Review of Redbelt (2008) by G. Brandon H — 24 Jun 2014

Redbelt is the story of a Jiu Jitsu instructor who uses his skills only to train others to fight. His code of honor won't allow him to use his considerable talents to compete, despite everyone trying to convince him to change his mind. But when a chain of events transpire that threaten to destroy his entire life, will he hop into the ring in order to win the prize money and potentially save his life? The fighting in Redbelt is all high quality. It looks so authentic, and you can tell that many of the actors were given some training. Mike Terry, the protagonist, always appears to be in control of every situation, and it is really exciting watching someone who appears completely measured and controlled when fighting. It gives this impression that the fighting is almost effortless since he keeps his emotions and everything in check. The problem is there are huge sections of this film where it is all plot development through conversations. It really isn't a fight film, because there is so little fighting pictured on screen. Yet there is enough fighting that I think it would turn off most people who are just looking for a good character drama. In other words, I'm not sure who the audience is for Redbelt. Not enough fighting for fight fans, too much fighting for drama fans.

The entire movie basically rests on the shoulders of Chiwetel Ejiofor, and he delivers. In fact my rating is one star higher than it would be without his performance. He portrays Mike Terry with this determination and honor that is really impressive. Based solely on the work of Chiwetel, you can totally see how his students would become so attached to him. Max Martini plays the star pupil of Terry. He presents this character with such honesty that you just know he would do anything for a friend, and probably was a superb police officer. Alice Braga is lovely as Terry's wife. Although I hated what they did with her character later in the film, in the beginning she was a good balance of loving wife and focused businesswoman. Emily Mortimer has one of the strongest story arcs in the movie. She starts out as a really annoying and confusing character, but later on she shares one of the strongest emotional scenes in the film with Chiwetel Ejiofor, and then almost becomes a guiding force for him. Oh yeah, Tim Allen and Joe Mantegna are in this film too. I don't mention them because as best I can tell they are just playing the same characters they've played dozens of times before. Allen is an egotistical actor, and Mantegna is his sleazy agent. Very forgettable performances to say the least.

Redbelt did take a long time to get into the story, but as a big fan of the original Karate Kid, I'm OK with a lot of character development and no real fighting until the end. No, my bigger problem is more how the end came about, and the result of it. You see the forces that oppose Mike Terry seem to have conspired in some very elaborate con game in order to get him into the ring. The problem is I can't be sure because they never make it clear how much of this has been planned. Many things are too convenient for them all to be coincidental, so I have to believe there was some plan unfolding, but there are many events that are too unpredictable and you'd never be able to plan things out. It just falls apart when you put it under the slightest amount of analysis. Not to mention the fallout of the final scenes. They've set up a pretty elaborate way of destroying Mike Terry's life, and yet in the end they do nothing to resolve any of it. While there is a moment where we're supposed to be cheering at the end, I can't help thinking "but wait, isn't his life still ruined?" Likewise the scene at the end with the red belt, while poignant, makes no sense if you think about it. So there were a lot of flaws in the end of Redbelt, but the early scenes of character development were quite enjoyable. If the acting performances hadn't been so good I think I'd call this a terrible movie and give it a star rating to match, but I got some genuine enjoyment out of the film because the drama was well-acted and most of the fighting was excellent.