'Redbelt' skips a few logical notches

By Steve Persall, Times Film Critic
In print: Thursday, May 8, 2008

Chiwetel Ejiofor, left, is Mike Terry, and John Machado, right, is Augusto Silva in the film.
	[Sony Pictures Classics]

Story Tools E-mail this story Contact the editor Print this story Comment on this story Social Bookmarking [+] Digg Facebook Stumbleupon Reddit Del.icio.us Newsvine

ADVERTISEMENT

Redbelt (R) (99 min.) — Writer-director David Mamet detours slightly from his moody, profane con games to create something like an action movie. The combination isn't entirely successful, with bone-crushing mixed martial arts interrupted by the eloquent words Mamet puts into the mouths of characters, many of whom aren't around enough for their thoughts to matter.

Mike Terry (Chiwetel Ejiofor) is a man of honor, as Mamet often essays, caught in a potentially compromising position. He owns a jujitsu school that is bleeding red ink and has a wife (Alice Braga) who doubts their future. In a bizarre early scene, a nervous attorney (Emily Mortimer) accidentally discharges a gun belonging to one of Mike's students, a police officer who graciously doesn't arrest her.

Mike visits a tavern where movie star Chet Frank (Tim Allen) is being harassed by a drunk. Mike steps in to protect Chet, who repays him with dinner, an expensive wristwatch and a job supervising fight scenes on his latest production. Something about Chet and his agent (Joe Mantegna) doesn't seem right, and it isn't.

Exactly how those episodes connect to Mike's entering a crooked mixed martial arts tournament isn't clear, even in hindsight. Nor is why the big fight occurs in an arena entranceway, not the ring. Redbelt feels like a movie with a lot of clarity left on the editing room floor. Mamet is going for some kind of allegory that never comes into focus, with a conclusion so incredible that the movie crumples into a heap like one of Mike's opponents. C+

Steve Persall, Times film critic