Confusing ending keeps 'Redbelt' from being the best of '08 so far

By Phil Villarreal

PVILLARREAL@AZSTARNET.COM

Review

Redbelt

***

• Rated: R for strong language.

• Cast: Chiwetel Ejiofor, Tim Allen, Emily Mortimer, Alice Braga, Joe Montegna.

• Writer/director: David Mamet.

• Family call: Violent and brutal in the language department. For the grown-ups.

• Running time: 99 minutes.

Combine a jiujitsu training dojo, mixed martial-arts tournaments and the nail-spitting stylings of writer/director David Mamet and you get a veritable testosterone fountain.

"Redbelt" is the sort of thing that would have nudged pre-Disneyfied Tim Allen into his caveman grunt of approval. And wouldn't you believe it, the film is so manly it actually manages to make him sort of a — close your ears, Mickey and Donald — badass?

In his meatiest role in, um, ever, Allen plays a Humphrey Bogart-like movie star, Chet Frank, who pulls the strings behind the scenes in Mamet's usual world of double-crosses and misdirection. Allen matches the steady intensity of lead Chiwetel Ejiofor, who stares bullet holes through punching bags as dojo leader Mike Terry.

Mike speaks like a fortune cookie and punches like a freight train. He eschews the all-the-rage trend of tournament cage fighting, and trains his students for real-world combat situations rather than antiseptic tournaments that attract grubbers of fame and cash.

Mike is also a consummate do-gooder, so without a thought he steps in to defend Chet when he's jumped at a bar. Without even throwing a punch, Mike dispatches drunken creeps with balletic precision, using their strength and misguided momentum against them.

Impressed and appreciative, Chet invites Mike and his wife, Sondra (Alice Braga), to dinner. Soon, Chet is showering the financially struggling couple with gifts and business deals. Anyone who's seen a Mamet film will know that nothing's for free, even if the giver has starred as Santa many times.

It's only a matter of time until the bottom falls out, and when it does — you guessed it — a certain protagonist may have to enter a certain tournament that offers $50,000 in prize money that just might solve everything.

Mamet, however, doesn't let Mike or the audience off quite so easily. His serpentine tale whips out of control like a fireman's hose, and the filmmaker ends up with a bizarre finale intended to be unpredictable and instead is incomprehensible.

No matter, there's some fine dialogue to chew on and stiff-lipped performances all around. The lingering theme, repeated by Mike several times, is there's no situation that's inescapable. And no matter how ludicrous the situation, it's always a pleasure to watch Mike slip away and use adversity to his advantage.

At times "Redbelt" plays like the best film of the year so far. A rewrite might have lifted the film to among the best of Mamet, joining the likes of "House of Games" and "The Spanish Prisoner." Too bad the ending makes you want to tap out rather than cheer.