Belly of the Beast
| Belly of the Beast | |
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DVD cover
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| Directed by | Ching Siu Tung |
| Produced by | Jamie Brown Randall Emmett George Furla Gary Howsam Steven Seagal Charles Wang |
| Written by | Thomas Fenton (uncredited) James Townsend |
| Story by | Steven Seagal (uncredited) |
| Starring | Steven Seagal Byron Mann Monica Lo Tom Wu |
| Music by | Mark Sayer-Wade |
| Cinematography | Danny Nowak |
| Edited by | David Richardson |
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Production
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| Distributed by | Columbia TriStar Home Entertainment |
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Release date
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Running time
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91 minutes |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English Thai |
| Budget | $14 million |
Belly of the Beast is a 2003 American action film directed by Hong Kong film director Ching Siu Ting in his American directorial debut, and also produced by and starring Steven Seagal. The film was released on direct-to-DVD in the United States on December 30, 2003. Steven Seagal plays Jake Hopper, a former CIA agent on a quest and to find his kidnapped daughter.
Jake Hopper (Steven Seagal) is a successful businessman and retired CIA agent who runs a successful private security business. Ten years ago, as a CIA agent stationed in Thailand, things were going the right way until a fight with thugs results in his partner, Sunti (Byron Mann) escaping with his life after accidentally killing 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. Jake has since been a devoted father to his daughter Jessica (Sara Malakul Lane), now an adult, while running a successful private security business.
While hiking in Thailand, Jessica and her friend Sarah Winthorpe (Eilidh MacQueen), the daughter of U.S. Senator John Winthorpe are kidnapped. A group of Islamic fundamentalists known as the Abu Karaf claims responsibility. 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. Knowing that he must rescue the girls himself, a former CIA colleague 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 gangsters and unknown forces.
Meanwhile, Leon arranges a meeting for himself with Soku, the internal security chief for General Jantapan (Tom Wu), 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, Buddhist monk 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.
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Wikipedia