I love Seagal movies. I even liked On Deadly Ground, a movie which has been dogged so badly that it's on the bottom 100 list here at IMDb.
Belly of the Beast gives us a glimmer of hope that he is making his way back to the top. I did; however, detest the shape he's allowed himself to fall into. He was tough, edgy, and a general hard-ball player.
Now, he's using baggy clothes to hide his obvious weight gain, partial facial shots to hide the pudgy cheeks, and body doubles wherever necessary. At least Jackie Chan toned himself back into form before he did "The Medallion." (Check that one out. That was a genuinely decent movie.)
Gone (for good?) is the polished and smooth Seagal. Enters Seagal the scruffy, disheveled hero. Sad. I used to love his movies for the purist aikido arts he exhibited. But now, I just watch them out of a sense of loyalty to a has-been master.
He's just not what he used to be. But this movie does give me hope for the future of his movies. He even did a variation on Bruce Lee's "one-inch punch." Not bad at all.
The story was an old one, and it's really becoming a tired one. Kid is kidnapped, and dad has to save the kid. Get over it, already, and beoriginal for Pete's sake! But for an 18M budget, considering the whole thing was filmed in Thailand, I guess a good story is too much to ask for. At least there was some well-placed and professionally executed action, this time around.
As I said, the action was well executed, and almost (if not entirely) non-stop, and the story did move along quite well. The two aspects I do like about Seagal's movies, even the ones which do not fare well at the box office, or go straight to video like this one did, are his connection with family and his boldness about his (non-christian) spirituality. I admire him for that. He may even make some people realize that their mainstream religion only makes up a very small part of the world's religious base.
I doubt it, but perhaps.
The one memorable line from this movie? "I liked you better as a b*tch." Jake Hopper (Steven Seagal)
All in all, it rates a 7.3/10 from...
the Fiend :.
Belly of the Beast gives us a glimmer of hope that he is making his way back to the top. I did; however, detest the shape he's allowed himself to fall into. He was tough, edgy, and a general hard-ball player.
Now, he's using baggy clothes to hide his obvious weight gain, partial facial shots to hide the pudgy cheeks, and body doubles wherever necessary. At least Jackie Chan toned himself back into form before he did "The Medallion." (Check that one out. That was a genuinely decent movie.)
Gone (for good?) is the polished and smooth Seagal. Enters Seagal the scruffy, disheveled hero. Sad. I used to love his movies for the purist aikido arts he exhibited. But now, I just watch them out of a sense of loyalty to a has-been master.
He's just not what he used to be. But this movie does give me hope for the future of his movies. He even did a variation on Bruce Lee's "one-inch punch." Not bad at all.
The story was an old one, and it's really becoming a tired one. Kid is kidnapped, and dad has to save the kid. Get over it, already, and beoriginal for Pete's sake! But for an 18M budget, considering the whole thing was filmed in Thailand, I guess a good story is too much to ask for. At least there was some well-placed and professionally executed action, this time around.
As I said, the action was well executed, and almost (if not entirely) non-stop, and the story did move along quite well. The two aspects I do like about Seagal's movies, even the ones which do not fare well at the box office, or go straight to video like this one did, are his connection with family and his boldness about his (non-christian) spirituality. I admire him for that. He may even make some people realize that their mainstream religion only makes up a very small part of the world's religious base.
I doubt it, but perhaps.
The one memorable line from this movie? "I liked you better as a b*tch." Jake Hopper (Steven Seagal)
All in all, it rates a 7.3/10 from...
the Fiend :.