Joe Mantegna’s "Red Belt" Shows The Honor in The Fight
You can see Criminal Minds’s Joe Mantegna portraying a fight promoter in the DVD/Blu-Ray release of Red Belt on August 26. Red Belt follows the story of a fight instructor who must bring himself to enter a prize fight competition, even though his morals and training dictate otherwise.
Read what real fight aficionados have to say about the film, and what Mantegna has to say about his character.
Mantegna’s role is what you’d might think of as being a bad guy, however, in a recent IGN interview, he disagrees, by saying that, “In the case of Redbelt, this guy to me is the epitome of practicality; I mean, sure, as an audience member you may come away saying, “Oh, my God. This guy’s the bad guy.” But, no. For me, it’s my job to embody that person and play the attributes that he feels of himself, and none of these guys think of themselves as villains.”
Although this film seems to have gotten some modest ratings, it has certainly hit a chord with real life fight instructors and fans of combat sport. I noticed that here in my city, there was a special showing of this film, and it was marketed to all the local boxing organizations.
Over at OnTheMat.com, Gumby reviewed this film, and says that though it offers a very non-direct type of movie (courtesy of David’s Mamet’s signature dialogue), it gives a very realistic view of Brazilian Jiu Jutsu.
Another reviewer at Soulcast indicated that although the film was short on marketing, it was worthy of praise. It does seem that many people are in need of the lessons this film has to offer. Respect, honor and kindness are qualities that should never be in short supply. By the way, check out the rest of the IGN interview via the link above, in which Mantegna muses on his amazing acting career.
Image: Amazon.com; Image via Newscom
Tags: david mamet, Joe Mantegna, red belt dvd, red belt poster, red belt reviewRelated Stories
POSTED IN: Criminal Minds, DVD Release, FBI Drama Programs, FBI Drama Stars, Joe Mantegna, Merchandise
1 opinion for Joe Mantegna’s "Red Belt" Shows The Honor in The Fight
Alexander
Jul 22, 2008 at 12:38 pm
This movie speaks volumes about how our Mother culture in this society pressures us to compete for some entertainment value. It’s not that competition is bad, but that until we move beyond competing we our limited in our growth not only as individuals (what competitions strive to promote) but truely our collective society as well.
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