Mamet explores unfamiliar genre territory for him [...] by elevating the material, leading to a profound (albeit brief) solution, several great performances, and, of course, matchless writing.

| Original Score: 3.5/4 | Dec 28, 2024

The first third of the film is a confusing mess of character introductions and details that are seemingly trivial and unrelated.

| Original Score: 4/10 | Nov 28, 2020

What doesn't disappoint is Redbelt's satisfying retro flavor, a sense of pervasive corruption that immediately conjures up classic films noir.

| Jan 28, 2020

While I won't go to the mat and rave about this film, I will say that despite an often lack of balance and the distracting "holes" in the story, what propels this film is the characters driving it with performances that are worthy of a blackbelt.

| Nov 13, 2019

It's worth watching for the myriad of intriguing characters' performances, and to witness what happens when cynic Mamet goes Bruce Lee on us.

| Original Score: 3/5 | Nov 4, 2018

With Ejiofor standing above the rest, the performances are uniformly excellent.

| Feb 3, 2018

It's about a contest between intelligence strength, leveraged by sleight of hand. The fight is fixed. So is the movie. Deal with it.

| Dec 15, 2017

It's a bit disappointing that Redbelt doesn't go much beyond a redux of the same-old.

| Aug 24, 2017

| Original Score: 2/5 | Nov 17, 2011

It's always fun to watch the Mamet stock company springing a trap on an unwary victim.

| Aug 15, 2011

What threatened to be David Mamet's most vainglorious misfire since perpetually casting his wife instead turned into samurai noir -an eloquently profane, profanely eloquent eulogy for the purity of martial arts discipline in the face of profit.

| Original Score: 3.5/4 | Sep 17, 2010

A Kickboxer installment that got too big for its breeches

| Aug 26, 2009

| Original Score: C | Oct 18, 2008

| Original Score: 2.5/5 | Oct 18, 2008

| Original Score: B- | Oct 18, 2008

This Mametian thriller is worth watching for a terrific performance by Chiwetel Ejiofor, but it's hard to engage with the story and it loses its way in the final act.

| Original Score: 2/5 | Oct 18, 2008

Full Review | Original Score: 2/4 | Oct 18, 2008

The detail and clear devotion he has for the sport may actually have the effect of distancing the rest of audience from his film.

| Original Score: 2/5 | Oct 1, 2008

Redbelt, his latest, is a curious one, a movie that hints at greatness only to retreat, unpardonably, into genre convention.

| Original Score: 2/5 | Sep 26, 2008

The Mamet rhythms are pleasingly in place: the repetition-rich dialogue, the head-butting close-ups as men go ego to ego.

| Sep 26, 2008