Review: ‘Redbelt’
Review: ‘Redbelt’
3 stars out of 5
With tones of Things Change, Golden Boy and Ghost Dog, writer/director auteur David Mamet constructs an endearing and surprisingly enrichingfilm…if you can look past the contrived plot points, oddly-played emotions and distracting holes the size of Maine. Redbelt, your typical “Mametonian” story of corruption and double-crosses, plays out, as per the norm for Mr. Mamet, like a play set to screen instead of stage. Driven off Mamet’s patented staccato dialogue, the film is a modern day tale of the “last man with moral ideals faced with overwhelming temptation” story but with a twist of Brazilian ju-jitsu and typical Hollywood thuggery. David Mamet, who’s past cinematic triumphs include Heist, The Spanish Prisoner, and a host of other successful writing projects (The Untouchables, Wag the Dog to name a couple), brings to life a fable about ideals of honor verses the enticement of money all set in rhythm of a pounding drum. It’s not Mamet at his best but, hey, it’s still Mamet and that alone is worth the price of admission.
Life isn’t easy for idealistic dojo owner and instructor, Mike Terry (Chiwetel Ejiofor). Seemingly embracing the hard (and high) road, Mike is an old school sensei and practitioner of the Brazilian style of ju-jitsu. Respected within the martial arts community, Mike refuses to take part in competition because of his belief that “fighting” weakens the soul and teaches his students to “prevail”, not to “win”.
After class on a dark and stormy night, enter attorney Laura (Emily Mortimer), who, after trying in vain to fill her bogus prescription, enters the dojo after running into Mike’s truck. When Mike’s star pupil and city cop, Joe (Max Martini) offers to take off her drenched coat, Laura gets spooked, grabs his gun (which he left out, carelessly) where a single shot rings out and smashes through the large front window of Terry’s academy. This couldn’t happen to a better guy, as Mike, a very stoic, patient and open teacher, is also broke. Wife Sandra (Alice Braga), who’s busy with her own textile business based out of Brazil, grows more frustrated with Mike and his idealistic tendencies while shuffling money from her business to keep Mike’s a float. After a chance meeting with bodyguard-less action star Chet Frank in a bar –where he saved his bacon–, Mike and Sondra are asked over to his mansion to show appreciation and he bestows upon them a lavish gift. The foursome seemingly hit it off and Terry is asked to meet him on the set of his new war movie. Chet, eager to use some of Mike’s training routine and martial arts ideas, asks him to become a producer on the film while Sondra is asked to purchase $30,000 worth of fabric from her wholesaler by Chet’s wife, who is in the fashion industry. Interweaved in the story is a fight promoter and friend of Chet’s, Jerry (Joe Mantegna), rigged bouts and a suicide in this extravaganza of bewildering turns and an unfulfilling finale.
For a bare-bones character-driven film like Redbelt, it’s crucial that characters be able to speak to the audience, to try and carve out some emotion from them. Mamet accomplishes that with Mr. Ejiofor’s Mike Terry. Effortless without being a tree stump, we root for him although we’re never quite sure what he’s doing or why he believes in it but, nevertheless, we root for him. That’s all we can ask and frankly, that’s all we get. Enjoyable and touching, Redbelt makes you root for justice in a world gone sour.
