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From:Tim Allen , David Paymer , Sony , Sony Pictures ,
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User Rating: Amazon Sales Rank:#6732 |
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 A good film about the ethics of martial arts, 2008-10-28
A man who lives by a strict code of bushido is tangled in a web of corruption, lies and deceit. While able to live an ascetic existence, rather than disgrace his school and his teacher, he is unable to cope with how his pride affects those around him. He must budge, but how far will he bend? On par with The Karate Kid and Throwdown, Redbelt is a great film about a traditional martial artist in an over-commercialized world.
 Another Good Mamet flick!, 2008-10-09
Another Good flick from Director/writer Mamet! In the spirit of Spartan, Ronin, and The Spanish Prisoner Mamet once again weaves a plot and story that makes you both question what you know and what you think you know. Buy it! later!
This was a rough draft of a movie that could be pretty good, 2008-10-08
Mike Terry (Chiwetel Ejiofor) runs a martial-arts studio, always emphasizing the arts' use being rooted in self defense only. He has a reputation as a passivist, but his honor is tested when a series of events back him against a wall. He is played like a fool and has to regain his honor and come up with enough money to pay off his debts.
This was not your typical martial-arts movie -- well, it wasn't really a martial-arts movie at all. Sure Terry is a teacher, and the movie involves a competition, but the movie is more about the web woven by writer and director David Mamet. The plot is mainly about the trouble Terry suddently finds himself in with no feasible way out and the jiu-jitsu is used almost like a prop. I enjoyed how each of the characters became involved, voluntarily or otherwise. Each player was a pawn in the game. I enjoyed this movie only for what it could have been. In execution, it was a weak effort.
And while David Mamet may be known for his obscure plots and confusing endings, this movie left much to be desired by way of substance. It was VERY rushed and moved too quickly. To defend the pace, the ideas were not that complex and required little to set them in motion. But the movie could have easily been given some depth and lengthened. I feel that this story could have been better sold to HBO or someone as a mini-series rather than a stand-alone movie. There were many characters that warranted more attention than they were given, but before you knew it, the movie was over.
Maybe Mamet was trying to capitalize on the popularity surge that mixed martial arts has enjoyed recently. I fall in with the crowd that has made MMA fighting something to watch. I have to admit that I was disappointed in the lack of fight scenes.
 Refreshing, 2008-10-03
Ok, I have watched more martial arts movies than care to mention and dependng on my mood I want them to deliver something different. Sometimes when I was young I wanted pure action, no story needed ex. old jackie flicks before he owned his own production company. Other times I wanted what most burgeoning martial artists wanted , and that is a motivational film if you will with a master you could look up to living a lifestyle we would like to strive for. In my opinion this film is the latter, A great master actually living his principals in a modern world. The icing on the cake is the "realistic " aspect if you will of life STOMPING on him because he is trying to fight the way of the world lol.
Some people might be a little let down because there is not copious amounts of fighting but with todays action movies using special effects ie transporter etc and wire work ie forbidden kingdom , the very raw ,clean looking ju jitsu is very satisfying and leaves you wanting more. I rented the movie from blockbuster last night and I am orderng it today lol.
More than a martial arts film., 2008-10-01
As a fan of mixed martial arts, I was really looking forward to this movie, but to be honest, I didn't really expect much. And of course this movie being preceded by the incredibly horrible "Never Back Down" really didn't help that any. However, "Redbelt" majorly exceeded my expectations.
Written by legendary playwright David Mamet (who interestingly enough is a Brazilian Jiu Jitsu practitioner himself), "Redbelt" proves to have much more to offer than just cool fight scenes. It's an emotional, intelligent, and suberbly written film about one man's struggle to maintain his scruples in a cruel and corrupt world. Chiwetel Ejiofor plays Mike Terry, a martial arts instructor with a strong code of ethics and honor. His instructional methods focus purely on street defense, as he is opposed to fighting competitively. However, after a series of tragic circumstances that leave him hard up for cash, he is forced to go against his beliefs and step into the ring.
Overall, this is a really great story. The fight scenes are excellent as well. Somewhat stylized, but never too unrealistic. For those interesting in grappling/jiu jitsu, there's a lot of cool stuff here, including a great scene with John Machado. Lots of cool cameos from other greats as well, like Randy Couture, Dan Inosanto, Ray Mancini, and Frank Trigg. Tim Allen also appears (slightly out of character) as a movie star that Terry saves in a barfight. His part is fairly small, but it's kinda cool to see him doing something a little different than what you're used to seeing him do.
If I had to criticize this movie for one thing, it'd be that it maybe portrays mixed martial arts in too negative a light. The organization in the movie is run by greedy corporate fatcats who care more about money than anything. While I am certain that these kinds of people do exist in the MMA world (I'm looking at you, Dana White!), I'm a bit concerned it could give the impression that there's no real honor or discipline in professional fighting, which is not true at all. As it becomes more popular, it may be becoming more corrupt, but there are still people out there who only care about the fight.
Anyway, despite that, this is an excellent movie that I highly recommend. Remember, there's a lot more here than just fight scenes, so if you only want wall-to-wall action, you may be a little disappointed. But if you want great action combined with an actual story, this is definitely worth checking out.
It's unfortunate that this ended up coming out right after "Never Back Down", which had to hurt it at least a little. If you wrote this movie off because you were disappointed with that one, do not let that stop you. This is a prime example of a martial arts film done right.
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