rowmorg This film is so superior, and yet apparently (according to IMDb) it made no money at all! The irritatingly named Chiwetel Ejiofor is a gifted British actor who embodies the heroic theme of this film: holding on to your ethics in the midst of massive corruption. Writer/director David Mamet has described corruption many times, and his bad guys always have the language, but Mike Terry (Ejiofor) has ideals, and reveres the Japanese "Professor" who holds the unique Red Belt. It's fascinatingly familiar to see Terry's world collapsing around his ears, and his debts mounting over his head. His jiu-jitsu craft comes into action when he teaches Emily Mortimer's rape-victim character to defend herself, and she provides the stimulus (in a cracking slap round the face) for him to turn round and confront his tormentors and challenge the whole MMR racket and its Gina Carano-type "star" fighters. It's a great climax, and neatly redirected when, instead of taking the mike and denouncing the event, he takes the red belt from the professor. End of picture: highly recommended.

A_Different_Drummer Not loving this film was almost enough to make this reviewer forgo movies and go back to comic books (which, they tell me, are now called Graphic Novels, and that tells you how old I am.) The pedigree is to die for. David Mamet is not only considered one of the greatest writers of our time but the cadences he uses in his work (especially the repetitive phrases) are almost "trademark." On more than one occasion I have intruded on someone watching a Mamet film adaptation and within moments identified the film not because of the actor, but simply because of the speech cadences. And then you have Chiwetel Ejiofor, who may possibly never have given a bad performance in his life -- his work for example in Whedon's Serenity is nothing less than mesmerizing. And finally you have the subject matter. Mamet usually likes to under-promise and over-deliver, contenting himself with mild suspense themes, usually involving some sort of "long con" with a "big reveal." But here he takes on the big boys and attempts an actioner, martial arts no less. I was in the theatre for the very first showing of this film in Toronto. The matinée, as I recall. That's how much I wanted to love this film. But I didn't. It is workable, it holds together well, the payoff is adequate, but overall the "tall tale" of the overlooked martial artist with the high ideals was slightly off-note. Even to this day, I am not sure if the problem was in the direction or the story or both. So, having unburdened myself, I will leave the final analysis to future viewers like yourself. This should have been one of the greatest films of all time. But it missed.

lewiskendell "There is no situation that you could not escape from. There is no situation that you could not turn to your advantage." is not your typical martial arts movie, though it heavily features mixed martial arts and jujitsu. It's more about the philosophy and ideals behind martial arts, and how far one man will go to honor those ideals. It's also a bit underwhelming. I'm a big fan of Chiwetel Ejiofor, he may be one of my favorite actors. He's perfect for the understated "quiet strength" type of roles, which is definitely the kind he has here. I really like Emily Mortimer, as well. She never fails to impress me, and should have a much higher profile that what she has. The problem isn't with either of them or the other actors, it stems from the fact that the story and the script seem to have needed some more revisions to fully realize the ideas they were aiming for. Ejiofor, Mortimer, and the rest just don't get a lot to work with. Characters seem underdeveloped, and the plot moves in fits and starts. Don't get me wrong, Redbelt isn't a bad film. But there's so much unrealized promise here that it leaves me feeling disappointed in some ways. I want to give Redbelt high marks for its ambitions, but I have to give it an average score for its actual execution. I still recommend it, I just wish I could recommend it much more strongly.

jeff light It seems most people who saw this film really liked it. It also seems that most of those people are really familiar with writer David Mamet's work, and really follow that. Most people give credit for the 'excellence' of this film to the script. I really have to disagree.For me, the film started out really promising. I dig that the main character is too noble for the world around him. I get that the nobility he exhibits and brings out in others seems to just bring them all more pain. There's really some great philosophy and mixed martial arts in the early parts of the film. It's later in the film that everything falters.*****SPOILERS AHEAD***** First off, the whole middle of this film contains little to no action. Fine, fine, but not really satisfying for a film that's all about martial arts. Second, the motivations and machinations of the characters seem too convenient and intricately orchestrated. The whole deus ex machina with Tim Allen's movie star character is just too convenient, and then suddenly there's this masterpiece of a plan involving all the other characters that've been introduced. The lawyer in the beginning suddenly becomes essential at the end, etc. It's all too convenient and sorry, that's just poor writing. The wife abandons the main character pretty quickly and easily...she seems quite loving and concerned in one scene, and then completely done with the relationship the next scene! A world class fighter is going to risk damaging his reputation, getting arrested, and possibly getting really injured all for an out-of-the ring fight?! Why would he jeopardize his career when he clearly only cares about money? The main character wins one fight, and then an old Asian man is hugging him? I live in Japan, old Asian men rarely demonstrate emotion with physical contact, much less to strangers! *****END SPOILERS*******Basically, the whole 2nd half of the movie just seems shoehorned together to pay off the concepts introduced in the first half. For a movie that's so cleverly written in parts, it adopts an extremely convenient viewpoint on how things fit together later. To me, it just became really cheesy and unbelievable. It's a shame too, because it is well-acted and there are a couple moments with some great MMA work. It had a lot of potential, but ultimately it was just frustrating for me. Perhaps I'm just not a big enough Mamet fan.