Vox Nova At The Movies: Redbelt

“There’s always an escape.”

That is the central theme behind David Mamet’s intriguing new movie, Redbelt.  Don’t let the fact that the central character, Mike Terry (played by Chiwetel Ejiofor), is a fight instructor make you think that this is your typical martial arts film. Yes, martial arts, specifically Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu, are central to the story. But it’s helps form the basis by which the drama can be played. The movie is about Mike Terry and his desire to be true to himself and his ideals, even when it pushes him, his friends, and his family to the breaking point. He is used and abused by many around him; indeed, one could say his life is in shambles, and yet… there is an escape. There is a way out.

This is a very decent drama. At start, it seems simple, but the further the story progresses, the more depths one can find in it. How do different people react to the same situation: do they give up (making suicide their escape)? Do they turn traitor to those they care about and love (yet another way to escape)? Or do they push on, despite all that is going on, and live by one’s ideals, no matter what it does, not just to oneself, but to those all around them? Mike Terry, and those around him, all have to come to their own answers to this question once he helps and befriends, Chet Frank (played by Tim Allen), an over-the-hill action star who has found his escape from life in all the alcohol he drinks. The producer of Chet’s films believes he has found his own way out by getting into the pay-per-view martial arts businesses by stealing one of Mike Terry’s training methods and turning it not only into a gimmick for such fights, but also a way to fix the fights. Out of money, losing many of his friends, with his marriage itself about to be destroyed, what is there for Mike to do – what exactly is his escape? And what does it have to do with the Redbelt, an honorary belt in Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu which only a elite few possess? 

The movie is difficult to rate. There are some action sequences, but it is not a martial arts flick. Many people who will go to see it will be what they expect it to be. But as a drama, it is quite good, and even if elements of the ending are predictable, some do come out as a surprise. I am on the edge as to what rating I should give it, and so I would say it is somewhere between 3 ½  and 4 out of 5 stars.