After reading the above review of this film, and specifically that it cost $18m to make, I feel moved to post judgement myself, in the hope that the people involved in its production might read my comments and hang their heads in shame.
The storyline itself is an irrelevance (I find it ludicrous to be warned over posting a plot spoiler with this or any Seagal film), but that is not the problem here. It's not the problem with any of these type of films, which are almost always entirely predictable, and serve only to provide no-brain-required relaxation. The problem here is Steven Seagal himself. He is now the size of a mobile home, and therefore absurd in his familiar role as the vengeful martial arts expert. His grotesque, swollen head looks like it has been carved out of a large potato by a child with poor hand-eye coordination, and the rest of his bloated physique (perhaps the title 'Belly Of The Beast' refers to this) allows him little speed or manoeuvrability during his ridiculous fight scenes, which therefore rely heavily on close-ups of wrist blocks rather than anything too strenuous. I could beat Seagal in the shape he's in (if indeed it is a shape) simply by moving quickly to and fro around him, thus tiring out the beast and reducing him to easy pickings.
The point is, he should really just retire. His films are no longer in the same vein as Arnie's where you could switch off and enjoy mindless violence and a few helicopter crashes (and that's being kind, I don't think Seagal's films were ever that good). He has now descended into a laughing stock. The fact it's still amusing is the only reason it doesn't get 1 out of 10. In fact, the only thing that isn't funny about this film is that it cost $18m to make, the majority of which I imagine went towards pies and cakes for it's overweight star.
The storyline itself is an irrelevance (I find it ludicrous to be warned over posting a plot spoiler with this or any Seagal film), but that is not the problem here. It's not the problem with any of these type of films, which are almost always entirely predictable, and serve only to provide no-brain-required relaxation. The problem here is Steven Seagal himself. He is now the size of a mobile home, and therefore absurd in his familiar role as the vengeful martial arts expert. His grotesque, swollen head looks like it has been carved out of a large potato by a child with poor hand-eye coordination, and the rest of his bloated physique (perhaps the title 'Belly Of The Beast' refers to this) allows him little speed or manoeuvrability during his ridiculous fight scenes, which therefore rely heavily on close-ups of wrist blocks rather than anything too strenuous. I could beat Seagal in the shape he's in (if indeed it is a shape) simply by moving quickly to and fro around him, thus tiring out the beast and reducing him to easy pickings.
The point is, he should really just retire. His films are no longer in the same vein as Arnie's where you could switch off and enjoy mindless violence and a few helicopter crashes (and that's being kind, I don't think Seagal's films were ever that good). He has now descended into a laughing stock. The fact it's still amusing is the only reason it doesn't get 1 out of 10. In fact, the only thing that isn't funny about this film is that it cost $18m to make, the majority of which I imagine went towards pies and cakes for it's overweight star.