Belly of the Beast

I give Steven Seagal and director Siu-Tung Ching ("A Chinese Ghost Story") a lot of credit for this film: after so many lacklustre action-thrillers with delusions of seriousness starring the martial arts master, the mindset of "Belly of the Beast" seems to be one of "forget the storyline; here's the action - super cool, and in healthy doses". Believe it, this is a wonderfully refreshing change of focus for the DTV-mired Seagal, whose face has yet to see the silver screen again.

In "Beast", Seagal is an ex-CIA operative whose daughter is kidnapped while vacationing in Thailand by a violent rebel organization. Seagal saddles up to rescue her after employing his agent-turned-monk ex-partner (Byron Mann, "Street Fighter"), and the two of them embark against insurmountable political and spiritual odds.
Mind you, these "political and spiritual odds" are a large focus of the film: a corrupt Thai military becomes involved, as well as a creepy demon-worshipper who attempts to trounce Seagal with black magic. Believe me: it's all very nonsensical, but also very fun if you don't let yourself be hindered by things like realism.

The film is a return to action for Seagal: after the stale shootouts and repetitive wrist-snapping of films like "Half Past Dead" and "The Foreigner", the wild and diverse battles of "Beast" are a sight to behold. Just to name a few of these encounters, we see Seagal battle a deadly transvestite armed with a whip and poison-tipped nails, see him engage a magic-enforced general with swords and spears, and see him team with Mann in a couple of gunfights against Thai rebel and military forces.
The choreography of these encounters - done by the director himself - is very good: fast-paced and fluid, and not overdone with incessant slow-motion. The inclusion of wire-fu might deter some Seagal-traditionalists, but I was happy to see some innovation for ol' Steven.

The editing is good (always a 50-50 possibility for Steven's films) and the acting is solid, though the need to actually act falls only on a few members of the cast - Sara Lane as Seagal's daughter and Monica Lo as Seagal's love-interest Lulu. Byron Mann also pulls off a good performance, which is expected since he's been more focused on drama than action than I would've preferred. As for the rest of the cast, nobody does a really bad job...except maybe Seagal, but then again, we've gotten used to that, huh? And he's better in here than in, say, "Submerged", so that's a plus.

Bottom line: this is a surprisingly fun to watch action flick, even if you're not a Seagal-devotee. Fans, at least, shouldn't waste any time to buy it.

This is one of Seagal's better movies. The action is good. The story and plot are excellent. There are many good gun fights. Seagal's daughter is kidnapped and Seagal must find her. Seagal is forced to deal with local police, the military, a rebel military group, our own CIA officers, and bad guys. Everyone has an agenda and Seagal must discover who kidnapped his daughter and where she is. Even our own CIA guys have motives that Seagal is not aware of. Can Seagal find his daughter before it is too late? Can Seagal survive an encounter with a rebel military group? What happens when the military wants to arrest Seagal? You can probably guess the answers but it is more fun to watch and find out.

BELLY OF THE BEAST

I found this dvd in the pawn shop the other day for 2 dollars and decided to get it since I enjoy pointless action films. As another one of the straight to dvd movies from Segal I figured this would be like most straight to video action films, not that great. But I was pleasantly surprised with this film, it had the action of course, with fight scenes and things going BOOM. But it was the story line and some of the performances that made this movie good.
The story is as follows, Jake Hopper is a former C.I.A. agent who just happens to have a daughter that is friends with a senator's daughter. The two girls head off on vacation to Thailand with their boyfriends and get kidnapped by a terrorist group. Well as you can guess Segal [even in old age] heads into battle with the group, the local police force, and even his own old friends.
Director Ching Siu Tung did a pretty good job with this film, and along with Cinematographer Danny Novak made this film look good. Along with six producers, one of which being Avi Lerner, and writer James Townsend they all put together a really enjoyable movie. Is it a great film on the classic level, no, but it is good enough to just chill one day and watch. I recommend owning it, it is a pretty good flick.

This is the best film Steven Seagal has made in a while. Seagal plays a retired CIA operative that use to work in Thailand. Ten years later he finds out his daughter was kidnapped while she was on vacation in Thailand. And as usual, his character does not play by the rules and will do what ever it takes to get his daughter back. Don't analyze the movie just sit back and enjoy the action. I also think you should pay attention to his sidekick who becomes a Buddhist monk. His character is very interesting, that is for what little we see of it. This is a good `B' action movie.

mr. seagal really needs to rethink his movie making,as this film shows. no longer the sleak hard nosed tough guy he was,now he looks overweight,tired,and VERY,VERY SLOW!!!!!! this movie is a sad reminder of what mr. seagal was once capable of doing! really a sad movie!!!!!! skip it!!!!!!!!!!!!