June 27, 2008 -- The fix is in as a man fights for his honor. The question is, just how many people are in on the fix? The fixing possibilities are mind-numbingly endless in this nifty little film about the difficulty of making the right moral choices when dealing with scoundrels. This film gives us different solutions to the problem, resulting in pain, compromise and death, depending on the path and the moral strength of the person doing the choosing.

Chiwetel Ejiofor of “Talk to Me” stars as jiu-jitsu instructor Mike Terry, who owns his own self-defense academy. His strict martial arts code of honor extends to all things in his life. When his brother refuses to pay one of Mike's students for work performed, Mike feels obligated to make up for his brother's refusal to pay. When Mike receives a valuable watch in return for his saving the life of a popular actor, Chet Frank (played by Tim Allen of “Galaxy Quest”) he gives the watch to his student to make up for the payment his brother didn't give him. This sets off a whole chain of events which Terry is unable to foresee because he mistakenly thinks the people he is dealing with are honorable. Part of the same chain of events is an accident in Mike's studio involving an off duty police officer (Max Martini) and a distraught lawyer (Emily Mortimer).

Mike is offered a co-producer slot in an upcoming movie starring Chet Frank. Mike's wife, Sondra (Alice Braga), a fashion designer, is offered a costume deal for the same film. Mike and Sondra, who are strapped financially, see the movie deal as a way to get clear of their financial problems. The deal suddenly turns out to be something else entirely, tied to an upcoming mixed-martial arts tournament. Mike finds himself being pressured to enter the tournament because of a chain of events that threatens him and his wife. The whole chain of events seems to be orchestrated by the same people who want Mike to fight in their tournament. How much of the chain of events is orchestrated and how much is chance is not revealed until much later in the film.

One of the things that Mike teaches people in his academy is that there is a way out of any hold, but Mike is running out of options to deal with the hold being placed on him by unscrupulous fight promoters. He is faced with an extremely difficult moral choice, as are other people in this film. One person breaks under the pressure and gives up. Another breaks under the pressure and compromises for financial gain. As author Johann Gottfried Seume once wrote, “Tear man out of his outward circumstances; and what he then is; that only is he.” Mike has been torn out of his familiar environment and thrown in with the sharks. How he responds to the pressure will reveal his true nature.

This film is written and directed by the prolific David Mamet. Like Rod Serling, Mamet is a great writer, but also like Serling, all of his dialog sounds stiff and without variation. You could blindfold me and I could easily pick out Mamet's dialog from any other writer. He is overly fond of having his characters repeat things and fail to respond to things said to them by other characters in a timely manner. When one character asks another character a question in a Mamet film, the other character will often say something which is unresponsive (if he says anything). The failure to answer often goes unchallenged. They seem to be talking to themselves more than they are talking to other characters in the film. The characters may be different in Mamet films, but they all talk pretty much the same way and with the same vocabulary. The dialog in the film also sounded more recited than performed in places (this may be a consequence of the writer also being the director). Ricky Jay, who plays a fight promoter in the film, seemed to be delivering some of his lines like he was reciting a cookie recipe. Despite those minor matters, Mike is a fascinating character and the plot is intriguing enough to keep the audience guessing until the end. Like many Mamet films, this one is a puzzle with some pieces missing, but when put together it makes an interesting picture anyway. This film rates a B.

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Copyright © 2008 Robert Roten. All rights reserved.
Reproduced with the permission of the copyright holder.

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