Belly of the Beast

• Directed by Ching Siu-tung
• December 30, 2003

A former CIA agent goes on a quest to save his kidnapped daughter. This 2003 movie sounds like the 2008 film Taken.

After a shootout as the opening scene, Belly of the Beast shows some slow-motion footage of a naked woman swimming in a pool because of course it should. This is interspersed with footage of Jack Hopper (Steven Seagal) stealthily navigating the home that this is happening at. The body double is doing most of the stealth. I swear there are even points where the guy is missing his ponytail.

Hopper goes from skillful thief (or general trespasser) to former CIA operative in the blink of an eye. Gone is the burglar rummaging through refrigerators and sliding across floors like they are greased. In the place of him is the best ever field operative that must save his kid! Not even sure what he was doing at the mansion besides getting a snack.

Director Ching Siu-tung uses slow-motion to stretch this barely 92-minute movie out into those 92-minutes. Done right the technique can add style. Other times, like here, this bit of wannabe artistry is void fill. It is always better to make a shorter movie than it is to stretch something out. Eighty minutes may not sound good but if it feels epic or is simply great to watch nobody will care.

When he is not engaging in slo-mo, Ching Siu-tung presents a stylized movie heavily steeped when it comes to action in the elements that make Hong Kong actioners a joy to watch. People get tossed into hatchets or sword swinging killers leap around like acrobats trying out for Cirque du Soleil.

Some have made a great deal of Steven Seagal and his need for boobies in his movies. He’s either in a strip club or somebody gets topless at least once per film. It happens here on several occasions for the actor. In one scene he and Hopper’s sidekick Sunti (Byron Mann) are driving through generic Asian town and they get stopped by a random woman. With no reason to ever really justify it, Hopper gets out of the car and follows her into a room where she takes off her shirt and uses water to reveal a hidden message on her bare chest. I wish that were some kind of joke.

There are other hints of mysticism and magic in this though neither really play strongly into the main plot. It’s more to give it a different feel than the by the numbers rescue film it is. We have this hairy old man with swords that engages in voodoo magic during the climactic battle between Hopper and the villain. There are monks that use magical Buddhism then to save the day because why not? A more supernatural feel could made this something more than it is.

I cannot help but note the similarities between this and the classic Taken. There are drugs and sex trafficking and a pretty daughter getting abducted in another country with her retired CIA dad saving the day. I have the weird suspicion that this inspired that. I am sure I have said Seagal has been in movies that would be better with any other star leading the cast. It was bound to have happened once.

Seagal as always is the problem if there is ever one that holds back a film he is. He puts in only slightly more effort than your average Mark Ruffalo performance. Poor editing aside, his lack of movement when saying lines makes him stiff and the same look and tone whether happy, sad, or mad makes everything his character does questionable. If Hopper is not invested in the moment then audience will not be either.

Belly of the Beast is poorly defined. Sunti’s death is supposed to be tragic but you barely even know him. Hopper is supposed to be investigating but just goes from one fight scene to the next. It might be forgivable if he questioned somebody after smacking them around but nope. How the villain was revealed as the villain is a mystery. Who was the hairy guy? Or why did the woman deliver the boobie message?

Belly of the Beast is good for passing time. Not so much for focused viewing. Not completely disappointing, but not worth seeking out.