (Mercedes Masohn) heightens the tension amongst the seven soldiers. Things break down further when communication is lost between the group and their superiors and guys start disappearing one by one into the desert.
If you're a viewer who prefers atmosphere and an ever-increasing sense of dread over more visceral and violent thrills, then Red Sands is probably something to check out. I enjoyed the way Turner kept the tension ratcheted up as the film progresses, but I'll be honest-I was looking for a payoff at some point. Red Sands does finally try to give the audience a monster and some gore, but it's almost too little too late. The soldiers are utterly powerless against their assailant, making it so the final product almost feels pointless and nihilistic. I like nihilistic endings as much (and probably more) than anyone-which is why I love The Thing. The difference between this particular film and Carpenter's movie dwells in the fact that The Thing always kept me hoping that MacReady and company would find a way out of their predicament. I loved those characters and cared about them. I can't really say the same for the characters in Red Sands. They feel almost interchangeable and I often found it hard to keep who was who straight. They feel more like victims than actual people, I guess, and that detracts from the experience as a whole.
The other thing that hurts the movie is some shoddy CGI FX work. There's a terrible shot of some choppers flying over an Afghani city in the early going that's clearly a computer-generated graphic, but it's high art compared to the film's climactic sequence wherein the monster is finally unveiled. I understand that Turner and company were working with a limited budget, but the CGI in this movie looks like something that could have been achieved with a freeware graphics program. It's just laughably bad. It's hard to be frightened when you're cracking up at the monster. I'm all for willing suspension of disbelief, but the Djinn, in its natural form, just looks hokey.
The cast (which includes JK Simmons in a small supporting role) gives it their all, but there's just not enough substance in any of the characters for the actors to latch on to it and make them resonate as people.
Al that being said, Red Sands is more of a disappointment than a failure. Watching it, it becomes obvious that there's a potentially great story here, but that budgetary limitations and a few odd aesthetic decisions have kept it from reaching its potential. Fans who like bloody and gory films will wind up bored by the slow burn pacing and emphasis on atmosphere over action that the film utilizes. People who like a horror flick with genuine mood over gallons of cow intestines will probably want to give this one a look. It doesn't work flawlessly but there are some things worth appreciating.