BELLY OF THE BEAST (2003)

MORGAN'S RATING

An action-packed thriller starring Steven Seagal about an ex-CIA agent's quest to find his kidnapped daughter that leads him down a trail of intrigue, corruption, danger and betrayal. Two girls are kidnapped by a group of Islamic fundamentalists known as the Abu Karaf. One girl is a senator's daughter, who will be used as a political pawn. The other girl, Jessica, is seemingly inconsequential -- just in the wrong place at the wrong time. But what the Abu Karaf could not possibly know is that they picked the wrong girl. Jessica's father, Jake Hopper, is ex-CIA and will stop at nothing to get his daughter back.

Steven Seagal (Jake Hopper), Byron Mann (Sunti), Tom Wu (General Jantapan), Sarah Malukul Lane (Jessica Hopper), Patrick Robinson (Leon Washington), Monica Lo (Lulu), Vincent Riotta (Fitch McQuaid), Chau Siu Tung (Kong), Kevork Malikyan (Fernand Zadir), Pongpat Wachirabunjong (Mongkol), Alastair Vardy (Security Guard), Shahkrit Yamnarm (Brice), Max Ruddock (Russel), Martin McDougall (Tom Collins), Nicolas Rochette (Masked Man), Colin Stinton (Jim Cox), Norman Veeratum (Suthep), Elidh MacQueen (Sara Winthorpe).

A FATHER'S RAGE KNOWS NO LIMIT.

PRODUCTION INFORMATION

DIRECTOR: Tony Ching Siu-tung. WRITER: James Townsend. PRODUCERS: Gary Howsam, Jamie Brown and Charles Wang. CO-PRODUCER: D.J. Carson. EXECUTIVE PRODUCERS: John Thompson and Avi Lerner CO-EXECUTIVE PRODUCER: Phillip B. Goldfine. ORIGINAL MUSIC: Mark Sayer Wade. DISTRIBUTOR: Columbia TriStar Home Entertainment.

QUOTES

Jake Hopper: Okay, somebody up there is about to snipe Mongkol. If I let him do that, I could loose the only link to my daughter, and I can't let that happen. If I shoot him, a while world of trouble is gonna come down on us, you know that right?

[shooting a man dead after he goes for his gun] Jake Hopper: I guess he sealed his own fate.

[fighting a cross-dressing bad guy] Jake Hopper: I liked you much better as a bitch!

FACTS

Jake Hopper: Listen to me, it's my daughter. What that means is anybody who gets in my way it's going to be them or me, you hear? Leon Washington: I don't want to see you go home in body bag. Jake Hopper: You ain't gonna have to worry about that.

RELEASE DATE: December 30th, 2003 (USA) (VIDEO PREMIERE) BUDGET: $18 million (USA) SHOOTING DATES: March 2003 -- ??? - This is the fifth Steven Seagal film to get a video premiere in the United States, following The Patriot (1998), Ticker (2001), The Foreigner (2003) and Out for a Kill (2003).

Jake Hopper: Leon, Leon. My daughter's rotting away somewhere in a goddamn hole, do you expect me to get with your program while they're jerking my chain and yours?

CRITICAL COMMENTS

"Having been on the gradual decline since his biggest hit Under Siege, it comes as arelative shock to see that 11 years later Steven Seagal has managed to pull of an action film nearly as gratifying." -- Mark Pollard, KungFuCinema. com

"The plot is both meandering and hard to follow, and most of the action scenes, if competent, aren't terribly exciting. Seagal is now well-passed his best-before date, and the special effects used to enhance his combat scenes are risible...I will confess to being entertained, and the production values are at least above those of many other DTV action efforts." -- David Annanadale, Upcoming Discs.com

"There are some flashy moments during some of the fight scenes that lend a bit of genuine pizzazz to our begrudging action hero, and the film is reasonably well directed in that it looks good and is marginally entertaining, but when Hopper opens up his proverbial can of whup-ass on the bad guys, just try not to laugh." -- Ian Jane, DVDTalk.com

"There should be no reason [Seagal is] still working in the motion picture industry." -- David Cornelius, Amazing Colossal Website