The plotting is contrived, the supporting characters two-dimensional, and the ending slides from predictable to absurd to maudlin.
Redbelt
There's always a way out. You just have to find it.
2008 · 1h 39m · R
Drama
Directed by
David Mamet
Overview
Martial artist Mike Terry lives by a strict code of no competitions, for he feels that such contests weaken fighters. After saving a famous action star from a brutal attack, Mike takes a job in the film industry. He soon finds his personal beliefs and integrity on the line as circumstances force him to participate in a prize fight.
Director and cast
- David Mamet Director
- Chiwetel Ejiofor as Mike Terry
- Tim Allen as Chet Frank
- Alice Braga as Sondra Terry
- Emily Mortimer as Laura Black
- Jose Pablo Cantillo as Snowflake
- Joe Mantegna as Jerry Weiss
- Randy Couture as Dylan Flynn
- Bob Jennings as Sammy
- Ricky Jay as Marty Brown
- Caroline de Souza Correa as Monica
Critics on Rotten Tomatoes
Top critics, in their words
What is memorable is the film's portrait of a man of honor in a sleazy world, possibly a metaphor for the struggle of the artist to stay honorable in a world of backbiting, betrayal and hunger for easy money.
The glue that holds it together is Ejiofor's muscular performance as a man whose principles may be about to feel the brass knuckles of reality.
David Mamet's take on the trendy new world of mixed martial arts is a gem not quite like anything I've seen before a" a smart, absorbing, anti-Hollywood, hypermacho look at what it is to be a true martial artist and a man.
Mamet's love for the sport comes through in every frame.
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