Redbelt

Mike Terry runs a small self-defense school in Los Angeles, where he teaches jiu-jitsu and hand-to-hand combat to students who include bodyguards, police officers and soldiers. He follows a strict personal code that keeps him out of competitions, believing that fighting for prizes corrupts the spirit of the martial arts. His stance is tested when he rescues Chet Frank, a well-known action film star, from a violent attack. The encounter draws Mike into the movie business as a trainer and fight choreographer, and into the lives of people whose interests do not match his own. A financial setback and mounting pressure from those around him push him toward the one thing he has always refused: stepping into a professional fight.

David Mamet directed and wrote the film, the seventh of the nine features he has directed, arriving between Spartan and Phil Spector. Chiwetel Ejiofor plays Mike, with Tim Allen as Chet Frank, Alice Braga as Mike's wife Sondra, Jose Pablo Cantillo, Randy Couture and Ricky Jay among the cast. Made for about 7 million dollars, it returned roughly 3 million worldwide. On IMDb it holds 6.7 out of 10 from 22,000 votes, on TMDB 6.4 from 302 votes, while a critics' rating of 6.6 from 145 reviews places reviewers slightly above the audience on IMDb and close to it on TMDB.