Switching genres yet
again, David Mamet tries a fight movie on for size, and it
proves to be an effective fit for the filmmaker-playwright's
trademark themes and rhythms.
Set against the backdrop of mixed martial arts, which
combines jiu-jitsu, wrestling, boxing and kickboxing, "Redbelt"
has all the ingredients in place to emerge as one of his more
commercial efforts while still remaining true to those distinct
Mamet sensibilities. The film opens May 2 via Sony Classics.
As the heart and soul of the film, Chiwetel Ejiofor once
again impresses as Mike Terry, a committed jiu-jitsu teacher
and Gulf War veteran who runs a struggling academy on Los
Angeles' Westside with his Brazilian wife, Sondra (Alice
Braga).
The answer to his financial woes would appear to present
itself following a chance encounter with an aging action movie
star (introspectively played by Tim Allen), but Terry soon
discovers that the outside world doesn't adhere to the same,
moral samurai's code.
Unable to extricate himself from an even bigger mess, he's
left with no choice but to enter the professional ring despite
his philosophical issues with the competitive arena.
Mamet, himself a blue belt in jiu-jitsu (the red belt
represents the discipline's most sacred honor), obviously has a
passion for the subject matter, but make no mistake, he has no
intention of making a conventional fight film.
So even though his regular ensemble, including Joe
Mantegna, Ricky Jay and Rebecca Pidgeon, has been augmented
with a number of professional practitioners to up the
production's street cred, Mamet finds plenty of room for his
usual preoccupations, like personal integrity and the art of
the con.
But where some of his previous genre experiments haven't
lent themselves as readily to that Mamet stamp, the martial
arts milieu, with all its ceremonial trappings, stands up
reasonably well to the inevitable theatricality.
Also very capably holding its own is that blended cast,
also featuring Emily Mortimer as a troubled attorney, David
Paymer as a loan shark and Rodrigo Santoro as a fight-promoting
club owner. And behind-the-camera frequent Mamet collaborator
Robert Elswit (this year's cinematography Oscar winner for
"There Will Be Blood") captures all the backstage machinations
with gritty authenticity.
Reuters/Hollywood Reporter
In Theaters 
