Synopsis
Is there room for principle in Los Angeles? Mike Terry teaches jujitsu and barely makes ends meet. His Brazilian wife, whose family promotes fights, wants to see Mike in the ring making money, but to him competition is degrading. A woman sideswipes Mike's car and then, after an odd sequence of events, shoots out the studio's window. Later that evening, Mike rescues an action movie star in a fistfight at a bar. In return, the actor befriends Mike, gives him a gift, offers him work on his newest film, and introduces Mike's wife to his own - the women initiate business dealings. Then, things go sour all at once, Mike's debts mount, and going into the ring may be his only option.
Votre Filmothèque
Cast
- Chiwetel EjioforMike Terry
- Tim AllenChet Frank
- Alice BragaSondra Terry
- Jose Pablo CantilloSnowflake
- Randy CoutureDylan Flynn
- Ricky JayMarty Brown
- Joe MantegnaJerry Weiss
- Max MartiniJoe Collins
- Emily MortimerLaura Black
- David PaymerRichard
Recommandations
- 91
The A.V. Club
The film unravels a bit in the last few moments, amid unanswered story questions and a simplistic climax, but until that moment, Redbelt is Mamet's richest film of the decade. - 83
Entertainment Weekly
Mamet regulars Ricky Jay and Joe Mantegna blend well with Mamet newbie Tim Allen, a treat as a spoiled-rotten aging Hollywood action star. - 80
The Hollywood Reporter
As the heart and soul of the film, Chiwetel Ejiofor once again impresses. - 75
Rolling Stone
Mamet is on his game, and that is a sight to see. No con. - 75
Premiere
For whatever its flaws, Redbelt offers up a good deal of Mametian red meat while also trying to break out of some of the strictures that Mamet's erected around his own work. - 70
Variety
An absorbing and colorful, if not particularly convincing, excursion into a demi-monde of fighters, scammers, promoters and self-styled modern samurai, Redbelt gives the impression of Mamet coyly toying with the idea of making a populist little-man-against-the-system sports melodrama without actually attempting to create a film for the masses. - 70
New York Magazine (Vulture)
So how's the Mamet "Rocky"? Fast. Lively. In your face. Very watchable. And, like its predecessors, so bizarrely convoluted it barely holds together on a narrative level. But the underpinnings are consistent. - 70
Village Voice
With his 10th feature--an entertaining tale of high-stakes martial arts--Mamet has infused the sleight of hand with a measure of two-fisted action.
