Belly Of The Beast Movie
Storyline
TAGLINES
A Father's Rage Knows No Limit
Ten years ago, Jake Hopper was a CIA agent who was stationed in Thailand. Then one day, things went sour, and his partner, Sunti barely escaped with his life...after accidentally killing a woman. Jake called it quits and returned to the United States when his wife died, and Sunti became a Buddhist monk to atone for his sins. For the past 10 years, Jake has run a successful private security business, and has been raising his daughter Jessica, who is now an adult. While hiking in Thailand, Jessica and her friend Sarah Winthorpe are kidnapped. A group of Islamic fundamentalists known as the Abu Karaf claims responsibility. Sarah is the daughter of United States senator John Winthorpe. For ransom, the Abu Karaf demand the release of 20 prisoners from American custody. The US Secretary of State urges restraint — he won't negotiate. Tom Collins, an ex-colleague of Jake's, recognizes Jessica on the ransom tape and tips Jake off. Jake knows that he must rescue the girls himself. An old CIA buddy puts Jake in contact with Leon Washington, an active CIA agent who is working in Thailand. Jake goes to Bangkok, and escapes an assassination attempt. Leon arranges a meeting for himself with with Soku — the internal security chief for General Jantapan. Jantapan is a rebel military general who is making a play to be one of the most powerful men in Thailand. Secretly, Jantapan is messing with some dangerous spiritual forces. Soku provides Jake with a cover story, but the CIA wants Jake out of it — they are planning to take out the Abu Karaf with the aid of the Thai army, and they don't want a civilian in the middle. Jake is a spiritual man, so he contacts his spiritual master Paijan Paitoon. As Jake is in trouble, Paitoon offers to arrange a divination from the oracle of the order. Jake enlists the help of Sunti. Jake gets Lulu, the girlfriend of arms dealer Fitch McQuoid, to steal information leading to the Abu Karaf. Jake and Sunti follow the leads to a warehouse where they discover evidence of highly sophisticated weaponry. With their enemies now after Lulu, Jake takes Lulu under his wing. Jake shares some of his info with Leon. Can he trust Leon? Another attempt is made on Jake's life — and this time, Jake is sure that Leon was involved. Finally, the Abu Karaf contact Jake to arrange a meeting — the pieces are coming together, and Jake figures out that it was not the Abu Karaf who kidnapped Jessica and Sarah. Jantapan tries to send the spirit of an ancient warrior demon to kill Jake, but the ceremony goes wrong and the spirit enters Jantapan himself, giving Jantapan amazing physical and spiritual powers. Jake and Sunti go to meet Mongkol, the leader of the Abu Karaf. Mongkol confirms that ever since the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001, Jantapan has worked to corner the narcotics and arms markets. It was Jantapan who kidnapped the girls, blaming the Abu Karaf so the army would wipe out his competition. Mongkol knows where the girls are, and he gives Jake plans and intelligence. They both need the girls alive. Jake must engage in a battle that will put both his physical and spiritual powers to the ultimate test.
| Steven Seagal | Jake Hopper |
| Byron Mann | Sunti |
| Monica Lo | Lulu |
| Tom Wu | General Jantapan |
| Sarah Malukul Lane | Jessica Hopper |
| Patrick Robinson | Leon Washington |
| Vincent Riotta | Fitch McQuad |
| Norman Veeratum | Suthep |
| Elidh MacQueen | Sara Winthorpe |
| Chau Siu Tung | Kong |
| Kevork Malikyan | Fernand Zadir |
| Pongpat Wachirabunjong | Mongkol |
| Alastair Vardy | Security Guard #1 |
| Andy Adam | Security Guard #2 |
| Shahkrit Yamnarm | Brice |
| Siu-Tung Ching |
4.30 out of 10 (1530 votes)
Visitor Reviews
Recent Seagal film that manages to be entertaining
posted on 02 Aug 2009Here's something I never expected I'd be saying about 'Belly of the Beast': It is an entertaining action movie. That's right, it may a new Seagal movie that has a totally disjointed plot and an identity crisis regarding what style of action movie it wants to be, but its a fun way to kill time.Seagal plays Jake Hopper, an ex-CIA agent (you guessed it) working on the side as a professional ninja for an old agency buddy. This led me into thinking that ole' Stevie could very well star in a 'Beverly Ninja Hills Ninja 2' film, he certainly is getting to look a little like Chris Farley. Jake seems rather uninterested when he is informed that Muslim extremists in the north of Thailand have kidnapped his daughter, but that's only a cover for his apparent unlimited rage, at least according to the tag line. So Jake is off to Thailand to his rescue his daughter and show off his UNLIMITED RAGE! Now I realize that 'Belly of the Beast' is a poor film in every aspect of film-making, but its one of those endearingly bad films. The plot is disjointed and sometimes predictable, sometimes suffering from an identity crisis. Seagal seems as excited as he always is (i.e. he actually looks really bored and seems as though he would prefer a quiet night in with a video instead of attempting to kick arse), and his physical fitness really needs to be questioned. You can hear his heavy breathing throughout the film, seemingly suggesting that Seagal just carried a box of donuts up small flight of stairs and now he he needs to recover. The fact that he even has a sex scene is just disturbing to even think about and is best left as one of those "let's never speak of this again" moments. In a scene in which Seagal is chatting up a monk, his voice actually changes! Some suggest Seagal was dubbed in that scene, but I always suspected that Stevie was the romantic type (at least when talking to monks).The lack of any distinct action style doesn't help things. Seagal starts the movie off with some Tai-Chi and kicking that Stevie can't possibly perform in his shape and also sends his opponents flying through walls. When I realized who the director was, none of this surprised me and I even expected some sort of mystical battle to end the movie. I did not expect random normal shootouts and random 'Matrix'-style shootouts. Basically what we have here is almost a fantasy ninja movie with John Woo adding lots of guns, or something like that. It is confusing, it isn't compelling, but it makes for cheap entertainment.I should probably feel shame for saying 'Belly of the Beast' was enjoyable. It is a terrible film, and most people really should avoid it, but there are a select few out there who (like me) can use this for cheap laughs - 2/10
Seagal is just going through the motions, but the movie trappings are good!
posted on 29 Jun 2009I've heard of hackwork, but this is getting silly. Why does this guy still have a career? It's pretty obvious that he has nothing but contempt for his audience. The scenery and photography is great, the supporting actors are fine (especially the exotic female love interest), the plot and the writing are OK (if a little hackneyed); in other words the overall content of the movie is good B movie stuff (with some inspired directorial touches in a lot of places). And into this potentially pleasing and exciting melange comes Steven Seagal, who sleep walks through the entire thing as if he had pressing business elsewhere and spends the entire movie with his inner dial set to 'squinty eyed tough guy' and using one of two expressions -('squinty eyed scowl' and 'eyes slightly widened'). I've watched a lot of movies (even a lot of action and martial arts movies) and I've rarely seen a lazier "lead" performance than this. You doubt me? Check out the fight scenes - Seagal used to do nice, snappy Aikido/Aikijutsu style fight choreography, and his gunfight choreography was fast, fluid and visceral. Now he uses a stunt double for any scene involving kicking, leaping, or leg fencing. Now he seems to be pretending to be some kind of Tai Chi master and Hung Gar stylist, with a lot of extraneous wire work to hid the fact that he isn't putting ANY 'oomph' or speed into his motions (no matter how hard the director tries to frame him, he's obviously loafing); in fact, Seagal can hardly be bothered to raise his hands above his head or pick his feet off the floor anymore. And he's gotten really fat - the generous fit of the loose kung-fu GI and the numerous flattering camera angles can't disguise his girth or the way his neck balloons out of the shirt collar to give him wattles and a double chin. Almost anyone other actor with a martial arts background and a 'tough guy' persona could have taken the lead role in this move (Jet Li, Gordon Liu, Donnie Yen, or even Don Wilson or Oliver Grunier) and done a better job. Heck, David Carradine could have pulled this off with aplomb. In fact, this could have been a killer movie with a relative unknown in the part. one that could take some acting direction and was eager to prove himself. But someone somewhere still thinks that Seagal's name can sell a movie, and so he gets to grunt out another performance. There are also some weaknesses to the plot that aren't especially Seagal's fault, but I'll blame him anyway: Of course, he gets the exotic Thai call girl in the end for no apparent reason other than the plot requires it. Seriously, there is literally almost NO transition between the point where they are allies and when they are lovers- it's a couple of lines of dialog and that's it. And Seagal's friend the Buddhist Monk comes out of seclusion to help him rescue his daughter, and is immediately able to leap into demanding physical action after 10 years of asceticism, living on 1200 starch based calories and an average of 4 hours of sleep each day. And Southeast Asia apparently has its own brand of voodoo mind control, because a weird shaman type appears for 10 seconds nears the beginning of the movie, and never shows up again until Seagal's final showdown with the bad guy, and then the shaman starts sticking pins into a voodoo doll to slow Seagal down only to be fought off somehow by the chanting and good vibes of the remaining monks. The whole thing is so badly and transparently handled that it will leave you scratching your head in confusion. The plot element is completely out of place in this kind of movie and makes no sense. (It might work in a 'sword play' style movie). The film makers just threw it in there to make Hopper/Seagal even more of a knee-jerk hero than before - the monks are on his side and fight for him, so he MUST be a HERO, right? I sound as if I hate this movie. I don't. I like almost everything about the movie except Seagal, and even he doesn't suck all that much here. It's just that I can't imagine any actor in a leading role of an action movie who has even a shred of self respect doing this little actual work and expecting his fans to accept it. I have no idea what has happened to Seagal in his private life (and it's none of my business) to turn him into such a total hack with such a threadbare schtick. I can hope that he either shapes up and turns his life around, or that he just finally has enough money saved up that he can retire.
Formulaic and dull-ish, but not one of Seagal's really bad ones
posted on 09 Jun 2009Seagal's movies are of very varying quality. Many are really bad, and some are passable actioners, while some are a bit above average (for instance the Under Siege movies).Belly of the Beast is fairly well-produced, but doesn't have anything out of the ordinary (well, other than the transvestite assassin, perhaps). It is formulaic and sometimes predictable (what, you thought the expendable ethnic sidekick would survive?), and the story is not entirely coherent, nor the characters particularly fleshed-out. It does have some nice location shots, though; one has to admit that Seagal fans get to see the world! Jamaica, Thailand, whathaveyou...It's a pity there isn't more substance in these movies, because Seagal has enough charisma, even with that stone-face of his, to pull off something better.5 out of 10.
One of Seagal's Best!
posted on 06 May 2009After renting the abysmal,complicated,confusing,badly acted and edited mess that was 'The Foreigner (2003)' I thought Seagal's career was all but over,
So I wasn't expecting much from this movie, and having just shelled out nearly £10 to buy it I was almost sure I'd made a huge mistake, but tonight with nothing on the TV I thought I'd give it a whirl.What a Surprise! It kept me on the edge of my seat from start till finish even though it had a unoriginal storyline (Very similar to Arnie's 'Commando (1985)' - Seagal's a Ex-CIA Agent whose daughter Jessica just happens to be kidnapped along with her best friend Sara who is a daughter of a U.S Senator by a group of violent rebels, so Steve goes in guns blazing along with buddy turned Monk Sunti to save the day - against the advice of CIA Agent Leon Washington who wants to handle it in his own way.The movie has a coherrent plot,plenty of action,good acting,nice locations and a moderate sized Budget ($18m)Everything you want in a Action Flick!Avoid Seagal's earlier effort as mentioned above and go straight to this picture
My Rating *** out of *****
Only as good as his co-stars
posted on 08 Apr 2009Their are only so many feasable plots for these "White Guy Martial arts" flicks. The daughter thing was overdone years ago. Alas, poor Stevie doesn't have the likes of Kelly LeBrock, or Tommy Lee Jones any more, to help save his movies.Under Siege was O K because he was surrounded by better actors. You can see the problem with "Belly" from the opening scenes. Shortcomings continue through laborious dialogue and continuity flaws that make the audience wonder if this movie was actually seen by its purveyors prior to release.The only thing S S has done well in his last parade of mediocrity is his death while attempting to board a jet, saving the movie for his more talented counterparts who eventually went on to save the plane and some of their careers.
....At last SEAGAL returns to formula
posted on 01 Feb 2009After a few ropey movies, somebody in movieland 'greenlighted' this enjoyable and action-packed (words not usually associated with recent SEAGAL s.t.v) movie, that harks back (refreshingly so) to the excesses of the 80's The plot is pure 'COMMANDO' as ex CIA (...CIA) agent JAKE HOPPER (SEAGAL) goes to thailand to rescue his kidnapped daughter (and the senators daughter...hooray!!) from evil terrorists. You can pretty much guess the plot from herein. Suffice to say, that this movie (unlike his last two) give SEAGAL a little bit more to do in the action stakes. Director CHING SIU TUNG certainly knows more about staging action scenes that the lamentable MICHAEL OBLOWITZ. And despite a few (obvious fight doubles) SEAGAL can still handle himself in the action arena. Nice bullet-time vs arrow sequence at the end. This movie captures what SEAGAL wants to say about spirituality, whilst capturing the essence of the action that is commonplace with all SEAGAL epics. Despite it's straight to video origins, BELLY OF THE BEAST is an enjoyable movie, for those who wish to see a real martial artist, in a real martial arts movieBig lee scores it 9 out of 10 (not quite OUT FOR JUSTICE!)
One of Seagal's better more recent efforts.
posted on 26 Jan 2009Belly of the Beast is set in Thailand where some men working for a terrorist group make the fatal mistake of kidnapping Sara Winthorpe (Elidh MacQueen) the daughter of an American senator & her friend Jessica Hopper (Sarah Malukul Lane) who happens to be the daughter of hard as nails ex-CIA man Jake Hopper (producer Steven Seagal) who doesn't take too kindly to Thai terrorist scum kidnapping his daughter. The American Government puts agent Leon Washington (Patrick Robinson) on the case to sort things out, however Jake has his own methods & decides to bypass the usual diplomatic procedures & do whatever it takes to get his daughter back back even if it means killing half the population of Thailand to do it..This Canadian, Hong Kong & English co-production was directed by Siu-Tung Ching as Ching Siu Tung (why?) along with also being credited as the 'action director' & 'kung fu choreographer' & while I didn't think Belly of the Beast was anything particularly spectacular I thought it was OK & turned out better than I had anticipated. The script by James Townsend takes itself pretty seriously & is your typical clichéd action film plot of some ex law enforcement agency character coming out of retirement when his family or ex partner get into trouble & they have to single handedly save or avenge them, in that respect Belly of the Beast is nothing new or original but it moves along at a nice enough pace & passes 90 odd minutes harmlessly enough. There is a constant stream of martial arts fights & shoot outs, there's the sinister bad guy's who can't shoot straight & the heroic good guy's who never seem to run out of bullets & an assortment of double crosses, betrayal & a couple of twists which aren't difficult to see coming. It's not brilliant but it's an acceptable way to pass the time if nothing else.Director Tung Ching does a decent job & you can definitely see The Matrix (1999) influence here with all manner of gravity defying jumps, kicks, punches & plenty of slow motion as well as cameras following speeding bullets & arrows through the air. Seagal gets to fight quite a lot during this with the usual broken arms, karate chops & brutal violence. There are a couple of odd & unintentionally funny bits in Belly of the Beast like when Seagal visits his friend who has been a monk for the past 10 years he is clearly dubbed by a different person & he looks & sounds ridiculous, then there's a villain who starts out as a female but halfway through a fight with Seagal he suddenly takes the padding out of his top to reveal a flat male chest which is just bizarre, there's a scene when Seagal follows a woman into a restaurant & she takes her top off to reveal her breasts & then pours water over them which makes a secret message appear over her cleavage which then mysteriously disappears again & at the end we even get a bit of the supernatural thrown in as a bad guy starts to stick pins in a voodoo doll of Seagal which actually work! The video cover for Belly of the Beast on the IMDb has a car on the top of it but don't be fooled as there isn't a single car chase in the entire film.With a supposed budget of about $18,000,000 this straight-to-video action flick had a pretty good budget but while there are plenty of action scenes most are just shoot outs rather than anything really spectacular, surprisingly this was actually filmed in Bankok in Thailand & the scenery is indeed pretty nice. I watched Belly of the Beast on the day it was reported that Steven Seagal wants an apology from the FBI for damaging his career when they apparently linked him to the mafia! When I read the article on the IMDb's 'movie and TV news' as reported by the Los Angeles Times I couldn't quite believe it & it's also possibly one of the funniest things I've ever read. The FBI didn't ruin Seagal's career Seagal did that all by himself by choosing to appeal in terrible films like The Forigner (2003) & gaining so much weight. The older he gets the fatter he gets & it's so noticeable here it's embarrassing at times, he's dressed in loose clothes most of the time but he still looks fat & out of shape. The rest of the cast do OK but aren't particularly worth mentioning.Belly of the Beast is actually an OK little time waster, it isn't Seagal's best but it's far, far from his worst. If nothing else it passes 90 minutes harmlessly enough.
Aikido
posted on 08 Jan 2009He wears clothes to cover up his weight and the stunt double are obvious. I used to like his stuff when he stuck with Aikido. Now he's ruining the Art. The dark light is terrible in this movie, I see he is coming out with others 2006. I hope he gets back to honoring Aikido and not to forget his Sensei. I guess he is just getting old and fat. The movie was not good, but not really bad I have seen worse. The chick he meets in the club is now going to be his long time lover he does not even know her, plus all the other actors were C Rated. The tribute to Trevor Murray was honorable and well deserved. Please Mr. Segal do us all a favor and start a cooking show or something, your action days are over. If not do better and lose some weight.
Seagal returning to the formula that made him famous.
posted on 21 Dec 2008This is a nice career move for Steven Seagal, basically, he is returning to the formula that made him a star in the eighties and through the nineties. The film works nicely for those who still love early Seagal flicks such as Marked for Death and Hard to Kill. Steven plays a retired CIA agent having to come out of retirement in order to save his daughter, kidnapped during vacation with friends by a group of renegade soldiers in Asia. The director and producers used the most of the budget, scoring great action sequences, such as the final shooting, nicely done, and the fight scenes. The photography is beautiful,showing the strangeness and natural beauty of Thailand, the performances are above the average. Steven Seagal was much thinner than he was in Ticker, and more impressive then ever with his incredible hand speed. I love the part when he fights 5 to six guys and defeats all of them using only his skills. In Hollywood, there are few actors who know what their characters were supposed to do in the movies, but Steven Seagal does know. He is a incredible martial artist, dominating a lot of different kind of styles. In Under Siege 2, for example, when he defeated Everett McGill, he used Judo techniques (the "foot lock" and the choking moves are used when the fight goes to the ground), Steven holds a black belt in Judo in real life, in Belly of the Beast, he used mainly Aikido moves. He is a great action star and I want to see more of him in the future.
" I liked you better when you were a bitch "
posted on 07 Dec 2008Steven's latest outing has him on a quest to find his kidnapped daughter. The plot is something that we have all seen before but the action is non-stop and pretty well staged. The use of a stunt double is obvious as some of the various flying kicks the director has our hero performing could never be done with seagal's big ass. In conclusion, while not the best one of the better seagal films.
As generic as the title suggests...
posted on 03 Nov 2008Steven Seagal movies exist in a pop culture vacuum. They cannot be judged against any other films in existence. They're such an acquired taste that to compare them to movies with other actors is almost pointless. In a sense, Seagal movies are very nearly critic-proof. What can I do, complain that Ticker just wasn't on the same level as Jaws? Anyway, if you've seen pretty much any other direct-to-video Seagal venture lately, you know exactly what this one is all about- a distant and emotionless man with a shady history must take the law into his own hands and rescue/avenge his wife/daughter/Neopet. The movie is virtually indistinguishable from others he's released in the last few years. Honestly, if you played this film alongside The Foreigner and Out For a Kill, you'd have one hell of a time telling them apart. All of the usual elements are there: bad acting/dialog, distracting music, and annoying editing. Jesus, the editing... has the slow-bullet effect been exhausted yet? Has anyone NOT used this in a movie? It's only used once or twice in Belly of the Beast, but it's played out to a ridiculous point. I'm still waiting for the day when technology will have advanced far enough to enable Seagal to smile or even laugh with the help of CGI. You already know if you'll like this movie or not, unless in the case that you haven't seen a Seagal movie. If this is true for you, go and find Out for Justice, Above the Law, or Marked for Death. Any of these are far preferable to this monumental waste of time.
Not great but much better than Seagal's films have been of late
posted on 10 Sep 2008Jake Hopper is ex-CIA who retired from the job after a bad shooting incident, although he still does work on the side for an old Agency buddy. When his daughter is kidnapped along with her friend (a Senator's daughter) while on a backpacking holiday in the far east, Jake's contact tells him. With official channels working to get the girls' back, Jake joins up with his old partner and begins trawling the underworld looking for the gang that has his girl.Despite getting consistently burnt, I keep on coming back to Steven Seagal films - I can't help it. I always go to the video store (for that is where Seagal now resides) looking for something to veg out in front of that will entertain me without challenging or stimulating me; it is a sad condemnation of Seagal films that they rarely manage to do even that most basic of requests. However, in some regards, Belly of the Beast is actually a reasonable film. The plot is pretty standard and relies on nonsense to move it forwards - stuck with no clues, a girl approaches Jake with a mystery tattoo on her naked chest that only appears when she gets wet! Talk about an excuse for nudity! This sort of plot device is over used; too often the film has things just happen for a way of moving the plot forward.The plot is poorly developed and it also has elements that just seem to have been thrown in in order to fulfil the formula. The love interest is one good example of an element that is silly and simply doesn't work. What does work is the action. For once in recent Seagal films, the fight scenes are actually pretty enjoyable even if they do overdo the slowmo effects. Seagal himself is quite effective; despite his weight gain he manages to move quite well here - even if most of it involves upper body work rather than full motion.As an actor though, Seagal is about as bad as ever: his emotional range is rubbish, as seen in his reaction when told his daughter has been kidnapped (`you don't say' he blankly emotes!). He even is blank when kissing the gorgeous Lo - so what hope is there for him? Having said that, the worst moment in the film is one that is another actor's fault. In one scene Seagal is dubbed by an actor who sounds nothing like him - it is a laughable moment and a sad comment on the effort Seagal is putting into his films now (unable or unwilling to show up for ADR). Luckily for him, his support cast is OK. Mann's sidekick is good and Wu makes for a decent bad guy despite having very low screen time. Monica Lo is very beautiful and sexy - just a shame that her scenes where she gradually falls for Seagal make more for laughter than passion! Even these few good performances are still pretty basic though and the standard is no better than Seagal's usual stuff.Overall, if you watch Seagal films a lot, then this will probably be better than you are used to, despite not actually being that good a film. The acting, script and plotting are as poor as you would expect but it is in the action stakes where this film improves upon his recent efforts. Understand that this is still not saying a great deal in my opinion but it still makes the film a lot better to have well choreographed and quite exciting fight scenes. If you have to watch a recent Seagal film, then this is probably the one to pick.
As far as bad action movies go,pretty good
posted on 28 Jul 2008Belly of the beastThere are two kinds of action movies. High quality intelligent action films like The professional, The killer, Ronin or the Bourne identity all films I totally love. Then there are action films like Invasion USA and Commando which I love because they are terrible and yet still very fun. Belly of the beast may strive to be in the first category but it remains in the so bad it is good realm with other Segal classics like On deadly ground, under siege and out for justice.While Exit wounds was not as bad as Cradle to the grave, Segal has been going down hill since Fire down below. Don't get wrong the EPA agent with the license to kill worked for me, even when he was jamming with the country band at the county fair. However as his Belly grew, his star power and screen charm has faded.There are lots of rules for bad action hero's things to do when your career needs a boost. Now that Segal has gone to a Hong Kong director for help the only thing left to do is a movie where he fights himself. What's up Segal? Van Damme has already fought him self like 4 times. The good news is that Segal got the best goddamn fight director possible. I know Woo Ping is considered the best by many but for me Ching Siu tung the man behind the action of Hero, duel to the death, The killer and countless others would be my choice if I was making a Kung Fu film.Not only that he is the creative director behind some very neat films like the Chinese ghost story films. His creative film making skills are on the screen as well, even in the opening scene it is displayed in interesting camera motions that makes a above average experience for a direct to video movie.The Good: As a low brow action film I enjoyed Belly of the beast, if you don't take to serious you will too. The action is well done. The story has some cool twists, Segal and Co. made some surprising turns with the story especially in the post 9/11 world.****Spoilers****I am sure many hated the spiritual show down between the shaman and the monks but I thought that was a cool and original scene. Shot with tinge of Chinese ghost story it brought a smile to my face. Brave also to have the Muslim terrorists be innocent of the kidnapping and to have the CIA behind, of course Segal is the man who wrote a screenplay where the CIA had invented AIDS. I can respect a writer who always blames the CIA.The Bad: The romance for Segal was so misplaced and stupid. Trite and unbelievable. It was done for the direct to video hormonal action fans with Asian fetishes. Does anyone really believe this young Asian woman would fall for a washed up CIA agent with gut.The ugly: This has to be the worst example of body doubles ever. Not since the enemy within episode of Star trek(Shatner an early bad action star, I mean he fought himself?) Segal…dude… Diet, exercise, disciple. I had a hard time with this, even made worse considering the word belly is in the title.Above average Direct to video. If you are a fan of well done bad action it's worth a hour and half of your life.
Better than expected, typical Seagal.
posted on 07 May 2008Recap: Working for the CIA Jake Hopper and Sunti work in Thailand. The mission turns into a shootout, where finally Sunti shot a innocent mother. Jake Hopper retired from the CIA and moved to Hawaii to raise his daughter since his wife is gone. Sunti took the shooting very hard and left the force to become a Buddhist monk. Now, 10 years later, Hopper's daughter is hiking through Thailand with a few friends. But the idyll is brutally destroyed when the friends are attacked, the two boys killed and Hopper's daughter and her friend, a senators daughter are kidnapped of what appears to be a local guerrilla. Due to one girl being a senators daughter CIA is involved, and through them Hopper get informed. And the kidnapper has not prepared for what a lone father would do for his daughter. Hopper goes to Thailand and Sunti leaves the monks and together they fight through the underworld to rescue the girls.Comments: This is a typical Seagal movie, no hidden messages, no meanings, just a lot of action. And if you like those kinds of movie, you will enjoy this. Unfortunately, it is noticeable that Seagal gets older and not as well trained as he used to be. In fact, in some scenes he seems really old, and it is apparent that it is not he who does most of the stunts or jumping around. Fortunately he has teamed up with Byron Mann who can do a lot of fighting. The story is straightforward even if it tries to be a little subtle and hidden. And it includes some scenes of unexpected good special effects. It is too bad the story gets too ambitious and tries to introduce, right at the end, a element of magic. First of all, if it has had no place earlier in the story, leave it out. And second of all, it is just silly to turn the end fight into some Buddhist version of voodoo and magic prayer duel between good and evil monks. If that part would have been left out, I would have given it a 6, maybe even a 7. Now I will stay at 5.5/10
It can't really be called that... can it?
posted on 05 May 2008Whether it was blind ego or genuine good humour on Seagal's part that allowed this title to be attached to the barrel-shaped action star's latest film, we may never know, as I can't see any interviewers being willing to ask. It's even possible that he came up with it himself, as he's given a writing credit. Though to be honest, a cinematography, direction or casting credit would have been more impressive, as the 'plot' is by far the most hopeless thing about this otherwise surprisingly polished but cliche-ridden corpse-fest.Then again, it's the script's occasional flashes of sheer madness that make it worth watching. From the random tomato/fish/cleaver death scene early on to the head-spinning ladyboy fight and descent into voodoo lunacy during the climax, it keeps you on your toes, at least. Never seems to bother Seagal, though, whose single expression (constipation) remains fixed in place whether he's frantically fending off gangs of swordsmen with his bare hands, displaying primal fatherly angst over the inevitable kidnapping of his daughter or getting frisky with a hero-worshipping Thai girl less than half his age. Yes, you read that right, and yes, you will feel personally violated when it happens.The other redeeming feature of the film - apart from the unusually high quality of the direction and camerawork, which gets full mileage out of what must have been a pretty limp budget - is the use of body doubles, which is some of the most blatant ever committed to film and all the more entertaining for it. Seagal *does* actually get more action in this film than in his last three or four combined, but it's still hilarious when he suddenly breaks off from his usual shot-from-the-shoulders-up slappy-hand business to launch into an impromptu flying spin kick, shedding about a third of his body weight in the process.As long as you're not expecting gritty realism, you'll probably enjoy this as much as any other DTV kickathon on the shelves at the moment, and certainly more than the last couple of brain cell killers that Seagal's put out. Unfortunately Seagal himself is more visibly the weak link in the chain than ever before, with his action chops paling in comparison to those of both his co-star and main adversary, and his acting chops paling in comparison to his fridge. The sight of Thailand's entire criminal underworld taking turns to fly thirty feet through the air and crash into an exploding crate would be far more entertaining if it wasn't an overweight man in his fifties dishing out the damage, especially one who still refuses to take a single scratch in return. Still, one thing you have to give him credit for is not teaming up with any poxy rappers in this one.
Explaining Seagal's past in relation to the present.
posted on 03 May 2008Seagal's life began to imitate a movie script, a few years ago. Life began to imitate art, when Steve reneged on his long standing contract with business partner Bill Nasso. Mr Nasso, who rightfully claims to have made Steve into a movie star was understandably devastated when Steve broke off their friendship and all business dealings. Mr Nasso had helped financially support Steve's films from the very beginning of Steve's career and he felt robbed of future profits that Steve's films would reap. Steve would soon find out, the hard way, that Bill Nasso had real life connections with the "mob". Steve's paranoia escalated, when he received death threats, while filming "Exit Wounds". His co-star Tom Arnold, was on the tv show "David Letterman" and he spoke of Steve's constant fear of being shot on the set of "Exit Wounds". "Steven would continuously nudge me and whisper, 'who is that person, what are they doing on the set', it was always just a member of the film crew. Steven's paranoia made the whole set very tense", said Tom Arnold, on the talk show "David Letterman". The reason, I'm digging up Steve's troubled past is because I believe it explains a number of current factors. I believe that Steve never truly recovered from the stress this situation caused him. I believe his sense of well being and general state of mind have been permanantly effected. Even to the point of putting his symptoms in the "post-traumatic stress syndrome" category. Steve's fear and anxiety is also the reason for his wieght gain. Instead of training and looking after himself, the aforementioned situation caused him to become reclusive and probably even caused him to embark on an eating binge. The consequences of Steve's over eating are very noticable in his more recent films. With "Belly of the Beast", I think Steve is getting himself and his career back on track. Don't get me wrong, "Belly of the Beast" is not a brilliant film but it is however a step in the right direction and that is a drastic change to the path his career had taken, post "Exit Wounds". Good-luck Steve, as a fan, I wish you the very best.
Different
posted on 27 Apr 2008I really liked the movie "Belly Of The Beast". I've noticed that lately Seagal has taken quit a different approach to his films, but they are still the best martial films around. Belly Of The Beast, has beautiful location shots..and some spectacular martial arts moves. Seagal is still a good actor, and has not slown down any over the years. The cast ensemble was pretty good, and it had a very solid story line....though it wasn't as dark as "Out For A Kill", it was still pretty fast moving. But over all a great film, for any die hard seagal fan out there.my rating (10 being highest) 9 out of 10the film is rated R for strong violence, some language, and nudity
Seagal should get in shape
posted on 03 Apr 2008Even though Steven Seagal has made movies who are much worse than this, this is still far from being his best work. I wonder if the whole movie was made just for self-ironical reasons (remember, Seagal fortunately has a lot of self-irony). The main problem is that Seagal is too fat too be a real action-star right now. Some of the fights in this movie still are pretty cool, but there are just something that isn't there. Maybe it's because some of the fights are so overdone so that everyone know that it isn't Mr.Seagal doing most of it anyway? The worst part about the fighting is the roundhouse kicks. Even though they're rather cool, they're as far from the typical Seagal fighting style that it's possible to be. And you never see Steven's face when these are performed.......................... The story is standard, but that's totally OK. No one cares too much about that anyway in a movie like this. This is in fact one of Seagal's best movies after "Exit Wounds". That doesn't mean that this one is any good, because some of the others are pure garbage.
Seagals best Movie since Exit Wounds
posted on 30 Mar 2008After the awful Foreigner & Out for a Kill I had this movie written-off before I'd watched it, thankfully it turned out to be much better then recent efforts.Lots of action, sometimes a bit overkill (how many people were shot!). I don't know if Seagal is continuing to make Eastern movies now but this was all the better for it!What was with the car on the front cover of the DVD though? Did I miss that part? :)
An awesome film !!!
posted on 06 Aug 2009I have been a Seagal fan since he first appeared on theater screens all over America. I do admit that he has been making some horrible films lately but I dont just admire the films I admire the man and his accomplishments. I studied Aikido, Judo, Jujutsu, Jeet kune do and have been involved in the martial arts for the past 23 years. If you doubt Seagals accomplishments and skill in Aikido get the video "The Path Beyond All Thought" There are interviews there by some of his actual students and rare video footage of Seagal doing techniques and giving instruction. Regarding his weight one of the greatest Judo practitioners was huge master Moses Powell and that did not stop him from making his mark on the martial arts world. Belly of the beast is an awesome action packed film and I enjoyed it very much. If you are just looking for action its the perfect film to add to your library. If you watch it as a critic expect a bad time. You will be too busy criticizing it to enjoy it.