Redbelt

David Mamet’s newest feature Redbelt is a real dud and a bore. It is sad to watch a once top-notch playwright, screenwriter and director all dried up in creativity and simply repeat all his old tricks with farfetched scenarios.

In Redbelt, Mike Terry (played by Chiwetel Ejiofor) is a mixed martial arts instructor. His martial arts center is in financial trouble, but he refuses to participate in prize bouts to make easy money. As in many other Mamet movies, unexpected events (or are they?) leads the protagonist into some kind of moral dilemma.

Starting with The Spanish Prisoner, Mamet seems to be on a downward slide. He tries to make taut, twisty, modern film noir-ish thriller, but the plot always stretches the believability. With Redbelt, it reaches to the level of absurd. There are many little things going on at the first 20 minutes of the movie. Knowing that Mamet likes to set us up early for later twists, I paid attention, maybe too much attention, to all the little details. Nothing I noticed played out in the end. It led me to question why Mamet did close-up shots of so much inconsequential stuff.

Mamet has always been known for his sharp dialogue and fascination with masculinity. In Redbelt, Mike Terry has such impeccable moral standard that he may as well be living on a different planet. I doubt any audience can connect with this character. Chiwetel Ejiofor, in my opinion, is the perfect heir to Denzel Washington if people know how to pronounce his name. (It should be pronounced as Chew-tell Edge-four.) However, even with his prodigious talent, he cannot save this mess of script.

Redbelt does not deserve any belt at all.

The Bank Job

You know the movie industry is in a sad state when a mediocre heist movie The Bank Job is hailed as “the most entertaining heist movie I’ve seen in years!” by Richard Roeper, co-host of At The Movies With Ebert & Roeper.

The 1971 Baker Street bank robbery in London was one of the most remarkable and daring bank jobs that shocked Britain and was never solved. Writers Dick Clement and Ian La Frenais wrote The Bank Job to explain what they think might have happened. It is very well for people to come up with their theory about the robbery, but for some inexplicable reason, Clement and La Frenais leave certain parts of the aftermath unexplained. It is head-scratchingly frustrating when the writers have already implied a conspiracy theory that will make Oliver Stone proud, but they wouldn’t speculate who may be behind the murders of two minor robbery team members.

Director Roger Donaldson creates a right 1970s atmosphere with brick-size walkie-talkies, bell-bottom pants, leather jacket and long hair, but the script is just not that exciting. The filmmakers have a real-life bank robbery mystery on hand, but the script feels flat. At many points of the movie, one may expect certain kind of twist and turns, but it never happens and the film proceeds pretty much as one may have expected at the beginning.

I do like the cast a lot. Jason Statham plays the ring leader Terry, another tough guy role on his acting belt, although this one is much more grounded than his other over-the-top action characters such as the ones in Transporter series and Crank. Terry is a small time crook and a family man. Statham inhabits this guy like it is a tailor-made suit for him. He really is my favorite bald action hero. A couple of my favorite British actors also play important roles here. Stephen Campbell Moore, who proved himself as leading man material in his film debut Bright Young Things, plays Terry’s sidekick. I hope I will see him more often on big screen in American theaters. Sultry Saffron Burrows is the ex-girlfriend to both Terry and his sidekick. Burrows made her sexy splash in 1999 shark movie Deep Blue Sea, but despite her beautiful face and decent acting chops, never managed to crack the American market and make a bigger name for herself. The role in Job can serve as a perfect transition stage for her to play older and more mature roles.

Maybe I am too critical of The Bank Job. With so much trash in the theater, I guess one can do much worse than The Bank Job.