Rating: 
Summary: STEVENS FIRST GOOD MOVIE IN A LONG TIME!
Review: Belly of the Beast stars Steven Seagal! He is about to retire from the CIA, when he gets news that his daughter has been kid napped by the terrorist group Abu Karaf, when he is Hawaii. He goes down to Thailand when his daughter was abducted and visits some of his old friends in the CIA or that were in the CIA. There is betrayal, and seduction in this movie. In my opinion, this was like Under Seige except a lower budget. Stevens fighting sequences are the best! Its like when he was 10 years younger! He does still look a little big, but you can tell he lost weight for this movie! I was happy to see a lot of American actors in this movie. Out for a Kill had only 2 or 3 americans. This had many many more. Steven and his actors did a really good job. The scenery was better and not cheap looking like in Out for a Kill. You can tell that the budget was much more. I would say 2 or 3 times the amount of Out for a Kill. The director Ching Sui Tung did an awsome job of directing. I was very pleased with his work. If steven is going to make another movie in Thailand, I hope it is with him. The action was more real and the violence was bloodier! This movie will give his carier a boost for sure. My ONLY complaint was that there was no explosions! I love explosions and I was a little disappointed that there were none. But the movie makes up for it. Here is how I would rate Belly of the Beast:
Acting- 8
Action-10
Directing-9
Scenery/Budget/Special affects-9
Story-9 Over all- 9 Steven make movies more like this! Very good job!
Rating: 
Summary: Bashful's DVD Summary #006
Review: 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.
Rating: 
Summary: Steven Seagal washed up.
Review: I'm a big fan of Steven Seagal but this latest movie was a mistake.He looks like the Pillsbury dough boy and his acting has gone down hill.This movie was made in China because no Amercian director wants a over weight martial arts actor.It's a real shame he fell apart and I say skip this movie.
Rating:
Summary: Older and wiser Seagal shows he's still got it
Review: I was pleasantly surprised to find this latest movie as truly strong with both a good storyline and martial arts scenes. His previous recent efforts such as The Foreigner and Out For A Kill were a bit weak. This movie re-shows off why he's a 7th Degree Aikido Black Belt. I rate this right up there with Under Siege (and 2), Hard To Kill, Exit Wounds and Glimmer Man. If he'd drop a few pounds, maybe the U.S. studios would fully budget his next few movies. He's still got the stuff.
Rating:
Summary: Excellent!!!
Review: 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!
Rating:
Summary: Not A Good Showcase for Seagal
Review: This movie started off well with Steven Seagal (as a CIA agent) and his partner trying to make a deal with a mafia gang to lay off of a certain territory. As they conclude the deal WHAMM we're given our first action scene, one that's done with minimal trickery and lots of speed, technique, broken glass and furniture. This is what one hopes for from a Steven Seagal picture, real use of authentic aikido techniques (or at least techniques enhanced for the cinema but still based on real fighting methods). Next guns are fired and Seagal's partner kills an innocent woman bystander in front of her child. Another bystander sees this and retaliates by shooting the partner. Further chaos ensues as Seagal steps in and shoots that man. This scene contains real pathos and confusion and is a great example of how violence can beget violence and how innocent people can get caught in the middle with those firing no longer knowing who they're shooting at. It is unforunate that after such a strong opening segment the film quickly spirals downhill, once again showing Steven Seagal the lazy actor mumbling his way along another uninspired script when not grimacing and frowning during slow motion shootouts that overstay their welcome or posing with tai chi hands before
fights not geared to his particular talents. The story itself, which later involves Seagal's attempts to rescue his daughter and her friend from terrorist kidnappers, is uninvolving because we are never properly introduced to the characters as real people we can care for. They are merely there to create reasons for action (an evil priest is thrown in the mix as a major bad guy, but the whole time one thinks, "who is this guy, and where did he come from?". Seagal especially walks through his role and even sounds like he's been dubbed by someone else during one scene. Maybe he didn't feel like going back and doing it himself or maybe it is him and he just didn't care. A lot of his recent releases have him dub his voice later on and he simply sounds bored. The director/action director is one of the all-time best choreographers around (see DUEL TO THE DEATH or THE SWORD), but Seagal is not the ideal performer for showcasing said director's highly stylized (and often high flying) type of action. Instead of showing Seagal as an expert in Aikido, the style he is best identified with, performing moves that he can do effectively and that work in real life situations when done as such, the director chooses to insert obvious doubles doing jumping spin kicks and 360 degree leg sweeps that are the opposite of the simple but effective style Seagal has chosen to practice. This juxtaposition of Seagal and double, and more importantly of aikido and wushu, takes away from the enjoyment of the action as our eyes are jarred away from the real Seagal to the double and back. I have nothing against stunt doubles, in fact I would much rather watch a highly skilled stuntman perform a daring stunt than an actor who isn't as skilled do a pale imitation (or even worse a suspense lacking computer generation) in his place, but Seagal has created a persona that must be adhered to. He is known for his joint locks and circular motion takedowns from the art of Aikido and that is what originally attracted, and still attracts, his fans. There are still tons of moves to work with from this art form. Fans of Seagal became fans because they saw him use these simple techniques that a regular guy (not too muscular, not a kung fu prodigy, not even the most athletic) can do. It would serve him (and his fans) well if he would go back to those basics, and by this I don't mean simply repeating them. If he is given a plausible script that makes sense and tells a story involving a man of his age, size, and skill then we would once again have a hero to look up to. I for one would be much more inspired by seeing an overweight 50 something year old man kick butt with moves that are actually possible and effective for people of that age and size than to see someone often ineffectively doubled who always wins just because the script says so. Get back to the basic foundations of your success Steven Seagal, new but still real Aikido based moves for regular guys who want a hero to inspire them not a hero who tires them. The art of Aikido is inexhaustible so don't exhaust yourself doing what you don't do best. The only redeeming qualities of this film are that some of the other fighters do perform some nice movements and now and then the old Seagal is allowed to strut his Aikido stuff. He just isn't allowed to strut it enough. For hardcore Seagal fans only.
Rating: 
Summary: BELLY OF SEAGAL???
Review: I kinda liked this movie despite the fact Lord Steven stil looks fat. He hides it well in this flick which has great action and a storyline to boot. What has happened is... Seagal has retired from the C.I.A. Later his young daughter is kidnaped while running around with her best friend who's father is high up in our goverment. Both girls are treated badly by the Yung kuo tribe. Seagal goes out on his own(big suprise huh?) to rescue them. And like he says to the police "if your not on my side your in my way" There is several good martial art fights in the movie with good effets in each. Seagal leaves a staggering body count as his hell-bent mission goes deep into the soo-won cain dynasty. Later he fights the cann u sing clan and the moh sgr gee clan and no trouble at all with the win do kin clans.
Rating:
Summary: King Of The Pudge
Review: 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.
Rating:
Summary: Time to call it a day Steven?
Review: Oh dear, oh dear. Yet another "straight to video" release from Steven Seagal who this times plays a former government agent on the edge of retirement (yes I know you're shocked). He just happens to be in Thailand visiting his niece or granddaughter or whatever when she is kidnapped by some local ruffians. The CIA are on the case but this is simply "not good enough" for Mr. Seagal, who after all trained all of their fathers anyway, and he sets off on a one man mission of justice to sort everyone out, and of course save the girl. The usual mindless and implausible "action" ensues, interspersed with plenty of opportunity for Seagal to change into black clothing and perfect his "hard stare", which is now his preferred weapon, (when not crunching bones that is). As enjoyable as missing the last train home, I ask Mr. Seagal again - "when are you going to retire?"
Rating:
Summary: Nothing new but still fun to watch.
Review: I have been a fan of seagal since the 80's and said to say I am finally getting tired of him. If you have seen at least three of his other movies then you dont need to watch this one. If you are ready for an exciting action movie with guns, martial arts, and more guns then get this movie.
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