Redbelt -- Rhinotainment

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Date Posted: 12:07:12 08/09/08 Sat
Author: Dog of War
Subject: Redbelt

What a weird film. Redbelt is about jui-jitsu and mixed martial arts, which would normally not interest me, but it's written and directed by David Mamet and stars Chiwetel Ejiofor, and both of those guys rarely let me down.

But seriously, this movie just has a very strange feel to it. The first 3/4 of the film are very much a Mamet production, with sharp dialogue and excellent low-key performances from pretty much everyone, even, much to my shock, Tim Allen of all people. Ejiofor plays a struggling jui-jitsu instructor who's sense of honor and dedication to the purity of martial arts prevents him from competing in MMA matches, which would of course make him quite a lot of money.

But then the film goes off on what feels very much like a cliche fight movie tangent, building to a climax at an MMA pay per view event which is completely and utterly cliche and melodramatic...but which I sort of thought was neat anyway. It really does feel like two movies were sort of stitched together, and while I liked both of them, one felt much more nuanced and mature than the other. I would still recommend it, if only for Ejiofor, who's good in damn near everything he does, and for the novelty of seeing Tim Allen pull off a dramatic role surprisingly effectively.

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Replies:

Talk to Me -- The Rhino, 20:29:51 08/10/08 Sun