MovieChat Forums > Redbelt (2008) Discussion > Bad Film For General Audiences; Good Fil...

Bad Film For General Audiences; Good Film For Esoteric Mamet Fans

posted 12 years ago by camerica1978
3 replies | jump to latest

Most of the reviews and board postings here are highly polarized, with people either marvelling at Redbelt, or disparaging it.

With respect to Mamet fans, I believe this movie isn't a good one for general audiences, because:

1. Deus Ex Machina - too many events seemed contrived, which would ruin a general audience moviegoer's suspension of disbelief. The accidental shooting I can accept, but what comes afterwards - the bar fight to save the actor, the watch gift ultimately ending up in the cop's hands & threatening his career, the scheme to defraud the wife & entangle Terry, the betrayal of the wife, the cop's suicide...it seems to me that there would be a greater chance of getting struck by a meteor than all that happening to lead to the situation Terry finds himself in. It's just not believable.

2. Wandering Plot + Undecipherable Characters - The plot wanders with no clear & understandable direction to it. And I just didn't understand the motivations and actions of most of the characters. I had to refer to the many postings on this board to figure out what was happening & why, and what the movie was really about. (Thanks to all the Mamet fans for your comprehensive explanations.) I believe that it is the responsibility of the director of the film to convey what the movie is all about to the audience, we shouldn't need off-movie explanations of almost everything.

In the same way that not all forms of art, literature, or poetry appeal to the general masses, I believe this film isn't suitable for the general masses, but that it is very suitable to esoteric mamet fans (who seem to be very passionate about it).

"No *beep* sh*t lady, do I sound like I'm ordering a pizza?" - John McClane

[–] Null_Inverse 11 years ago

I didn't have/see any of these problems, and I am not an esoteric Mamet fan. In fact, I wasn't even familiar with Mamet before seeing Redbelt.

[–] dschmidt3 11 years ago

I'll agree with OP about the suicide and wife's betrayal being a little bit too far out there to believe. Neither the wife or the cop's characters showed too many peronsality flaws in their characters to make me believe they would have made these rash decisions.
The director could have given a little more direction with why Joe Mantegna's character was screwing over Mike and how that all tied in with Tim Allen's character - Instead of just dumping it all in our lap to figure out ourselves and wonder.
Aside from that though, I have no complaints with the movie. I give it an 8.

[–] ryto_69 11 years ago

it was a good movie okay, some thing were a bit far fetched but I still enjoyed the story and the ending was epic... some people got bent out of shape cause they thought it was going to be mainly an action/martial arts movies.. the fact that mamet directed it doesn't really come into it for me.. only other mamet work i've seen is 'the unit' which I highly recommend.