Redbelt: Fight for your right

Sep 23 2008 Pierce Hunt, Surrey Herald

MIKE Terry (Chiwetel Ejiofor) appears to be the only honourable guy within the Los Angeles fight world of seemingly endless corruption and deceit.

Shunning the seedy city fight scene, Mike is content running his jujitsu school, teaching his self-defence classes with a samurai's code.

Mike and his wife Sondra (Alice Braga) struggle to make ends meet through their combined business ventures.

But Mike's financial struggle soon intensifies as a random shooting involving a emotionally-sensitive lawyer, Laura Black (Emily Mortimer) culminates in a series of events, including Mike befriending Hollywood star Chet Frank (Tim Allen) who hires him to bring an element of authenticity to his latest war production. After his new-found friendship sours, Mike is left to decide whether he goes against his morals to survive or maintain his values and ideology with the risk of losing everything.

The potential for Redbelt was huge, as writer and director David Mamet has worked his magic on classic films such as Hannibal and Ronin. And initial signals were positive, but unfortunately, a gripping story suddenly comes to an abrupt end, which leaves far too many questions unanswered.

It's disappointing, as clever sub-plots and twists constantly emerge, but with so much going on, many tangents are left isolated and fizzle out to nothing.

5/10