Belly of the Beast
| Belly of the Beast | |
|---|---|
 DVD cover | |
| Directed by | Ching Siu Tung |
| Written by | Thomas Fenton (uncredited) James Townsend |
| Story by | Steven Seagal (uncredited) |
| Produced by | Jamie Brown Randall Emmett George Furla Gary Howsam Steven Seagal Charles Wang |
| Starring | Steven Seagal Byron Mann Monica Lo Tom Wu |
| Cinematography | Danny Nowak |
| Edited by | David Richardson |
| Music by | Mark Sayer-Wade |
Production companies | GFT Entertainment Salon Films Studio Eight Productions |
| Distributed by | Columbia TriStar Home Entertainment |
Release date |
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Running time | 91 minutes |
| Country | United States |
| Languages | English Thai |
| Budget | $14 million |
Belly of the Beast is a 2003 American action film directed by Hong Kong film director Ching Siu Ting his American directorial debut, and also produced by Steven Seagal, who also starred in the lead role. The film co-stars Byron Mann, Monica Lo and Tom Wu. The film was released on direct-to-DVD in the United States on December 30, 2003.
Plot
Ten years ago, Jake Hopper (Steven Seagal) was a CIA agent who was stationed in Thailand. Then one day, things went sour, and his partner, Sunti (Byron Mann) barely escaped with his life after accidentally killed a woman. However, Jake called it quits and returned to the United States when his wife died, and Sunti became a Buddhist monk to atone for his sins. For the past 10 years, Jake has run a successful private security business, and has been raising his daughter Jessica (Sara Malakul Lane), who is now an adult.
While hiking in Thailand, Jessica and her friend Sarah Winthorpe (Eilidh MacQueen) are kidnapped. A group of Islamic fundamentalists known as the Abu Karaf claims responsibility. Sarah is the daughter of United States senator John Winthorpe. The Abu Karaf demand the release of 20 prisoners from American custody.
Tom Collins (Martin McDougall), an ex-colleague of Jake's, recognizes Jessica on the ransom tape, and he tips Jake off. Jake knows that he must rescue the girls himself. An old CIA buddy puts Jake in contact with Leon Washington (Patrick Robinson), an active CIA agent who is working in Thailand. Jake goes to Bangkok, and escapes an assassination attempt by unknown forces.
Meanwhile, Leon arranges a meeting for himself with Soku the internal security chief for General Jantapan (Tom Wu), is a rebel military general who is making a play to be one of the most powerful men in Thailand. Secretly, Jantapan is messing with some very dangerous spiritual forces. Soku provides Jake with a cover story, but the CIA wants Jake out of it because they're planning to take out the Abu Karaf with the aid of the Thai army, and they don't want a civilian in the middle.
Jake is a spiritual man, so he contacts his spiritual master Paijan Paitoon. As Jake is in trouble, Paitoon offers to arrange a divination from the oracle of the order. He enlists the help of Sunti. Jake gets Lulu (Monica Lo), the girlfriend of arms dealer Fitch McQuoid (Vincent Riotta), to steal information leading to the Abu Karaf.
Jake and Sunti follow the leads to a warehouse where they discover evidence of highly sophisticated weaponry. With their enemies now after Lulu, Jake takes Lulu under his wing. He then shares some of his info with Leon still testing the waters. Can he trust Leon? Another attempt is made on Jake's life and this time, Jake's sure that Leon was involved.
Finally, the Abu Karaf contact Jake to arrange a meeting the pieces are coming together, and Jake figures out that it was not the Abu Karaf who kidnapped Jessica and Sarah. Jake gets his reading from the old oracle, and the cryptic message confirms his fears demonic spiritual forces are working against him. Jantapan later goes to an evil temple and tries to send the spirit of an ancient warrior demon to kill Jake, but the ceremony goes wrong and the spirit enters Jantapan himself, giving him amazing but evil physical and spiritual powers.
However, Jake and Sunti go to meet Mongkol (Pongpat Wachirabunjong), the leader of the Abu Karaf. Mongkol confirms what Jake suspects ever since the terrorist attacks of 2001, Jantapan has worked to corner the narcotics and arms markets. He also said that Jantapan kidnapped the girls and blamed the Abu Karaf so the army would wipe out Jantapan's competition. Mongkol knows where the girls are, and he gives Jake plans and intelligence and they both need the girls alive. Jake must engage in a rescue effort that will put him to the ultimate test as he takes on Jantapan in a battle in which death may be the only ending.
Later that night, Jake and Sunti plan to rescue the girls who are locked in a cell in Jantapan's house. After killing two gang members guarding the cell and freeing the girls, a horde of corrupt Thai policemen intervene and makes a deadly shootout but end up dead through the firearms of the two. Meanwhile, Sunti kills the rest of the cops while Jake battles with Jantapan in the upstairs living room. Jake kills Jantapan by disarming him and inflicts several injuries in his body like breaking his neck. He ends the fight by throwing Jantapan in a display cabinet which crushes his spine killing him.
Jake returns downstairs which is now full of dead bodies of Thai police and embraces the girls and then Sunti only to discover hes is fatally injured. Sunti wishes Jake farewell before dying in his arms. Military forces led by Leon and their General enter but Leon orders them to hold fire after seeing Jake with the dead Sunti and kidnapped girls.
After the battle, a Buddhist funeral with Jake in the lead is seen. Jake steps into the river and throws Sunti's ashes in the water. A vision of Sunti smiling fades in and later fades out. Jake was looking at the river and saying "Goodbye brother."
The film ends with words saying "In Loving Memory of our friend Trevor Murray," who was the Production Designer on the film, and the credits roll. Murray died of natural causes in Bangkok during the last few days of filming.
Cast
- Steven Seagal as Jake Hopper
- Byron Mann as Sunti
- Monica Lo as Lulu
- Tom Wu as General Jantapan
- Sarah Malakul Lane as Jessica Hopper
- Patrick Robinson as Leon Washington
- Vincent Riotta as Fitch McQuaid
- Norman Veeratum as Suthep
- Eilidh MacQueen as Sara Winthorpe
- Chan Siu-tung as Kong
- Kevork Malikyan as Fernand Zadir
- Pongpat Wachirabunjong as Mongkol
- Alastair Vardy as Security Guard
- Andy Adam as Security Guard
- Shahkritt Yamnarm as Brice
Production
It is set and filmed at Bangkok Thailand in 42 days on February 3 and March 17, 2003.
Reception
The film received mostly negative reviews, however fans consider it a guilty pleasure and an improvement over most of Steven Seagal's direct-to-video work. The film has an 4.4/10 on IMDB.
Home media
DVD was released in Region 1 in the United States on December 30, 2003, and also Region 2 in the United Kingdom on 16 February 2004, it was distributed by Columbia TriStar Home Entertainment.