He has also found an ideal actor to play the central lead in Ejiofor, who is just about the most versatile actor working in movies right now. To see his work over the last several years in Dirty Pretty Things, Four Brothers, Children of Men, Talk to Me, and American Gangster is to watch a real chameleon of an actor who can absorb any accent or personality and interpreting Mamet’s dialogue (which includes the signature, repeated reinforcement of the beginning quote several times throughout) is but another acting challenge he meets and clears. Most importantly, he has enormous screen presence that he hardly has to rely on an emotional acting tic to convey this man who finds his abidance by his value system of decency turned and twisted against him.

Mamet often manages to bring out surprising dimensions within an actor and this time it is Tim Allen, who suppresses his goofball antics to give a highly effective performance as a middle-aged action celebrity. Mamet regulars Pidgeon and Mantegna also dot the screen as appropriately ambiguous figures, particularly Mantegna who can play a masterful, scheming manipulator as well as anyone. Emily Mortimer and Alice Braga similarly provide valuable support and the former in particular has a very good scene where, after admitting to Mike that her PTSD is due to her being recently raped at knifepoint, he shows her how to re-enact a physical defense tactic within the situation.

The characters and situations are very interesting for the first two acts that it is more than a little disappointing to see Mamet settle for the generic requirements of the martial arts genre in the third act. Perhaps Mamet meant it as a parody but whether the embrace of the hero’s morality is played sincerely or cynically, it comes at the expense of undermining everything the story has developed before. It does not help that Mamet’s shortcomings as a visual stylist shows most prominently here as he does not even bother trying to give the real sense of a fully crowded stadium in his camera angle choices.

So does two-thirds of a riveting film with an unsatisfactory conclusion make a worthwhile watch? I guess, for most people, it will come down to how much one enjoys Mamet’s skill in eloquent, succinct dialogue and the performances of the skilled actors that understand its rhythm. I tend to because I relish the genuine building of human suspense in deciphering what is said and unsaid. And because Ejiofor takes the character and makes it resonate beyond the fallacies of where his character ultimately ends up.

Bottom line: Well worth seeing.