Review of Redbelt (2008) by Aaron N — 03 Sep 2008

Chet Frank: So you teach people how to fight?

Mike Terry: I teach people how to prevail.

This is a martial arts movie, with blends of the respect and honor motifs found in a samurai film, written and directed by David Mamet, who basically infuses his style into this film creating a sort of noir-like martial arts movie. This means it will have the stylized Mamet dialog, a twisty con-game plot, as well as some action.

Mike Terry: You want the officer to walk you home? Huh? It's rough out there.

Snowflake: Well after he gets his black belt he can walk me to the car. That'll make me feel secure.

Mike Terry: How's the belt going to make you feel secure?

Snowflake: I know his fucking pants aren't going to fall down.

Chiwetel Ejiofor, an actor I really enjoy on screen, is given the lead role of Mike Terry, a Brazilian Jiu-jitsu master working out of a small self-defense studio in LA. He and his wife are getting by, but have relations with various folk around town, including a bouncer/cop, a loan shark, and some fight promoters.

Mike gets involved in saving a famous movie star (played by a very good Tim Allen) from a bad bar brawl and gets in his good graces. Mike is offered some consultant help on a film, and things seem to be looking up.

Marty Brown: Everything in life, the money's in the rematch.

Of course, being a Mamet con game, Mike is essentially one of the only good people around, and after having the rug pulled from under him, he has to get back his honor.

The story of the film works very well and is interesting to see unfold. There are a number of little side-plots as well, which further aid the story, but the film only stumbles a bit towards the end, when Mamet's dialog stops and the fighting commences.

That being said, Mamet does stick with realism, for the most part in terms of display, and shoots a very good looking portrayal of this style of martial arts.

Many of the Mamet regulars are here, including Joe Mantegna, David Paymer, Ricky Jay, and Mamet's wife Rebecca Pidgeon. Allen, as I mentioned, fits in very well here, and Ejiofor is great for this type of leading man. His character is an idealist, in favor of his honor system and combines this well with the rhythms of Mamet's dialog.

The end does pile on all the reveals of what has gone down, combined with a sort of speedy pay off combining the reveal and how to deal with it, but I enjoyed it because it looks good and because I love Mamet's dialog, which lays the characters attitude on first in a sort of code understood between them, letting the audience catch up.

Mike Terry: There is no situation you could not escape from. You know the escape.