Thursday, September 04, 2008

Red Belt


Next time you catch a rerun of Married With Children -- and I don't care if it is for the sharp writing, Christina Applegate or Peg's Leopard top -- try to get your head around "Al" being a Black Belt. We already know from the "Spanish Prisoner" that he and Mamet work together..but to this Kansas transplant they seem an unlikely pair. Apparently Ed O'Neill (Al) has some martial arts in him, and got Mamet involved.
"Redbelt" is the first child of this pairing on that subject, and man is it good.
Like all Mamet it is important to have the guests seated and focused and well-lubricated prior to pressing play(you assume correctly Grasshopper, this did not make the 50 mile travel for a movie radius). "Redbelt" opens hard and fast and keeps moving. The moments of stillness that come in the film are oasii of reflection and conjecture as the none riveted parts of the mind fill in the backstories, the time and the place of this wonderful tale.
Top notch writing a given -- this is Mamet -- and the actors are up to the task. Camera is good, if not excellent, as is the soundtrack. The story may strain plausibility -- but look at the VP on the Republican side -- truth can be stranger than fiction.
This is highly recommended on several fronts, not the least of which is my love of action films -- which this qualifies as easily, though is not confined by the label, and as another feather in the cap of Mr Mamet.

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