courtesy of Sony Pictures Classic “Redbelt,” starring Chiwetel Ejiofor, is about a master of Brazilian jiu-jitsu who must sacrifice his pacifist ideology and enter the ring.

It was a dark and stormy night...in Los Angeles? "Redbelt," the new film from David Mamet ("The Spanish Prisoner," "State and Main"), begins with this somewhat dubious opening. It's a film about honor, pride, and cage fighting in the darkened world of the Los Angeles fighting circuit, a world rife with promoters and bouncers, cops and clubs, glitz and glamour, and blood and glory.

The film opens in a Brazilian jiu-jitsu (BJJ) studio in the heart of Los Angeles run by Mike Terry (Chiwetel Ejiofor), a place of honor and philosophy, where Terry teaches his students the tenets of BJJ overlaid with his own pacifist ideology, making it less of a fighting style and more of a way of life.

Terry's wife (Alice Braga) is a Brazilian woman whose family is deeply involved in the Los Angeles underground of clubs and fighting circuits. Terry holds himself apart from his wife's family, believing that "competition weakens the fighter." But circumstances and money problems lead him inexorably down a path where he must sacrifice that firmly-held belief and enter the ring.

The storyline is strong, weaving several different threads into an intricate design, bringing together characters from every aspect of life in Los Angeles. The film not only follows the main character Terry, but the other characters he encounters, dropping tantalizing hints of their lives as they interact with him.

These other characters include a pill-popping attorney with a secret (Emily Mortimer), an actor with an aggression problem (Tim Allen), a cop in need of cash (Max Martini), and an unscrupulous fight promoter (Joe Montegna). As Terry interacts with them, pieces of their lives are revealed, adding layers of character development to what, at first, seem like random encounters in the main character's life.

The focus of the film on BJJ and mixed martial arts provides for good fights. BJJ is much more of a ground fighting styling, involving lots of grappling, and the primary object of bouts is for one person to force his opponent into a submissive position in order to win.

There is little doubt that a lot of time, effort and energy went into crafting the fights in "Redbelt." These scenes are choreographed well and fit together so tightly as to be almost seamless. Even a brawl scene at the beginning in a bar is wonderfully choreographed and acted.

The acting is also good, with several very talented actors on the bill offering good performances.

Ejiofor's acting is superb, as is his dynamic with the rest of the cast, especially Mortimer and Braga. The way his character reacts to the others and the rapport that develops between them make one believe that these are real people rather than actors playing parts. The actors playing the other characters step up to fill their roles with aplomb. Not once is there a question of performance.

Even with such a good cast, though, the disjointed storytelling at the beginning of the film, which feels a little schizophrenic, makes the rest of the film hard to swallow.

The film begins without preamble, just dropping into the middle of the lives of Terry and his wife without explanation or warning. There are a few quick cuts from scene to scene right at the beginning and a rapid introduction of characters, which come off as a little scattered and definitely a little disconcerting. The back story of some of the characters is slow to emerge, but as it comes out more fully, their development becomes more obvious.

Unfortunately, the slow revelation of character history for Terry and others, in conjunction with the rapid forward movement of the film, gives the viewer whiplash, leaving one feeling at a loss as to why one ought to care about this character, his life, or the plight in which he finds himself.

Overall, a great cast and an interesting story stand up against poor execution and do not quite prevail. Action film fans will find it entertaining, as the fighting style is very stimulating and the fights are well done, but the deeper meaning of the film is sometimes lost, which is disappointing.

Plot: B
Acting: A-
Direction: C
Fight Scenes: A

Overall: B-