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REDBELT Send This Review to a Friend
Writer-director David Mamet is at his muscular strongest with this nasty depiction of a fight world revolving around martial arts. “Redbelt” is a study in personal integrity versus corruption via rigged matches, packaged with bloody battles in the ring in which virtually anything goes in crushing an opponent. There are handicaps drawn, such as fighting with one arm immobilized. The spectacle is obnoxious. This is Hemingway-style territory, only instead of matadors fighting dangerous but doomed bulls, this involves men slamming and kicking each other into a pulp.
The hero is a financially-pressed Jiu-jitsu teacher, Mike Terry, portrayed with conviction by Chiwetel Ejiofor, who naively fights by a code of honor and admires a master who represents the ethics he attaches to martial arts.
The basic situation is tied to side issues with assorted characters, like Mike’s disgruntled Brazilian wife Sondra (Alice Braga), woman lawyer Laura Black (Emily Mortimer), and an off-duty police officer, Joe Collins (Max Martini). But Mamet builds tautly toward the match posing a challenge to Mike’s sense of honor, and the climactic battle waged outside the ring.
Given Mamet’s expertise, one can expect him to deliver on his terms and he does. “Redbelt” is a sweaty, well-acted action film filled with plot clichés about an honest guy versus corruption, and it holds one’s attention even while being repellant for those who cringe at such vicious physicality. A Sony Pictures Classics release.
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