| Mike Terry (Chiwetel Ejiofor), an instructor in the art of self-defense via Jiu-Jitsu and other martial arts techniques, is about to have his comfortably small-scale life turned upside-down in Redbelt, the latest intricate shell-game thriller from writer/director David Mamet.
One rainy night, as Terry is finishing up a rigorous self-defense class, in walks Laura Black (Emily Mortimer), a sopping-wet lawyer who pokes her head in to inform Terry that she just inadvertently sideswiped his car. But when Terry asks one of his students, police officer Joe Collins (Max Martini), to take her coat, she freaks out at his touch, backing away quickly and grabbing the gun he left on the counter, accidentally discharging the weapon and shattering the front window of Terry's gym. Now Terry finds himself in a financial pinch, the cost to repair the broken window making it near-impossible to keep up with that month's rent, as his beleaguered wife Sondra (Alice Braga, from City Of God and I Am Legend) points out.
 But fate seems to smile on Terry when, after he confronts the owner of a local nightclub (Rodrigo "Who the hell are Nikki and Paulo?" Santoro) about how he failed to pay Joe for his off-duty services as a bouncer, he ends up defending a popular film actor named Chet Frank (Tim Allen... !) during an altercation at the bar. Impressed by the fighting skills Terry displays while taking a couple of inebriated barflies down, Chet sends Terry a gift of a lavish wristwatch the next day, as well as an invitation to his mansion. Soon, Terry and Sondra are being treated like kings by Chet and his wife Zena (Mrs. Mamet, Rebecca Pidgeon, who also penned the jazzy torch songs heard on the soundtrack). A visit to the set of the war film that Chet is currently filming even gets Terry a potentially lucrative gig as a fight choreographer.
This being a Mamet movie, there's naturally a double-cross or two waiting in the wings. Terry gives the watch to his police buddy Joe so he can hock it and help his financial difficulties at home... only to be told that said watch has been reported stolen. Sondra makes some plans with Zena to design a new clothing line... only to be baffled when she stops returning her calls, leaving her in the lurch with a ton of expensive fabrics she paid for out her own pocket. Soon, Terry finds himself resorting to plying his Tai Chi skills in the fighting ring, hoping to enter a mixed martial arts competition and walk away with a cash prize that will help support his family and friends... but the promoters behind the fights (including Mamet regulars like Ricky Jay and Joe Mantegna) turn out to be less than scrupulous.
 Redbelt might seem an odd choice for Mamet, a playwright whose zippy, profane work is more often found in small-scale con game thrillers and stage-y interior dramas (with the occasional Big Studio Gig to help fund his smaller projects, like his highly quotable screenplay to Brian De Palma's The Untouchables), yet he's also a lifelong practitioner of the martial arts, and his gifts for vivid characterization and tightly-scripted narrative jigsaw puzzles is in full display here. Redbelt features less of his trademark hiccup-y, lookit-how-clever-I-am dialogue than one would expect from his work, which is either a good or bad thing considering one's affection for it (seven years later, and I'm still trying to figure out what the hell the Heist line "My boss is so cool that when he goes to sleep, sheep count him" is supposed to mean), but Mamet steps up to the plate and delivers a well-crafted, finely-performed drama with some interesting moral conundrums and one absolutely cracking scene with Ejiofor (a terrific character actor finally given a well-deserved shot at a lead role) taking down one security guard after another Jason Bourne-style during a ringside altercation. The supporting cast is uniformly fine (even Tim Allen steps up to the plate and delivers a credible dramatic performance, although it's difficult to imagine a fictional Hollywood where Allen's chubby, middle-aged Chet could be a credible action star), and the screenplay has some good twists along the way. Worth a look for Mamet fans.
Presentation
The film's 2.40:1 aspect ratio is presented in an excellent anamorphic transfer, nicely reproducing the sleekly dark cinematography of Robert Elswit (a recent Oscar winner for his superb work on P.T. Anderson's There Will Be Blood). Considering how many nighttime scenes there are in this movie, it's impressive how little grain there is in the image. The 5.1 audio (with an additional 2.0 French option) won't exactly fill your rec room (it's David Mamet... it's all yakkity-yak), but the all-important dialogue is replicated very nicely.
Extras
First off is an engaging Audio Commentary featuring writer/director David Mamet and martial arts advisor Randy Couture. Mamet dishes on his lifelong appreciation of martial arts, and Couture (who also plays a ringside announcer in the film) keeps peppering the veteran playwright and screenwriter with enough questions to keep everything moving right along. Behind The Scenes Of Redbelt (19:08) is your typical making-of, better than most (most interesting to see some footage of the 60-year-old Mamet making a rather impressive show on the wrestling mat with one of his extras). Inside Mixed Martial Arts (18:52) discusses the various fighting styles incorporated in the film. Q&A With David Mamet (26:19) offers your usual post-screening sit down with Mamet answering questions from people in the audience. Lots of good stuff here. An Interview With Dana White (16:52) features the president of the Ultimate Fighting Championship talking about how the popularity of his sport has skyrocketed in recent years.
 Fighter Profiles (4:11) offers some trading card-style stats for the martial artists featured in the film. The Magic Of Cyril Takayama (4:36) features some impressive acts of prestidigitation. Wrapping things up is a Theatrical Trailer (2:04) plus the usual Sony Previews menu featuring plugs for Blu-Ray Is High Definition! (2:37), Standard Operating Procedure (0:33), Married Life (0:33), The Wackness (2:13), Baghead (2:12), The Children Of Huang Shi (0:33), When Did You Last See Your Father? (0:33), Brick Lane (2:04), The Counterfeiters (2:16), The Band's Visit (2:10), the horrible Stephen Chow kiddie flick CJ7 (0:33), Persepolis (0:33), Felon (1:09) and The Art Of War II: Betrayal (1:33), starring felon Wesley Snipes.
Bottom Line
A well-crafted shell game drama from a master of the form, Redbelt offers fine performances and compelling moral conundrums, but isn't up to Mamet's best work. Certainly worth seeing for his fans, however.
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