Red Belt - Movie Review

I picked up Red Belt after an unplanned trip to my local neighborhood Blockbuster where I spent an extra 30 minutes playing the new Star Wars- The Force Unleashed Video Game. The game was good, not good enough to purchase and make a permanent part of the collection but definitely good enough to rent from Blockbuster and spend a week trying to beat it.

I had heard mixed reviews about Red Belt. I had a friend who watched it and said he didn't like it very much and didn't see the point. I went in with low expectations and finished the movie impressed but not wowed. Now if you are looking for your classic martial arts beat 'em up where your fearless hero goes in from the jump just whoopin' major ass and major choreographed fight scenes then you will sorely be dissapointed. This movie is not so much about the fighting as it is about fighting philosophy. Although I must admit that there were some very large plot holes that really made me scratch my head.

Mike Terry is a Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu instructor who runs a small dojo. He is an idealist, someone who follows a warrior code or budo. He practices Jiu-Jitsu but does not believing in fighting for competition because as he says, "A competition is not a fight." He believes that a competition has rules and structure that must be followed by the participants. In real life, there are no such rules. A fight to the death does not have limits. Bruce Lee made similar statements in the Tao of Jeet Kune Do. So he believes that training for a competition will make him lose his edge. He shuns entering into contests and tries to eek out a living as an instructor.

His wife played by Alicia Braga, doesn't share his idealism and thinks he is too caught up in his ideals to make a living. Although it isn't said, I think she is the daughter of Mike's teacher and grandmaster. She doesn't see why he can't temper his ideals with practicality.

An accident right outside of his school sets a chain of events off that causes him to go back on his original beliefs. A woman crashes into his car outside of his school. She shoots out the school's window by accidentally discharging a gun belonging to one of the student's who happens to be a Police Officer. He goes to his brother in law's bar where he breaks up a bar fight between a movie star and one of the bar patrons. He receives an invitation to dinner and a gift from the movie star and believes that his fortunes are starting to pick up. He is offered a production role on the movie star's new movie. His wife is offered a business partnership with the movie star's wife. Then it all comes crashing down when what appeared to be good fortune is actually misfortune in disguise. Then all at once Mike's life begins to unravel and he is forced to enter an MMA competition that is sponsored by his brother in law to pay off his debts to a loan shark.

The movie highlights some Jiu-Jitsu philosophy and does a pretty good job of it. Chiwetel Ejiofor is probably my favorite actor now. After seeing him in Children of Men, Serenity, Talk to Me and a few other movies, I think he is one of the most underrated actors out there. He is believable as a Martial Arts instructor even with supposedly no martial arts background.

The action scenes are filmed with the same herky-jerky camera angles that most movies employ nowadays to hide fight choreography. The Bourne Identity series employed this technique also and it is really annoying because itis hard to tell what is going on. I guess it is harder to film jiu-jitsu because as a grappling art it does not lend itself very well to fight choreography but I think they did a good job with this movie.