Redbelt – DVD Review

The success of a niche sport sometimes is largely dependent upon the sorts of quality films that can be made from it. Car racing has never been able to make the leap from a mainly Southern sport to a more mainstream sport in part because films about it are generally vanity films (think Days of Thunder) or character-driven pieces that don’t hit the right notes (Driven). Other sports have had great pictures and their stature tends to reflect their film quality. Football has Friday Night Lights, The Longest Yard, North Dallas Forty, et al, while baseball has Field of Dreams, Bull Durham, etc. Mixed Martial Arts (MMA) finally has its great film in Redbelt, which arrived in theatres with less pomp and circumstance than Never Back Down but was clearly the superior film.

MMA, for those not in the know, is a combination of most combat sports and put into one. The UFC, which most recognize, was the pioneer of the sport nearly two decades ago and is most associated with it. Its interesting that two films around the same time were developed and released around the same time and varied wildly in quality, as Never Back Down was a clichéd teen sports drama that disappeared quickly while Redbelt found a niche in art house theatres but couldn’t find a wider audience.

Considering it didn’t have the marketing campaign behind it to appeal to teenagers, it’s easily the better film and one of the best of the year. Redbelt follows a simple tale that evolves. Mike Terry (Chiwetel Ejiofor) is a struggling small business owner trying to make ends meet opposite his more successful wife. He runs a martial arts dojo, preferring to teach his students about how to survive an actual fight than winning a competition. When events conspire to get him in the ring, with dubious results, he has to make a choice on whether or not to follow the path of the good man he’s lived for some time.

It makes for an interesting film, and writer/director David Mamet brings his usual visceral style to make it ever more interesting, but the film’s overall theme is a familiar one. It’s about a man who struggles to keep the purity of his soul in a world that seemingly has none. It’s an interesting motif that Mamet develops throughout, as Terry is a good man in a world that really isn’t.

Mamet’s signature dialogue is on display as well; there’s lots of rapid fire delivery without the sort of cutesy moments one expects in a film like this. The film takes the noir perspective and adds the MMA to it to give it a different sort of feel from the usual “fighter” movie. Mamet’s simple, toned down narrative makes it engrossing and the film’s complexity develops from there.

Presented in a Dolby Digital format with a widescreen presentation, the film looks and sounds wonderfully. This is a film that has lots of color and dialogue to it, and everything comes through cleanly. The transfer pushes the audio a bit harder than the visual, as there’s more audio to work with than a rather limited palette, but everything visually comes through markedly well and makes for a solid a/v experience.

Previews for Married Life, Standard Operating Procedure, The Wackness, Baghead, The Children of Huang Shi, When did you last see your father?, Brick Lane, The Counterfeiters, The Band’s Visit, Persepolis, CJ7, The Art of War II: Betrayal and Felon are included as well.

Behind the Scenes of Redbelt is a making of featurette that’s fairly in depth. Covering why they chose to make the film, as well as Mamet’s signature meshed with a film noir respectability fused with the old Western ideal of the man trying to live the good life, its an interesting piece with lots of candor.

Inside Mixed Martial Arts is a look at the world of MMA through the eyes of Mamet, as he discusses how he came into the sport after wrestling in high school and doing boxing & kung fu afterwards. With lots of cameos from a who’s who of MMA stars, including Randy Couture, it’s a quick primer on the sport and scratches the surface of its popularity. It’s interesting to hear a legendary boxer like Ray “Boom Boom” Mancini discuss how he learned Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu to learn the ground game.

There are Fighter Profiles of everyone involved in the film, including their background and fighting styles.

Q&A with David Mamet is taken from an April 21, 2008, screening of the film with an audience firing off questions to Mamet. It’s interesting to see Mamet off the cuff, at one point even making fun of himself for being boring during parts of it. Its fairly lengthy and Mamet is impressive in his honesty, not giving standard cliché answers and opting for off the cuff answers.

Interview with Dana White is an interview with UFC President Dana White, the public face of MMA. It’s interesting to see White on this DVD, giving it a sense of legitimacy in the MMA world that other films with MMA in it don’t have, as White gives his unique perspective on the relatively short history of the sport as it is now.

The Magic of Cyril Takayama is a quick piece on the magician they used in the film for a key moment at the end.

The film’s Theatrical Trailer.

Commentary with MMA Legend Randy Couture and Mamet

Redbelt is on par with Mamet’s best work and is one of the best films of the year.

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Sony Pictures Classic presents Redbelt. Written & Directed by David Mamet. Starring Ricky Jay, Joe Montegna, Emily Mortimer, Chiwetel Ejiofor, Tim Allen. Running time: 99 minutes. Rated R. Released on DVD: August 26, 2008. Available at Amazon.com.