“Redbelt” is a martial arts movie for people who don’t like martial arts movies. This David Mamet film pays homage to the discipline of jiu jjitsu, but story is a complicated story of honor and betrayal that grips you like a choke hold and doesn’t let you go until the final scene.
Mike (Chiwetel Ejiofor) is a jiu jitsu instructor. His school upholds the highest standards of the martial art but makes little money. This leads to conflict with his wife (Alice Braga), whose brother is a world-class competitor in the sport of mixed martial arts that has eclipsed boxing in public attention. Mike eschews competition--to him jiu jitsu is too pure to be used as a mere entertainment. To Mike all competitions, by virtue of having rules, are inherently corrupt. The corruption, of course, is just beginning.
Mike faces the prospect of compromising with his principles when a major Hollywood actor (well played by Tim Allen) offers to make him a co-producer of his war flick, Mike’s reward for saving the actor in a bar fight. Counterweights to selling out are an emotionally fragile lawyer (Emily Mortimer) and Mike’s policeman buddy (Max Martini).
Mamet being Mamet, “Redbelt” builds suspense with double-crosses and with things and people who may not be what they seem. The dialogue crackles, not with the staccato punches and counterpunches of “Glen Garry Glen Ross,” for example, but with a cooler and more ominous tone. The supreme violence that the fighters are capable of is palpable just beneath the surface of the most civilized conversations.
“Redbelt” has its flaws, most notably some huge plot holes. In a film that honors discipline--both in the sense of a systematized body of knowledge and the dedication of an individual--it is unfortunate that the writing was not comparably disciplined.
Still, the masterful acting, the timeless theme of idealism in a corrupt society, and the con game that Mamet runs so well make “Redbelt” a satisfying film. It is unfortunate that the movie does not seem to be doing well locally. I saw it at the Varsity with only five other people, which I understand has been an average sized audience during the local run. Pity. More people should see this.
