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Redbelt (+ BD Live) [Blu-ray] | ![Redbelt (+ BD Live) [Blu-ray]](http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/51phqK0%2BKqL._SL160_.jpg)
 enlarge | Director: David Mamet
Actors: Chiwetel Ejiofor, Tim Allen, Emily Mortimer, Max Martini, Matt Cable
Studio: Sony Pictures
Category: DVD
List Price: $38.96
Buy New: $19.99
You Save: $18.97 (49%)
New (30) Used (11) from $18.46
Rating:  6 reviews
Sales Rank: 33020
Format: Ac-3, Color, Dolby, Dubbed, Subtitled, Widescreen
Languages: Arabic (Subtitled), Chinese (Subtitled), Dutch (Subtitled), English (Subtitled), French (Subtitled), Korean (Subtitled), Portuguese (Subtitled), Spanish (Subtitled), English (Original Language), French (Dubbed), Portuguese (Dubbed), Spanish (Dubbed)
Rating: R (Restricted)
Media: Blu-ray
Aspect Ratio: 2.40:1
Number Of Discs: 1
Running Time: 99 Minutes
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.2
Dimensions (in): 6.7 x 5.3 x 0.5
MPN: COLBR26415
UPC: 043396264151
EAN: 0043396264151
ASIN: B001C5LLL4
Theatrical Release Date: 2008
Release Date: August 26, 2008
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
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| Editorial Reviews:
Amazon.com
Like David Mamet's previous films, Redbelt's narrative slowly exposes the well-guarded secrets of systems shrouded in mystique and conspiracy, this time at martial-arts academies and on Hollywood film and television sets. Reminiscent of Rocky, Redbelt is an unapologetically moralistic tale of an impoverished, inner city Jiu Jitsu instructor whose idealism is an affront to those who seek to sink him. Mike Terry (Chiwetel Ejiofor), unknowingly affiliated with the wealthy Brazilian family who rigs televised MMA matches, naively rescues actor Chet Frank (Tim Allen) from being mutilated in a bar brawl, but isn't able to link Frank's sketchy relations until Terry's life is endangered. Fated to assist Terry is attorney Laura Black (Emily Mortimer), who conveniently stumbles into Terry's Jiu Jitsu academy early in the film's opening. With an impossibly mandarin plot, Redbelt is packed with improbable coincidences and confusing, maze-like dead-ends, but the sheer brainpower required to sleuth along keeps one riveted throughout. Plus, it is hard not to be thrilled by ample, accurately enacted Jiu Jitsu fight scenes. Mamet's actors deliver deadpan, poker-faced dialogue to comedic effect, especially Ricky Jay, who plays an MMA star's corrupt manager. Allen, also, is surprisingly suited to portraying an untouchable, overly serious Hollywood film star. Even Redbelt's subplots revolve around fighting: while Frank shoots a war film, Terry hashes it out with his wife who urges him to earn some cash. In the end, one wonders if Terry's uphill struggle isn't representative of the director's attempt to sift through convoluted narrative threads for an archetypal hero legend that is sparklingly simple. --Trinie Dalton
Product Description
Tom loves his life. Until he realizes he also love his best friends hannah. But when hanna get engaged to a dashing scotsman & asks him to be her maid of honor tom faces hostile bridesmaids bridal showers & bad hair days all in an effort to pull off the perfect wedding - and steal the bride! Studio: Sony Pictures Home Ent Release Date: 08/26/2008 Starring: Patrick Dempsey Run time: 117 minutes Rating: Ur
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| Customer Reviews: Read 1 more reviews...
 Surprising and excellent November 12, 2008
Ryan Agadoni (La Mirada, CA USA)
David Mamet's fight picture.
Mamet movies I've seen (written and/or directed), as just now revealed to me by IMDB:
The Winslow Boy
Ronin (I had no idea!)
Wag the Dog
The Edge (!)
Glengarry Glen Ross
The Untouchables
The Verdict
So, as it turns out, I've liked most of the movies of his I've seen. In fact, all of the above rank at least in my "hey that was pretty ok" level. Ronin I love.
Redbelt ranks similarly to Ronin, helped by it's main character's adherence to a samurai-like code. Mike Terry is an honorable man running a small jui-jutsu dojo in LA. He has a dedicated student, a police officer, in whom he has instilled the same sense of honor. His wife runs a textile/clothing design business and helps him stay afloat. He is well-known and respected within the martial arts world, but has never found great financial success, and refuses to compete. A series of fortuitous and tragic events and people test his code of honor to the furthest degree.
The movie is carried equally by its writing and acting. It's a fight movie, and you figure the quiet master will have to fight in the end, but Mamet's screenplay takes interesting routes to get there. The time spent with Mike Terry (the truly great Chiwetel Ejiofor) makes the choices and conclusions feeled earned rather than obvious. Chiwetel is supported by a uniformly excellent cast, including Tim Allen in a serious role, Emily Mortimer, Joe "Fat Tony" Mantegna, and Max Martini (who does a lot with a relatively small amount of screen time as the cop student).
I read some reviews that complained about the ending and some of the story's loose ends not being tied up, but I think each of those elements was consistent with the way the story was told and needn't have been elaborated on. (One example: it is hinted that Terry has a military past and has overcome an alcohol addiction, but, while never elaborated on, we see the sort of man it has made Terry, and these hints do strengthen the character without needing to be spelled out.)
As far as the visuals go, the beginning really stood out to me. Very moody noir-ish stuff in the rain. The rest of the cinematography doesn't draw attention to itself (to me, anyway), but the direction allows many lingering shots that afforded some great introspective work from Chiwetel.
I recommend it.
 Thank You, Chiwetel Ejiofor November 11, 2008
Moonlight Graham (Chicago, Illinois United States)
Chiwetel Ejiofor saves this movie. Well, maybe that's too strong. He elevates this movie with his performance as Mike Terry, principaled fighter, loyal friend, and loving husband. Through chance circumstance, Terry saves a movie star (Tim Allen) at a bar, taking his live in new directions. Through it all, Ejiofor shines. The rest of the cast is a mixed bag. Alice Braga does well with her role, and Emily Mortimer shines again. This is not really a MMA movie, nor is it a fighting movie. It is more of a drama/character study that happens to be set in the fighting world.
The Blu-Ray itself looks and sounds fantastic. There are some nice special features, although the one I have watched so far (a nice Q&A with Mamet) was not in hi-def.
Redbelt - Blu-ray Info September 11, 2008
LGANS316 (Tokyo Japan)
Version: U.S.A / Region Free
MPEG-4 AVC BD-50 / High Profile 4.1
Running time: 1:39:08
Movie size: 30,44 GB
Disc size: 45,51 GB
Average video bit rate: 28.96 Mbps
Dolby TrueHD Audio English 1191 kbps 5.1 / 48kHz / 16-bit / 1191kbps (AC3 Core: 5.1 / 48kHz / 640kbps)
Dolby TrueHD Audio French 1190 kbps 5.1 / 48kHz / 16-bit / 1190kbps (AC3 Core: 5.1 / 48kHz / 640kbps)
Dolby TrueHD Audio Portuguese 1225 kbps 5.1 / 48kHz / 16-bit / 1225kbps (AC3 Core: 5.1 / 48kHz / 640kbps)
Dolby Digital Audio Spanish 640 kbps 5.1 / 48kHz / 640kbps
Dolby Digital Audio Thai 640 kbps 5.1 / 48kHz / 640kbps
Dolby Digital Audio English 192 kbps 2.0 / 48kHz / 192kbps
Subtitles: English / English SDH / Arabic / Chinese / Dutch / French / Spanish / Indonesian / Korean / Thai
Number of chapters: 16
#Audio Commentary
#Behind the Scenes of Redbelt (HD, 20 min.)
#Inside Mixed Martial Arts (HD, 19 min.)
#Q&A with Director David Mamet (SD, 26 min.)
#An Interview with Dana White (HD, 17 min.)
#Fighter Profiles (HD, 4 min.)
#The Magic of Cyril Takayama (HD, 5 min.)
#Theatrical Trailer (HD, 2 min.)
#BD-Live
 There May Always Be An Escape, How About An Ending... September 6, 2008
Justice0309 (Joplin, MO USA)
2 out of 3 found this review helpful
The story of an underdog is one that always seems to resonate with movie audiences, most likely because at one time or another in our lives we have all been in that position, so we know what it feels like and can easily relate to it. In writer/director David Mamet's recently released "Redbelt" we are given the typical Hollywood underdog story; however, that's not good enough for a David Mamet movie, there must always be something more going on than what meets the eye. So, does "Redbelt" successfully push itself beyond the standard limits of an underdog story, or do the added subtexts cause the movie to ultimately suffer in the end?
"Redbelt" is the story of an idealistic Jiu-Jitsu instructor, Mike Terry (Chiwetel Ejiorfor), who lives his life according to a strict code of honor reminiscent of the samurai. After one fateful night, Mike comes to the aid of actor Chet Frank (Tim Allen) moments before the fading action star is about to be pummeled in a bar brawl. Feeling gratitude towards Mike for his heroic deed, Chet befriends the Jiu-Jitsu instructor; however, what appeared to be a kind gesture on Chet's part may have been nothing more than a manipulative ruse to gain access to some of Mike's training techniques for use in rigged televised MMA (Mixed Martial Arts) fights, which Chet has a vested interest in. With this apparent betrayal at the hands of a dishonorable man, Mike is determined to set things right once more and earn his honor back.
This movie was kind of an odd experience for me, on the one hand it was a fairly decent drama, full of twists and turns, betrayal, and a good share of accurately depicted Jiu-Jitsu (the accuracy statement is based on what I've read about the movie, I personally wouldn't know for sure). On the other hand, the movie is full of convenient coincidences; plot threads left completely unresolved, and an ending that is so horribly filmed and surprisingly simplistic that the movie seems to fall apart completely in the closing moments. With numerous positive elements working in the movie's favor against some undeniably problematic negative elements I found myself moderately enjoying approximately half of the movie, but wishing the other half would have been a bit more refined, especially from a writer and director of David Mamet's caliber.
Speaking of David Mamet, I am not one of his biggest fans, and whenever a new movie or project is announced that he will be working on I don't anxiously await for it to be completed. I admit that I have enjoyed several of the movies and TV projects that he has written, or at least worked on, over the years ("The Shield", "Hannibal", etc.); however, after watching his last movie "Spartan" that he both wrote and directed, I came to the conclusion that even though the movie was decent, it just didn't really work for me and if this was evidence of what a film written and directed by Mamet was going to be like, then I could easily wait for DVD or never see it at all and still be perfectly fine. With all that being said, when I saw the trailers for "Redbelt" I was very intrigued by the story and the cast chosen to flesh out the roles, but when I heard that this was another movie written and directed by David Mamet I kind of lost interest, and as I said would be the case, decided to wait for DVD. The movie still looked interesting enough to warrant a viewing, which is why I wouldn't have been content to just let this movie pass me by.
The screenplay for "Redbelt" is a very well written drama that digs into the world of martial arts academies and televised fighting circuits. The story is the epitome of the classic underdog tale, as Mike takes on the likes of those much richer and more powerful than he could ever hope to be in order to regain the honor he feels he has lost due to his betrayal at the hands of actor Chet Frank and his cohorts. As sharp as the writing by Mamet is in this film, with its intricate web of deception and intrigue, for some unexplained reason, the climax becomes far too simplified, leaving many plot lines introduced earlier in the movie unresolved; plus, the camerawork for the final fight scene is some of the worst I have seen in a movie. I realize that David Mamet is much more skilled with drama than action, and I give him credit for including as many fight scenes as he did in this movie; however, the earlier fight scenes were filmed in a way that the audience was close to the action and could easily see what exactly was going on throughout the course of the fight. When it comes to the end of the movie, a majority of the time the camera is positioned in what feels like the other side of the arena, causing me, the viewer, to not be able to see much of what is going on. There are a few moments within that final fight where the camerawork is much better, but the jarring cutbacks to the distant shot completely disrupt whatever momentum the fight scene had. I am really surprised by David Mamet's apparent inability to resolve his movie in a more satisfactory way, even though I am not his biggest fan I am smart enough to realize that he is a man that knows how to finish a movie properly, but for some reason he just chose not to do it here, and the movie definitely suffers for it.
As far as the acting in the film goes, everyone did an absolutely great job. Chiwetel Ejiofor ("Four Brothers") was almost inspiring in his utmost commitment to his code of honor and inability to see the bad in others. I knew that Chiwetel was a very good actor, but I wasn't sure if he could carry a movie on his own. For an actor that mostly spends his time in supporting roles, his jump into the lead role was surprisingly smooth, and his good-natured character most likely assisted in making him more relatable to the audience. Another performance worthy of praise was that of funny man Tim Allen ("The Santa Clause"), who was an odd choice for such a dramatic role, but his performance was quite possibly one of the best, if not the best, in his entire career as an actor. I had never seen Tim play a serious role before, not to mention a semi-villainous one, yet Tim nails the part perfectly, never once showing a hint of the comedian we've all known for years. Filling out the rest of the supporting cast we have Emily Mortimer ("The Pink Panther") who plays a traumatized lawyer, Joe Mantegna ("The Last Don") as Chet's manager, and Ricky Jay who is a staple of many David Mamet films and TV episodes as an under-handed fight promoter. UFC fighter Randy Couture ("The Scorpion King 2: Rise of a Warrior") shows up in a surprisingly good performance as a fight commentator working in the MMA fighting circuit that Mike is attempting to expose as a fraud.
In the end, "Redbelt" was still an average movie, but the problematic conclusion causes the experience to be far less enjoyable than it started out to be. Perhaps if David Mamet could have taken a little more time in tying up loose ends, instead of setting up cameras in some of the worst positions imaginable for a fight scene, the ending would have worked much better and the film would have benefited considerably.
"Redbelt" is rated R for violence and language.
Mamet At His Best August 28, 2008
Adventure Fan
2 out of 2 found this review helpful
Spoiler Free Review...
I own every Mamet play and dvd and I found Redbelt thrilling. Mostly because he was able to craft a killer story structure. A protagonist with a noble pursuit, in the shadowy underworld of the MMA.
But like most Mamet films, this is not an action movie, it's suspense-drama.
The dialogue is brutal, and the subtext is deep. This movie hits the viewer on a physical, emotional, intellectual, and spiritual level. It's a demanding film. If you watch and you only half pay attention, when the plot twists happen, you'll be struggling to understand.
I watched this with a group of seven, half Mamet fans, half virgins. We all watched the same movie, together, and three people just didn't get it... One fan, two virgins. The other four loved it.
The video and audio quality make this one of the best looking Blu-rays. It's razor sharp, deep black, rich color. Everything looks better and sounds better in HD, and, at least for me, Mamet in HD is wicked sweet.
I highly recommend Redbelt on Blu-ray.
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