Waste of time

Thanks for the memories!

A lot of perfectly good film show their cards early, establish a unique premise and let the audience explore a topic at a leisurely pace, without much in terms of surprise. this film is not one of those films.

This is a gorgeous movie made by a gorgeous spirit.

MMA, Bushido and Brazilian Jiu-Jistu seem to set the tone for this movie. A veteran and Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu instructor makes bad business deals, unintentionally wrecks his friend's life by giving him stolen property, lies to his insurer about how his school's front window was broken, and to cap it off is alienated and separated from his wife. He's also easily taken advantage of and shares his Bushido-inspired training method with the blind fold martial arts pebble taste test, which is usurped by the bad guy MMA promoters for making up the rules of their tournament. The rules say that the guys who draws the black pebble will fight with a disadvantage. So a guy in the movie with competes with his arm strapped to his side. Wow, really, this MMA card would have to take place in Japan or an Native American casino because no state athletic commission that licenses boxing and MMA would allow something so stupid to took place. Japan loves it's pro wrestling, sumos, and Herculean Western strong men so it's known for it's rock opera and circus-like approach to MMA promotion. Native American reservations are outside of state regulations, but even the more reputable tribal group have their own form of athletic commission for regulations.The problems of the Chiwetel Ejiofor character seem to just drop on him like a pile of bricks. His wife is also painted as a greedy shrew. It's waste of a performance from Ejiofor, who's actually very good in this and comes as capable and honorable. He's just so frustratingly naive and the way his personal and professional life are ruined is so far-fetched. Emily Mortimer is also well cast as a rape survivor and lawyer whom Ejiofor befriends when she wanders into his school for help. The story is supposed a type of honorable-at-all-costs samurai film but just fails with the soap opera-level tragedies the main character endures.

Review: I wasn't that impressed with this film because it keeps on changing from one plot to the another and the acting isn't that great. The movie is based on a Jiu-Jitsu expert, Mike Terry (Chiwetel Ejiofor) who has no money in the bank and is struggling to keep his self- defence studio afloat. Whilst arguing about his debts with his girlfriend, who is a promising dress designer, there is an accident in his studio which involves a lawyer and an off-duty police officer, who is one of his students. Because of the accident, he has to find money to replace a broken window, which he definitely can't afford. He then goes to his brother-in- law to borrow some money and while he is in his club, a famous acting star (Tim Allen) ends up in a bar brawl so Mike Terry comes to his rescue and they soon become friends. He then gets introduced to the acting world by helping Allen produce a movie but his new found friends promises lead to know were. Mike Terry and his girlfriend make some bad choices in life which incurs more debt and after a unforeseen chain of events, Mike Terry enters a competition which involves his Jiu-Jitsu skills and a big reward. I don't think that Chiwetel Ejiofor was the perfect choice for this film because his character seemed extremely cold and moody throughout the film. The showdown at the end was rubbish, after such a big build up and the fighting throughout the movie wasn't that impressive. None of the individuals story lines had a proper ending, especially Tim Allen who went missing through most of the movie and after all of the various events, Mike Terry still didn't solve his money problems so it all seemed a bit pointless. I know that there is a honourable concept to the movie which really doesn't solve the day to day problems in Mike Terry's life but his consistency proves a triumph in the end. On the plus side, I did like Tim Allen's character and I enjoyed the brief look into the prize winning fighting world but the film just had too much going on. Average!Round-Up: I've never been a big fan of Chiwetel Ejiofor's work because he seems to over act in most of his movies but I did like him in 12 Years a Slave, American Gangster, Talk To Me, Inside Man, Children of Men and Amistad which was his big movie debut in 1997. He has starred alongside some of the biggest stars in Hollywood and he has proved that he can hold his own but I still find it hard to warm to his acting style. He was nominated for a Oscar in 2014 for his fantastic performance in 12 Years a Slave but he lost out to Matthew McConaughey for his leading role in Dallas Buyers Club. With 6 movies in the pipeline which include Marvels Dr. Strange starring Benedict Cumberbatch, he must be happy with his career so far, even though I find him a bit moody. This film was written and directed by David Mamet who brought you movies like State & Main, Heist with Gene Hackman and Danny DeVito, Spartan and the TV movie Phil Spector with Helen Mirren and Al Pacino with a massive afro. He hasn't had the most success at the box office and judging by this movies takings, audiences are obviously not warming to his movies. I didn't like the flow of this movie because the director kept on introducing new elements which made the film seem a bit messy. Anyway, it's a watchable film but it's nothing that amazing.Budget: $7million Worldwide Gross: $2.6millionI recommend this movie to people who are into their drama/sport movies about a Jiu-Jitsu expert who takes on a prize winning bout to clear up his many debts. 3/10

It's not very often that a film comes along about a martial art that is still relatively unknown and it actually pulls it off quite well. The jiu jitsu in the movie is done pretty well and the plot is really actually quite good. Obviously you wont be sitting there watching a performance as good as De Niro in Cape Fear or anything like that. It was a straight to DVD release because it lacks star power, noteworthy performances, or flashy special effects. Know that, and be a fan of jiu jitsu or even a practitioner, and you should enjoy this movie. It's very nice to see an aspect of MMA that really birthed the sport, and it be done justice.

It seems most people who saw this film really liked it. It also seems that most of those people are really familiar with writer David Mamet's work, and really follow that. Most people give credit for the 'excellence' of this film to the script. I really have to disagree.For me, the film started out really promising. I dig that the main character is too noble for the world around him. I get that the nobility he exhibits and brings out in others seems to just bring them all more pain. There's really some great philosophy and mixed martial arts in the early parts of the film. It's later in the film that everything falters.*****SPOILERS AHEAD***** First off, the whole middle of this film contains little to no action. Fine, fine, but not really satisfying for a film that's all about martial arts. Second, the motivations and machinations of the characters seem too convenient and intricately orchestrated. The whole deus ex machina with Tim Allen's movie star character is just too convenient, and then suddenly there's this masterpiece of a plan involving all the other characters that've been introduced. The lawyer in the beginning suddenly becomes essential at the end, etc. It's all too convenient and sorry, that's just poor writing. The wife abandons the main character pretty quickly and easily...she seems quite loving and concerned in one scene, and then completely done with the relationship the next scene! A world class fighter is going to risk damaging his reputation, getting arrested, and possibly getting really injured all for an out-of-the ring fight?! Why would he jeopardize his career when he clearly only cares about money? The main character wins one fight, and then an old Asian man is hugging him? I live in Japan, old Asian men rarely demonstrate emotion with physical contact, much less to strangers! *****END SPOILERS*******Basically, the whole 2nd half of the movie just seems shoehorned together to pay off the concepts introduced in the first half. For a movie that's so cleverly written in parts, it adopts an extremely convenient viewpoint on how things fit together later. To me, it just became really cheesy and unbelievable. It's a shame too, because it is well-acted and there are a couple moments with some great MMA work. It had a lot of potential, but ultimately it was just frustrating for me. Perhaps I'm just not a big enough Mamet fan.