I had a chance to watch this a couple of months back and found it to be an enjoyable film. Mamet crafts another minimalistic drama full of great dialoge and stellar performances; notably from Chiwetel Ejiofor and a surprisingly good Tim Allen. The only real flaw of the film is the ending as Mamet tries to stage an intense mma fight but lacks the ability to pull it off convincingly, but I cut him some slack as he's a language master and not Micheal Bay and this film has some really great dialoge.

Grade A

Mamet, I think, is incapable of making a movie that isn't at least watchable. This is no exception; the terse dialogue, the no-fat approach to storytelling, the legion of delightful Mamet stock players filling in the margins.

But this is mostly a failure. The storytelling is murky and unclear; if anyone can explain to me the motivations and actions of most of the main characters I would be greatly indebted to you. Mamet and his cameraman Elswit (whose name I was excited to see) fail completely at shooting the last fight, resulting in a major anti-climax. The cinematography was, in general, unimpressive, and Mamet goes for way too many close-ups. In fact, Redbelt was filled with the direct-to-TNT aesthetic of Spartan, another Mamet failure that I nevertheless thought was superior to this.

I am getting increasingly concerned that the traditional Mamet flavor of minimalism is no longer a conscious approach but rather has simply been replaced with general listlessness and malaise on his part. Latter-day Woody Allen syndrome.

Chiwetel Ejiofor is great, though. A dynamite performance in a movie that doesn't work hard enough to deserve it.

I'm by no means a big David Mamet fan (the last film I saw of his was State & Main almost ten years ago), but I found this pretty good for the most part - probably because I went in with absolutely no expectations and very little knowledge of what the film was actually about. Chiwetel Ejiofor was fantastic and the rest of the supporting cast did a solid job, with Alice Braga and Emily Mortimer being the standouts. The storyline was also pretty compelling and I thought the dialogue was excellent. That being said, there were some definite flaws in the narrative. Several plotlines are left unresolved, and many of the supporting characters are so underdeveloped that their actions really don't make sense by the end of the film. The final few minutes are also pretty anti-climactic and offer very little closure. Still, worth checking out at some point. B-

Wow.

I haven't seen a screenplay this consistently surprising in ages!

...and I don't mean randomly surprising, I mean impressively surprising - - each twist earned my respect and carried me forward. It's brilliant.

The philosophy of martial arts is borne out in this film, culminating in it's un-Mamet wordless finale that is simply awe inspiring.

I've seen most of the films David Mamet has directed and this one is special.

I loved Redbelt.

23 out of 5.

I am absolutely shocked to read these comments about the ending. My opinion is the exact opposite. I couldn't have imagined a more fitting finale. It was perfect. The most dramatically intense denouement possible.