Film Reviews

Redbelt

• Rating:
• Director: David Mamet
• Starring: Chiwetel Ejiofor
• Details: US / 99mins (15A).

Martial Arts movies for the most part are all about the action scenes and the necessary drama an irritation; Redbelt is the opposite - a drama that martial arts plays a part in - and though it's a noble attempt, the end result is flawed. Mixed Martial Arts instructor Mike Terry (Ejiofor) is a righteous man struggling to make ends meet and keep his small academy solvent. While in a bar one night Mike comes to the rescue of movie star Chett Frank and is given a $20,000 gold watch as a reward. Mike, being Mike, can't accept the gift and passes it on to a cop friend, but when the watch turns out to be stolen it sets up a chain of events that will challenge Mike's decency and honesty.

Redbelt is a strange fish. It's hard to see why Mamet (The Untouchables, Glengarry Glen Ross, Wag the Dog) wanted to tell this story in particular. Sure, dignity and honour are important themes but Mamet doesn't execute them as well as expected. Entertaining in the way it second-guesses the audience's expectations of where it's going to end up, Redbelt falls apart in the second half when the audience realises just where s it's going to end up. Ejiofor (a Denzel Washington minus the Oscar clip speeches) is arguably the most consistent character actor around, and brings more to the character with looks and pauses than Mamet can with his dialogue, and it's his performance that's the only standout.

Review by Gavin Burke