You’ve got to give writer/director David Mamet credit for always setting out to confound expectations and deliver a movie experience that’s as far removed from the conventional feature film as possible. While he may not always hit it out the park, every film he’s produced from his riveting directorial debut House of Cards to his latest gem, Redbelt, is intelligent, precise and, above all, credible. There are seldom flashy or pretentious Hollywood moments in his movies – save for when he’s skewering them in films like State and Main and this one – and his penchant for writing faithful, rapid-fire dialogue that rings true helps to ground his stories and characters in the real world.

I’ve become quite a fan of his work, and while I understand how some people have difficulty adjusting to his deliberate pacing and seemingly-detached characters, it becomes an acquired taste the more you delve into his canon. To fully understand and appreciate a David Mamet project – be it an original screenplay he’s directed, a job-for-hire written for someone else, or an adaptation of one of his stage plays – you have to consider plot, character development, and production design as mere window dressing. The real star of the show is always going to be the dialogue, delivered in that signature machine-gun style that eschews proper grammar and punctuation for authenticity. Things like Joe Mantegna’s great speech at the end of House of Games, or Robert De Niro’s tongue-lashing delivered to Kevin Costner in the hotel lobby in The Untouchables, or Alec Baldwin’s classic sales pitch at the opening of Glengarry Glen Ross all immediately come to mind.

To be honest, I was a little apprehensive when I first heard Redbelt would involve the world of Mixed Martial Arts (MMA) or its commercial counterpart known as the Ultimate Fighting Challenge (UFC). Not being a fan of what looks to me like a better-choreographed example of pro wrestling, I expected to be disappointed. But leave it to Mamet to take me by surprise. What’s fascinating about Redbelt is how the sport is simply used to frame a basic story about right and wrong, a cautionary tale about one person’s deep beliefs pitted against the majority’s quest for success. Like Field of Dreams, which is ultimately a film about regret and the relationship between a father and son disguised as a baseball movie, Redbelt owes more to the samurai films of Kurosawa in terms of its strict adherence to a fighter’s code of honor and its reverence for tradition.

Chiwetel Ejiofor (Children of Men) is remarkable as Mike Terry, a martial arts instructor struggling to keep his jiu-jitsu studio open while offering his students a means to overcome their own fears and hang-ups. For Terry, jiu-jitsu is not about winning or competing – it’s all about prevailing. Among his students: Officer Joe Collins (Max Martini), who’s apparently been hurt or taken down at one point while on duty; and, a nervous and introverted attorney named Laura Black (Emily Mortimer), who we later learn was once attacked and raped. Terry not only teaches them about getting past the skeletons in their respective closets, but also the philosophical “way of the samurai,” to which he subscribes.

A unique opportunity arises for Terry after he saves a famous action star named Chet Frank (Tim Allen) from taking a serious beating in a bar brawl one night. Frank just happens to be starring in a movie about the Iraq War and he asks Terry, a former soldier, to come onboard as a consultant and producer to ensure the fight scenes are all authentic. The prospect of his getting paid for the project, along with the fringe benefit of his wife, Sondra (Alice Braga), selling her clothing designs to Frank’s wife, Zena (Rebecca Pidgeon), is very enticing, and he takes the bait. Of course, this being a David Mamet film, you’re predisposed to expect the other shoe to drop and the intricate puzzle box to kick into motion. Indeed, there are some twists and turns to be had, but I won’t spoil them here. While they’re not as sudden as the big reveals in The Spanish Prisoner or House of Games, they’re actually a series of little stunners that start to compound what Terry thought would be both an easy way out of debt and a means to save his martial arts studio.

If the film falters at all, it’s during the predictable big fight sequence at the climax that I guess was inevitable given Terry’s escalating predicament. Yet I still found it cathartic to see him confront reigning champ Augusto Silva (played by actual Brazilian jiu-jitsu master John Machado). It’s a classic David vs. Goliath battle; a literal example of art pitted against commerce. Terry sticks to his beliefs that the “art” of jiu-jitsu should only be used as a conduit to a better way of life while Silva, a renowned martial artist in his own right, readily discards tradition and honor in exchange for the bottom line: a big payoff.

Many Mamet regulars turn in great cameo roles, like: Joe Mantegna, as Chet’s seedy producer; Ricky Jay, as a calculating fight promoter; and, Mamet’s wife, Rebecca Pidgeon, as Chet’s wife, Zena. But the true standouts are new to the director’s fold, starting with Chiwetel Ejiofor, whose mere presence and gravitas helps ground the entire movie with his riveting performance. Although he’s a fighter, his calm and focused demeanor really informs the character of Mike Terry and makes him both confident and appealing. Tim Allen is also a revelation here, riffing on the big action star who’s obviously just a cocktail or two away from rehab. And Emily Mortimer’s character comes across as a bruised and broken woman who, despite her stature as a lawyer, finds it difficult to relate to others. 

The Video: How Does The Disc Look?

The film’s original 2.40:1 aspect ratio is presented in an excellent high definition transfer using the AVC video CODEC. This vibrant and three-dimensional presentation offers a remarkable level of detail such as the textured fabric of Mike Terry’s robe during the opening training sequence and the finely-drawn lines of some of the fighters’ tattoos during the big match at the climax. Color balance and saturation levels are very good throughout and the black levels are all deep and consistent. This transfer really makes the most of Robert Elswit’s stunning cinematography work and I think in many ways his efforts here are better than his Oscar-winning There Will Be Blood, which seemed drab and colorless in comparison. The warm color palette looks superb, with bright reds, golden yellows, and pleasing browns. There are no signs of compression artifacts or edge halos. Overall, an excellent, sharp, and detailed video presentation.

The Audio: How Does The Disc Sound?

The lossless Dolby TrueHD 5.1 audio track is very impressive, as well, although it falls a little short of its video counterpart. All six channels get to flex some muscle right from the start as the rhythmic and driving drumbeat of the music playing under the opening credits kicks in, providing an enveloping surround presence and thumping bass through the subwoofer. Stephen Endelman’s tribal-sounding original score is nicely complemented with some original music by Brazilian singer Luciana Souza (no relation as far as I know) that was co-written by Mamet’s wife, Rebecca Pidgeon. These melancholy songs provide a nice counterpoint to Endelman’s more dynamic score – much in the same way that Mike Terry’s calmness is juxtaposed with the MMA fighters’ more aggressive techniques. Dialogue is always clear and concise through the center channel, which is particularly important in a David Mamet film. And the front channels offer a nice directional blend of effects and music during the movie. Overall, a very good and active audio presentation.

In addition to the English TrueHD 5.1 track, the disc also offers similar TrueHD 5.1 options in French, Spanish, Portuguese, and Thai. The ample optional subtitles are in English SDH, English, French, Spanish, Portuguese, Chinese, Korean, Thai, Indonesian, Arabic, and Dutch.

The Supplements: What Goodies Are There?

Redbelt comes with a nice complement of bonus material beginning with a feature-length running audio commentary track by writer/director David Mamet and UFC Champion and actor Randy Couture. As usual Mamet provides a wonderful overview of what inspired him to do this film and how much he enjoyed working with the various cast members. Mamet apparently took up jiu-jitsu training over the last few years and became very interested in the martial arts, which led to the idea for the project. Although it’s nice to have Couture present to interact with and to bounce comments off of, he doesn’t really contribute all that much to the proceedings other than comment on the fight scenes and the real-life fighters cast in the movie. Mamet heaps a lot of praise on cinematographer Robert Elswit, who photographed the film and recently won the Academy Award for There Will Be Blood, and he really liked working the cinemascope 2.39:1 aspect ratio. It’s an interesting and informative commentary track.

The first of several featurettes begins with Behind-the-Scenes of Redbelt (19:09), which is the typical EPK making-of offering that includes interviews with Mamet and key members of the cast and crew. Mamet repeats a lot of the same information from his commentary track, while cast members all get a chance to express their excitement over working on a “David Mamet film.”

The featurette titled Inside Mixed Martial Arts (18:52) provides an overview of the rising sport of Mixed Martial Arts (MMA) and the growing popularity of the Ultimate Fighting Challenge (UFC), both of which have been big in Japan and Brazil for years. This segment offers interviews with many of the professional fighters who appear in Redbelt and also examines how the various techniques and forms were developed, combining kung fu and karate with wrestling and kickboxing. The Brazilian jiu-jitsu style, which is prominent in Redbelt, is actually more about staying calm and collected during a fight. As fighter Enson Inoue explains at one point in the featurette, the literal definition of jiu-jitsu in Japanese is “the gentle art.”

Q&A with Director David Mamet (26:20) is a one-on-one interview with moderator Kent Jones, taped after a screening of the film on April 21, 2008. Mamet discusses a lot of his past projects and also goes into detail about the making of Redbelt. Although he seems a bit stiff at the beginning, Mamet eventually warms up and becomes a bit more relaxed as the interview goes on. Jones is an obvious fan of his work and his enthusiasm is fun to watch.

An Interview with Dana White (16:53) offers a static talking-head interview with the president of the Ultimate Fighting Challenge (UFC), which is a nice plus, but not something I found very interesting given my lack of knowledge or familiarity with the UFC. I was surprised to learn, however, how popular the UFC has become over the past few years and it now ranks third behind NASCAR racing and NFL football in garnering television ratings.

Likewise, the Fighter Profiles featurette (4:11) was only interesting to see which real fighters were cast in the movie – most of whom could have been stuntmen or mere extras, for all I know. The only one I recognized from the film was Ray “Boom Boom” Mancini, who hails from a nearby New England state.

The final featurette, The Magic of Cyril Takayama (4:35), was a little more intriguing in providing some insight into the Japanese-American magician who plays a key role in the film. Given Mamet’s obvious affection for magicians like Ricky Jay and Steve Martin, it makes sense that he would also be enamored with Takayama’s sleight-of-hand skills.

In addition to Sony’s standard Blu-Ray promo and the original theatrical trailer for Redbelt, the BD also includes the trailers for Married Life, Standard Operating Procedure, 88 Minutes, The Counterfeiters, Youth Without Youth, Persepolis, Sleuth, Steep, CJ7, and Felon.

The disc also includes some BD-Live extras that I couldn’t access with my Profile 1.1 player.

The 99-minute film is divided into sixteen chapters.

Final Thoughts

Redbelt is a refreshing return to form for writer/director David Mamet and is easily his best directorial effort since The Spanish Prisoner. Not so much a film about mixed martial arts, but rather a samurai-inspired parable about one man’s code of honor, it greatly benefits from a superb cast led by the compelling Chiwetel Ejiofor. With an excellent video and audio presentation and an ample and informative collection of supplementary material, this BD is highly recommended.


Here’s a note about the apparent duplicate Buy Guide. Our I.T. people are still hard at work on a large project and have not yet had the time to modify the underlying site database formatting code to accommodate the new 0-to-10 rating scales. So until they do, for HD on disc, I’ll insert this note and a Buy Guide at the end of the review text and leave the conventional 0-to-5 Buy Guide blank.