Redbelt (2008) on Netflix
A bullet shatters the front window of Mike Terry's jiu-jitsu studio, and he cannot pay the repair. The instructor refuses prize fights but saves movie star Chet Frank in a bar.
- Netflix3.4/5
- IMDb6.7/1022,035 votes
- Rotten Tomatoes67%
Trailer
Plot summary
Mike Terry runs a Brazilian jiu-jitsu academy and holds that contests weaken a fighter, so he declines prize bouts. On a rainy night the attorney Laura Black sideswipes his car and then enters the studio, where Mike's student Joe Collins, a policeman, tries to take her coat. Startled, Laura seizes Joe's pistol and it fires, shattering the front window. Mike and Joe agree to hide what happened, and the insurance will not pay for the glass. Sondra, Mike's wife, wants him to borrow money from her brother Ricardo, a champion in mixed martial arts. At Ricardo's nightclub, Sondra's other brother Bruno urges Mike to fight on the undercard of Ricardo's coming match. Mike refuses. The action star Chet Frank arrives without security and brawls with a patron, and Mike intervenes.
Cast
Did you know?!Facts and trivia about Redbelt (2008)
Can contain spoilers, watch the movie first.
- Redbelt is the one straight dramatic part of Tim Allen's screen career. As of 2026 it remains Allen's only non-comedic role, leaving aside a cameo in Tropical Snow.
- Mamet told Reuters Life! that he wanted Chiwetel Ejiofor after Dirty Pretty Things and Kinky Boots, saying it was impossible for one man to play both those parts. Mamet said Ejiofor prepared with 12-hour days of physical training, though the actor said that was not exactly the norm.
