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Redbelt
2008
A fateful event leads to a job in the film business for top mixed-martial arts instructor Mike Terry (Ejiofor). Though his refuses to participate in prize bouts, circumstances conspire to force him to consider entering such a competition. Read more
| Starring | Chiwetel Ejiofor, Tim Allen, Rodrigo Santoro, Emily Mortimer |
|---|---|
| Director | David Mamet |
| Genres | Action/Adventure, Drama |
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Redbelt
A fateful event leads to a job in the film business for top mixed-martial arts instructor Mike Terry (Ejiofor). Though his refuses to participate in prize bouts, circumstances conspire to force him to consider entering such a competition.
| Starring | Chiwetel Ejiofor, Tim Allen, Rodrigo Santoro, Emily Mortimer, Alice Braga, Joe Mantegna, Jose Pablo Cantillo |
|---|---|
| Director | David Mamet |
| Studio | SONY PICTURES HOME ENTERTAINMENT |
| Run time | DVD: 1 hr 39 mins Blu-ray: 1 hr 39 mins |
| Certificate | |
| Genres | Action/Adventure, Drama |
| Language | DVD: English Blu-ray: English |
| Released | DVD: 02 Feb 2009 Blu-ray: 02 Feb 2009 Production year: 2008 |
| Format | DVD |
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Critics' reviews
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David Mamet has always been preoccupied with aggressive competition between men, so its only natural that he should... read more on Time Out
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Most helpful member's review
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9 out of 9 people found this review helpful
[Highly rated reviewer]
Redbelt
When I first heard about Redbelt I did a double take. It seemed like such an odd fit: David Mamet’s martial arts movie, really? While it’s neither the best martial arts movie I’ve seen, nor the best David Mamet movie I’ve seen it is an interesting, and occasionally outstanding, example of each.
Mamet’s name, and his reputation and history as a writer, is enough to attract a stellar cast to play alongside members of his stock company whenever he makes a film, and Redbelt has a truly outstanding cast. Chiwetel Ejiofor impresses in the leading role of Mike Terry, a Jiu-Jitsu instructor who, for reasons I won’t reveal, finds himself having to break his cardinal rule as a fighter, and fight in a competition. Ejiofor seems to be doing the vast majority of the fighting himself and while moves seem quite basic the choreography is well put together and the length of the takes and the combinations of moves are pretty impressive, but Ejiofor’s strength is the drama and he plays it flawlessly, from an American accent so good that you’d barely believe he’s British to hitting every beat of Mamet’s always intricate dialogue just right. Another British actor, again playing an American, also impresses in a smaller role. Emily Mortimer is quickly growing into one of the most reliable character actresses around and here she plays a complex role, with a lot of different facets and an extreme arc absolutely convincingly with only a few rather brief scenes to do it.
Among the rest of the supporting cast there are (too) small parts for Mamet regulars Rebecca Pidgeon, Ricky Jay and David Paymer and excellent turns from Brazillian actress Alice Braga as Ejiofor’s wife and Max Martini as his star pupil. The real surprise, though, is Tim Allen. Allen is usually found slumming, but has previously shown that with a good script (the Toy Story films, Galaxy Quest) he’s an effective comic lead. Here, though, he’s got an entirely dramatic role as action movie star Chet Frank, and he absolutely eats it up, grabbing it with a zeal that suggests he knows exactly how good a chance this is to prove that he really can act. Now if he’d only stop making crap like The Santa Clause and seek out more roles like this.
Mamet’s screenplay is talkier than you’d expect for a martial arts movie, but truly it’s the talk that is the film’s most compelling aspect. As ever with Mamet it overflows with quotable dialogue (We gotta deal. What good's a deal if no one's making any money?) and in typical fashion things that seem incidental end up paying off in ways you don’t expect, as in a beautiful second act sequence here, which draws a morass of dangling threads together to set up the final conflict.
It is, sadly, that final conflict that ends up making Redbelt somewhat less than the sum of its parts. The last act is very familiar, and it’s done with little panache, particularly when Mamet, the master of dialogue, wraps proceedings up with a (hopelessly cliché) silent sequence. Worse is that the final fight isn’t very dynamic or exciting and that several moments that promise rather more drama are thrown away, never to be seen.
Still, for three quarters of its running time Redbelt is vintage Mamet, with a nice side order of kicking. -
Most recent members' review
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1 out of 1 person found this review helpful
[Highly rated reviewer]
An intellectual ass-kicker of a movie!
For anyone familiar with the twisting mind-games of David Mamet's work, Redbelt is another excellent addition to the writer-director's filmography, and bears some resemblance to possibly his finest movie, The Spanish Prisoner.
This is a film about loyalty, principles and betrayal. Mike Terry (the enigmatic Ejiofor) is a jiu-jitsu teacher, whose academy has fallen on hard financial times. Through a chance encounter in the bar of his wife's family, Mike helps out a Hollywood action star, Chet Frank (a brief, but excellent appearance by Tim Allen. Yes, Tim Allen), out drinking and looking for trouble. Impressed by Mike's skills, Chet hires him to help out on his current film.
Needless to mention, this being a Mamet movie, everything doesn't go smoothly for our hero. When Chet's sleazy agent, played by Mamet-veteran Joe Mantegna, latches onto Mike's particular brand of training, with an aim to creating a tv show around it - that's when things get murky. People will do anything for the whiff of quick buck, it seems. No big revelation admittedly, but the way Mamet does it, it reminds you of how deplorable human beings are.
The script is as amazing as you would expect from one of America's finest writers, and is as notable for its restrained philosphy, as for its plot mechanics. The final third makes for a confusing, almost messy ending, but works, driven on by the raw emotion of the plot and is edge-of-the-seat gripping.
The cast are all on top form: Ejiofor is fast becoming one of Britain's finest exports and his cool gravitas gets you on his side very quickly. Mantegna and Allen, along with the awesome Ricky Jay, make for a fine trio of 'are they/aren't they' distractions as the plot weaves its magic. Emily Mortimer, in a small role, is excellent as the lawyer who helps Mike through his troubles.
This a superb martial arts movie, being a semi-intellectualised spin on the standard sports movie. In that, it is quite similar to The Wrestler, in its bleak anti-Rocky-feel-good vibe. Mamet's drirection is lean and inventive, and this is his most unusual movie to date (David Mamet making a martial arts movie??), but possibly one of his best.
If you like a bit of brutal action, but tire of weak plots in the plethora of poor martial arts movies out there, then watch this: the thinking man's answer to Steven Seagal's and Van Damme's movies. -
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A fateful event leads to a job in the film business for top mixed-martial arts instructor Mike Terry (Ejiofor). Though his refuses to participate in prize bouts, circumstances conspire to force him ... -
