Customer Reviews

Belly of the Beast [VHS]

5 star:		(17)
4 star:		(14)
3 star:		(10)
2 star:		(6)
1 star:		(3)

 

 

Best:

1) Steven Seagal gets back to his eastern martial arts roots.
2) The shoot-'em-up scenes were sweeping and included lots of people.
3) The girls held hostage weren't just whimpering kittens waiting to be rescued.
4) The acting, dialogue and editing was smoothly done.

Worst:

1) The hero characters seem to have supernatural abilities when it's cool to watch, then lose it whenever the filmmakers choose.
2) Seagal relied heavily on a stunt double for many of the fight scenes.
3) There are no special features on the disk.

Recommendation:

If you're a big action and/or martial arts fan, you'll definitely want to see this one at least once. If you often rewatch movies like this, you'll want to buy it. The lack of any special features, however, is a big factor in deciding that the going price may be too high for some people.

I have read reviews about Seagal and his movies and I don't see anything good mentioned. His movies never claimed to be "high art" or have a lot a lot of special effects. You get plain, solid action. I really like Belly of the Beast. Steven was very good.In the belly of the beast he is unrelenting in getting his daughter back. Review of his movies talk about Seagal's bad acting and that is not the case in this movie. The girl who is his daughter might be guilty of bad acting but not Seagal. Judging but his reviews everyone thinks he sucks. If he does why do you keep going back and watching the movies? I say if you can't write a decent, fair review of Seagal and his movies then just dont' bother to rent or buy them. As for me I really like them and I hope he contines to make more even if they are "straight to dvd".

In the late 1980s and early 1990's, it looked as though Seagal would join the ranks of Hollywood's top action stars. You would hear his name in the same sentence with Arnie and Stallone, no small feat indeed. And to a large degree, Seagal's films deserved the comparison. "Under Siege" was a winner, as were "Hard to Kill" and "Above the Law." The actor's greatest appeal isn't hard to fathom; Seagal embraced a brutal form of martial arts that, at least onscreen, allowed him to slap down thugs, break bones, and wreak massive havoc without batting an eye. Literally, Seagal would stand in place and put down one goon after the other with an ease that looked not only natural but also realistic. I still enjoy watching that pool room scene where Seagal's character used pool cues, billiard balls, and whatever else he could lay his hands on to put out the trash. Alas, how the mighty have fallen. The early 1990s may as well be ancient history as far as Steven Seagal is concerned. Although he's still capable of making a few moderately entertaining films, which "Belly of the Beast" ultimately is, far too often we're seeing movies like "The Foreigner" and "Ticker."

Seagal plays international man of mystery Jake Hopper, a guy who used to work for the CIA, the DEA, the FBI, or a dozen other intelligence gathering agencies--take your pick. As the movie opens, we see Hopper and his partner Sunti (Byron Mann) setting up a bunch of drug dealers in Thailand. Something goes wrong, probably a double cross, and the two agents must fight their way out of the building. In the process, Sunti accidentally kills a mother holding her infant child. He's so torn up over the incident that he goes off to join a Buddhist order, presumably leaving Hopper partnerless and a little lonely. Flash forward ten or so years. Hopper now works as a freelance operative, the sort of guy the agencies come to when they need a safe broken into. The only thing that matters to our hero is his lovely daughter Jessica (Sarah Lane), but tranquility shatters when a radical Islamic terrorist cell called the Abu Karaf abducts Jessica and a Senator's daughter. Abu Karaf sends a videotape of the two girls to the government, threatening to kill them if the authorities refuse to release a few prisoners. Predictably, Jake Hopper vows revenge for this horrible injustice. He goes on a series of rampages throughout the Far East in an effort to find his daughter.

Hopper suspects that someone other than the Abu Karaf is behind the kidnapping of his daughter, so he brings back Sunti from the Buddhist sabbatical for back up. The two men run into all sorts of problems. On a mission to track the whereabouts of the Abu Karaf, Hopper and Sunti touch off a gang war during an arms deal turned suddenly bad. Then there is a serious sword fight with a bunch of ninja type thugs in a warehouse. Hopper learns that General Jantapan (Tom Wu) and a cross dressing martial arts expert are the ones responsible for his current troubles, so he heads after them with guns blazing. All the while, Jake Hopper presents the American authorities with a dilemma. Our government is running an operation to free the girls, but Hopper keeps getting in the way. The conclusion to the film looks like it came right out of "The Matrix," as Seagal's character battles for his daughter's life. There are super slow motion arrows and bullets whizzing through the air, bodies suspended in mid jump, millions of rounds of ammunition expended, and even shell casings clattering on the pavement. We even get some sort of super magic fight between a group of Buddhist monks and some Hindu witchdoctor. Sure it sounds ridiculous, but it is entertaining.

Compared to Seagal's dreckfest "The Foreigner," "Belly for the Beast" is an Oscar candidate. The performances aren't terrible, the action is steady and decently choreographed throughout, and the settings look authentic. Still, I couldn't help but notice a few problems. One concerned the rapidly expanding bulk of Steven Seagal. Fans of the man have long commented on his deteriorating physique, and this problem is fully apparent in the movie. At one point, Seagal's character slides along the floor in order to stay out of sight during a burglary. I laughed heartily at both the expression on his face and the sneaking suspicion that someone just off frame was pulling him on a wire. And that scene where he takes a bottle of water out of the refrigerator! Oh brother! Seagal looked like a television repairman lumbering around the house. Another problem centers on some of the illogical plot problems. For instance, why did the CIA guy help Hopper get out of jail? His orders were to keep Seagal's character out of the way, which a short stint in the stir would have accomplished. But there's the CIA guy watching him walk off. It probably has something to do with Hopper being too cool to keep under lock and key because he's SEAGAL. Hear him roar!

If you're interested, the extras on the disc consist of a bunch of trailers for films like "Returner," "The Foreigner," "Belly of the Beast," and "Out for a Kill." While this film cannot compare to early Steven Seagal actioners, it does stand on its own as a rather decent flick. It's derivative, full of action film cliches, and tries to pass off an overweight fifty year old as a spry intelligence operative full of take no prisoners bravado, but what else were you expecting? By the way, did you hear they are thinking about making "Under Siege 3"? Hopefully, Seagal will shed some pounds before starring in that one.

Nowadays, Steven Seagal seems to be eating a lot and doesn't seem to be working out much but still sees fit to make movies. At least this time, Lord Steven hooked up with a killer director, Hong Kong's own Ching Siu Tung('Naked Weapon', 'Duel To The Death'), and together they've made a pretty good little action movie.

When I say that its good, you have to get by the fact that Stevie is completely out of shape, talks in a different voice during every scene, and at one point in the movie rummages through a refrigerator. Ching Siu Tung's action is beautifully done(if you can suspend disbelief as Stevie does a few spinning jump kicks high in the air when we all know that the man can't get more than two inches off the ground these days)and the special effects are practically seamless and amazingly done for lower budget picture such as this. There is some cool stuff done with bullets and arrows, you'll know what I mean when you see it.

Top-notch action from one of the world's best action directors, a decent if generic plot, and a whole lot of killing make for a nice little gem of a straight-to-dvd movie, despite Seagal's attempts to sabotage the proceedings.

First of all, let me explain my 3-star rating. For Seagal flicks, I rate this one 3.5/5. For over-all action movies in this genre, I rate it about 2.75-3/5. As well all know the last half dozen or so Seagal flicks have lacked the penache his original outings did, but this one as is, is not bad. If this one would have been made earlier in Seagal's career, it may have been one of the top ones next to greats like Out for Justice, Marked for Death, or even one or both of the Under Siege movies.

This movie has it all for a Seagal flick. Gun play, martial arts, and wire-fu with slo-mo effects. Well, I normally write longer, more in-depth reviews, but I'm leaving this one short and sweet. But if you're debating on whether or not to pull the trigger on this Seagal flick, don't hesitate. It's a fairly good one for a change.

This is what I have been waiting for! After watching the disappointing Ticker, The Foreigner and Out for a Kill, I was afraid that my movie hero was going downhill and not coming back like he used to be in the 90's. But BELLY OF THE BEAST is amazing! The action scenes are very cool and explosive. I'm glad Steven had a much, much better director on his side than in The Foreigner and Out for a Kill. Belly Of The Beast shows that Steven is still capable of performing explosive action movies.
This action-packed movie is a MUST SEE for all Steven Seagal fans!

Ol' Slabface is back and still doing his thing, only recently it's all been downgraded to the direct-to-video market(like we didn't see this coming years ago). Steve plays an ex-CIA agent who has to jump back in action after a ten year......oh, hell, who cares? It's Seagal being Seagal, who gives a rat's behind if he's ex-CIA, a cop, a SEAL, a cook, a dance instructor, etc? In this film he gets bit by the Bronson bug as his daughter is kidnapped by terrorists in Thailand. He teams up with an old CIA buddy turned monk(actually a very cool character that upstages Seagal), and go on your typical B action film rampage to get his daughter back. You get the bad techno music, the good guy who's really the bad guy, Seagal's irritating way of cocking his head from side to side when he speaks, the gang of thugs who start a fight with Seagal in a bar(or in this case a dance club)for no real reason other than to show another Seagal action sequence. And speaking of Seagal action sequences, the process of film editing has become Seagal's best friend as it tries to hide his lack of physical speed. This is done by speeding up the film when needed as well as going into slow motion. By the climax of the film a supernatural element is thrown in at the last minute in the form of a Steven Seagal voodoo doll! The final fight scene has Seagal and villian shooting at one another(Seagal with gun, villian with bow) in a hallway and it's done with that crappy Matrix "bullet time" technique. I thought it looked silly in the Matrix, but this has to be one of the most inane things I've ever seen. If you can make it through the final battle without laughing, you're a much better man than I. But as much as I rip on Slabface, I have to love him or else I wouldn't bother watching these films. Just keep it under your hats, people.

I just took chance of buying this movie on DVD "Belly of the Beast" but I was surprise it's a excellent movie, with lots of martial action, showing Seagal capabilities. When you combine the talents of Seagal and the directing of Siu-Tung Ching you will know it going to be EXPLOSION!!! Nothing that can stop them from bringing you a great movie. The action is just AWESOME!!! If you like the movie "Romeo must Die". This movie is up there!!! The plot and martial art action was very well done. I would have no regrets buying it!!! This movie is going to be my top 10. I do have 832 DVD MOVIES in my collections. JUST GET IT!!!!

The best way to describe this picture is to tell you a story.

My girlfriend is a huge Steven Seagall fan. But the last film she saw was Exit Wounds. She loved Under Seige 1 and 2, and On Deadly Ground. She thought he looked soooo hot.

When the DVD of Belly of the Beast started and Segall first appeared on the screen, I turned and saw the look of a zombie on her face. "What happened to him?," she muttered. She went on to notice that his eyes looked like slits because his face was so round and fat. His hair looked like he was wearing a rat. And the fight scenes....well... she noticed how the sidekick was very fast and Seagall was always filmed in slow motion. She even noticed he looked skinner in the stunt double shots...filmed from behind or below his neck. And she is no movie critic...

She laughed at some of the lines by the Thai actors that came from B movies from the 1960s. But they at least tried to act..Segall was as wooden as a cigar store Indian.

In short, by the end of the film she wondered how a person of Seagall's former status and fan base could have let himself sink so low. I didn't have the heart to tell her that at least Belly of the Beast had a little bit of plot....others he made lately like Out for a Kill and Submerged were pulled out for viewing by busting under the toliets of the stadium men's restroom after the last Superbowl.

I will admit that this is better than his previous Bomb's,but it still lacks the natural luster his movies used to have.All the fights in his first 5 or so movies were totally coriagraphed by Steven himself.His talent,his moves his way.Now it seems that its all been taken over by stunt doubles who do spin kicks,flying sumersault kicks,among others.Stevens style is Judo mixed with Aikido a technic made up of mostly blocks,body punches,clothes lines,and body flips.All his new stuff is lacking these brilliant moves he's famous for.The script was written a little better and the directing was decent,but still is to high tech and has to many slow down,jumbled,special effects fighting,which leaves the watchers eyes going all over the place to were it looks like one big mess.Also lets quit dogging steven on his weight,he's 52 for god sakes.Everyone says that but if they were to go against him face to face they would be like uhh i think not.Also the overdubbed voices in this movie were why he sounded different in certain scene's,why was this done?Who knows.Watch during the scene with his old buddy at the Buddist temple you'll see it.So this is better but still no Hard to kill,Marked for Death....etc.But a 3 stars for a better effort.