Belly of the Beast (2003)

Wonderful character development!

The film was still a fun one that will make you laugh and have you leaving the theater feeling like you just stole something valuable and got away with it.

Your blood may run cold, but you now find yourself pinioned to the story.

I didn’t really have many expectations going into the movie (good or bad), but I actually really enjoyed it. I really liked the characters and the banter between them.

Continuing with the compulsion to watch more Seagal I took in "Belly of the Beast" yesterday and LOVED every minute of it! This DTV movie ticks all the right boxes for me; revenge, guns, swords, girls and Seagal! In this flick Seagal's daughter is taken hostage along with a congressman's daughter by a 'terrorist' cell looking to blackmail the US government. What they don't count on is that Seagal is one pis*ed of retired Special Ops Commando.....The direction, production and delivery of this movie is great. The budget of $14million really shines through and considering Stallone got $15million for Demolition Man alone this movie is shrewd! The only real let down is the 'mage' towards the end fight scene, this I thought wasn't needed.Overall the VFX were executed brilliantly, the kung-fu (I think!) was choreographed beautifully and Seagal's trademark stone faced acting was entertaining. Even if you're not a Seagal fan you can watch this movie. Good right out of the box to a complete novice! 7 out 10!

Seagal almost seems too mellow in this movie. Its as if he doesn't care at all, and if the movie flops ? GFY! loddy dah dah....dah. The scene when he grabs a bottle of water and another scene when the thai officer is hitting him with the nightstick/baton and seagal is just sitting there so casual looking at him like " what in the hell are you doing " ?? lol... I don't know,, maybe he actually has a sense of humor. Those scenes are so obviously out of sync they couldn't have been taken seriously in the script. But the fight scenes are good and there are plenty of them.. The acting overall seemed a bit forced, phony ,amateur maybe.. but steven seagal kicks a lot of ass. Overall a good movie .

BELLY OF THE BEAST - while being an awful title it isn't actually THAT bad, it probably takes the mantle of Steven Seagal's best DTV release to date - mind you, this was a 2003 release, and in the years since then Seagal's Direct-to-DVD output has been pretty terrible.This time around Stevie plays an ex-CIA agent who gets told his daughter along with her Friend (A Senator's Daughter) have been kidnapped - Pretty much the same story as his woeful 2006 release SHADOW MAN, but this time the story is tighter and much easier to follow and the action is not a badly edited blurry mess, and instead of the rather drab areas of Bucharest shot on the cheap, we are in the beautiful surroundings of Thailand and we even get some mysticism thrown in.Seagal is thinner here, and there's plenty of well directed and at times exciting action with a very high body count along with some pretty good acting by all (apart from the Seagal that is - but to be fair Seagal does seem to be more interested in the proceedings here despite some obvious dubbing in one particular scene and gets into the action a bit more than later releases)Stylishly Directed by Hong Kong Fight Choreographer Siu-Tung Ching, who brings a touch of class to the thoroughly B-Movie plot and is FAR superior behind the Camera than Michael Keusch & Michael Oblowitz who have FIVE pretty appalling Seagal Flicks to their name between them, so it's a shame that this is his only Seagal flick.

Beer may have influenced my decision but "Belly of the Beast" went down pretty well. True, it's stupid in all things like storyline, acting and coherence but the action is plenty and semi-well done. Sure, the slow-mo bits are totally overused but the action is well handled by Steve (and one heck of a stunt double) and others.Despite the low budget the film looks beautiful and exteriors are very lovely - all that and the action make the film quite passable. But I must admit I've been quite slow in giving these Steven Seagal Direct-to-DVD flicks a chance. I'm a huge fan of his earlier work and having read mostly abysmal reviews for his recent output I've been hesitant at giving it a glance.But "Belly of the Beast" is not so bad. It's clear that Seagal doesn't strain himself with the acting too much but I still dig the guy. Why else would I (and many others) check out these undeniably inferior flicks in the first place? Well; "Into the Sun" and "Out of Reach" will get a spin in the near future...best get some beer handy.