Mamet discovers cinema and I looked forward to this! Most of his movies had been like radio plays but not only does the camera move around in this one, there are action scenes!Now, I hate exposition and so does Mamet. What I think he was trying to do here was combine as many genres and traditions as he can in a single film so that the exposition is taken care of.The camera eye is in the middle of all the fights, raging bull style. But scenes where Mike is supposed to be doing transcendental meditiion, the camera is "zen". Then when he has to spring into action, so does the camera.We have a public performance that folds into a sports movie, but the sports is shifted to television medium as part of the noir conspiracy.It doesn't always work and it doesn't tie up all neatly at the end, but it was different and I'd rather see a genius reach for a great idea than the same boring stuff thats always on tee vee.

It took me years to come back and finish this movie. Back then, I felt it was too slow. Fast forward to the past weeks it still took me multiple sittings to finish it. But its worth taking your time. Mamet tells a beleivable and engaging story via a cast of quality acting performers.

First I have to apologize if I made mistakes as English is not my first language.When this movie came out, I refused to watch it. It just seemed like a retarded MMA exploitation movie, like never back down, made to make money from tapout t-shirts wearing teens. I had also heard that the concept of the film was that they were fighting with a handicap, like a hand attached behind the back etc. I mean, how dumb is that seriously.Yesterday, me and my 2 friends decided to watch the movie. To give you an idea, we all three have martial arts background. My two friends trained kickboxing and boxing for several years and I have myself been training in Brazilian Jiu Jitsu for 5-6 years. We are all film fans, from Haneke to Van Damme. What I mean is that we didn't hate the movie for it's lack of action or for being boring.I was not familiar with the director but i knew he was praised as a talented director and writer, so we gave the movie a chance.The plot is set around martial arts, BJJ and MMA in particular. The thing is, it's like the director did not do any research about the subject. It was SO RIDICULOUS to see the main character saying the cheesiest lines ever about his views on martial arts and life. All that samurai nonsense talk was SO over the top and dumb it was embarrassing. It really showed the director had absolutely no clue about the subject.The script was absolute garbage. Are we really supposed to believe that a gigantic conspiracy was setup, all of this within a few days, to actually steal what would appear to any normal human being as the dumbest idea ever; the concept that the fighter that picks the black rock or whatever has to fight with a handicap. Let me be clear to all of you with no martial art background; the guy with the handicap has the percentage of 0 chance to win the fight. I mean come on people. Of course, the conspiracy continues when the magician (who of course has a piercing in his eyebrow) is hired to fix the outcome of the fights! Are we really supposed to believe that the cop would kill himself for pretty much no reason! That Tim Allen (who is playing a big Hollywood tough guy actor for some reason) would give a 20 000$ watch to a stranger and than disappear when it is discovered that the watch has been stolen? Beyound stupid. and I'm not even going to mention the ending nonsense.I don't think Chiwetel Ejiofor is necessarily a bad actor, but he was just not the right guy to play the part. He doesn't look tough, particularly intelligent or charismatic.Finally, the fight scenes. They were so poorly executed it was embarrassing to watch. BJJ is not at all a flashy martial art as is let's say karate but still it was absolute garbage. The fight scenes were a mix of Steven Seagal stuff mixed with elementary school yard type wrestling.This movie had IMO absolutely 0 positive aspect. Even the hot girlfriend (way to hot for the hobo looking Chiwetel Ejiofor) turned out to be a backstabbing bitch! I just cannot understand how some of you might think this is remotely close to being a good film. It would have made sense if we would live in a fantasy world.

Redbelt is a realistic portrait of martial arts and how how cruel and unfair the world can be. The story follows Mike Terry, a martial arts instructor who teaches his students how to prevail in the real world and come out of any situation. When an elevation of unfortunate events starting with an encounter of a disturbed lawyer and ranging from problems dealing with money, marriage, and morals, Mike finds it harder and harder to live his honorable life and might have to go against his beliefs which means stepping into the ring.Anyone stepping into this movie expecting an action packed mixed martial arts extravaganza like Undisputed 2 will be disappointed. But anyone watching this movie openly will find a well told story of how hard it is to do the right thing in a world so corrupt. This is the only martial arts movie in my collection where I don't care about how well shot and awesome the fight scenes are but with Redbelt I come for the emotional ride and well told and relatable narrative. This is one of those hard to find movies where the action serves the story instead of the other way around like a Tony Jaa movie(Not that I don't love his movies). The small bits of fight scenes in this movie are short but effective like a real fight. A highlight near the end has Terry fighting through gaurds with some impressive and useful take downs. There are many twists in Redbelt which are very effective but might seem a tad unrealistic because you might find yourself asking "how can all this bad stuff happen to this man in so short of a time."Mike Terry is a very likable main character so you feel bad for him when all these troubles fall upon him when he clearly doesn't deserve them. As a martial artist myself, I understand all the dilemmas that he has to face. When the majority does wrong does that make it okay? By the end of the movie you should get a sense of what it means to be a true martial artist. It might even touch your soul. :)