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.
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.