You know, love Steven Seagal films, especially his older films. From that time when he was somewhat tolerable, and he was thin and charismatic. He had a screen presence and star power. And his characters, no matter how they look all the same, the were, again, more tolerable. But from the beginning of 2000s... That one was pure mistake. Look at him, he is fat, not that super, boring, slow, disgustingly decadent... Just like every new character in straight to DVD films. Now, the story is simple just like in every Seagal's film, he is the former operative, they kidnap his daughter, he goes after her, blah blah blah... He wins in the end he saves her, everyone's happy, except for the villains, blah blah... This film offers really dumb martial arts scenes, Seagal very rarely uses Aikido, he turns more to some Ta Chi, or Kung Fu.. Wtf? Seagal is constantly dressed as a Buddhist monk, only because you are a member of that religion, doesn't mean you need to do it your films. But, alas, Seagal being stubborn when it comes to his views of the world, he always plays himself, so don't expect some good performances, not from him, not from anyone. Everything is plain bad in this film, action, music score, cinematography... Very amateurish. There is a scene, where Seagal is attacked by a transvestite fighter, I don't know what did they try to do with that. What was the point in that scene? let's put some bizarre opponents in this film, and they were just there, they had a fight, nothing more... No charisma no development, nothing new within these characters. Also, this is the funniest stuff in the film. There's a Buddhist temple, from where Seagal draws power to fight (yes, that happens in the film. The power of Buddhist monks), also the villains have their own dark Buddhist monk... What a hell?! I think that Seagal, not only that he wants to promote his own world views (just like he did in "Fire Down Below", or in "On Deadly Ground"), but he also decided to promote his own religion. Remember, when you promote religion, or force it to your audience, that can only turn bad and repelling. So, I don't recommend this film, because it's a silly Buddhist-action film with no characters and meaning. Mindless garbage!
Review of Belly of the Beast
