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So I just checked out Redbelt last night. Thus far in life, I haven’t met a David Mamet movie that I didn’t like and the trend holds true for this one. The short review is, I give this an 8 on the felix scale of 0-10. It’s quite an engrossing movie and even Maria who couldn’t care one iota less about any sort of martial art/UFC type of thing enjoyed the movie – because it isn’t about fighting, it’s about this guy trying to survive in this screwed up situation.

The movie itself was paced like a Mamet movie and had you knew you were in for a good ride. The biggest problem for me, though, was that it didn’t sound like a Mamet movie. The tight dialogue was largely missing from the movie as most of the Mamet regulars had minor roles in the film. Particularly sad for me was the tiny, tiny role Rebecca Pidgeon played in the movie as she’s generally one of my favourite Mamet cast members. I kept waiting for it to kick in and it would on rare occasion when a few standards were on the screen at once, but largely it never happened.

Other than that it’s a fine, fine movie. It’s the tale of a martial arts instructor doomed to poverty because of the purity with which he practices his art. An unusual sequence of events brings this purity into conflict as everything drives him to the very thing that he refuses to do. But the constant refrain in the movie, his mantra for his students is “Breathe. Breathe. You know the escape. You know the escape. There is no situation you can not turn to your advantage.” and so there you go.

The acting is excellent. I really like Chiwetel Ejiofor, anyone who can play that lady in Kinky Boots and the badass from Serenity is a ok in my book. Hey, and it’s got Randy Couture in the mix, too, although he plays only a small part. You can tell all the supporting fighters in the movie were MMA guys by their cauliflower ears, which gave it that extra taste of truth. Heh. Hey, it’s even got Dan Inosanto doing some of the choreographing as well as appearing in the film!

If you like Mamet movies, with the dialogue caveat above, it’s definitely worth seeing. You know what? It’s worth seeing even if you don’t have any particular feelings toward the gentleman. Here, watch the trailer.