Belly (1998)

Plenty to Like, Plenty to Dislike

Better Late Then Never

After playing with our expectations, this turns out to be a very different sort of film.

The movie's not perfect, but it sticks the landing of its message. It was engaging - thrilling at times - and I personally thought it was a great time.

About ten years ago I heard about this film through the overwhelmingly negative reviews. I never got the chance to see it myself but the names involved and the fact it was William's debut as a "proper filmmaker" made me want to see it for myself – I didn't think it would be ten years before it came to me via television. Watching it for myself I find the critics to be spot on the money with their criticism because this is a roundly poor film that doesn't deliver on any level – even the areas that you would expect it to at least be OK on. The problems start with the basic plot, which at best is a mumbled sentence about two gangsters living rough and finding redemption – I sincerely doubt that there was a plot synopsis or a story board done for this before writing began, because the ideas are so basic in the final product that it cannot have been more than an one-liner when it came to the development stages.These poor ideas are built into a messy and disjointed plot that has zero narrative flow to it – zero. Nada. None. We do have scenes that connect across the story but on the whole the film feels like fragmented scenes from other films in the same genre – at best lazy, at worst, dumb homage/lifts. Again this comes down to the poor idea for the film, with blocks of narrative put alongside one another without a lot of connection – the place it all ends up is so laughably corny and out of nowhere that it is hard not to sit there shaking your head in disbelief at how bad it is. Unsurprisingly the script is not up to much. At its BEST, the film is mumbling ebonic gangsa clichés – let me stress that again: the best bits in the script are mumbled clichés. The worst is when the characters dialogue is required as part of the story because none of it rings true, my favourite bad bit being Nas' declaration that he will "go to Africa", which is OK to say as a throwaway line in a song but when it is a key thought in your character's head that he makes happen, then maybe it was worth picking a country? I mean – it is a pretty big place and it is incredibly different across each country, with definite places to avoid. That is my pick but there are plenty more.The cast function at the level one would expect given what they have to deal with. It is a common complaint that rappers do not make good films or make good actors and, while there are some exceptions (Mos Def for one) this is often the case. So what better to do than isolate the problem by sticking them all in one film together and having done with it? DMX can "do" street and "do" tough but when the film even suggests that he need do more he just goes to pieces and seems to be mugging for all his worth. Nas meanwhile spends a lot of the film being "deep" and thoughtful but he is also exposed by having a terrible narration to deliver that he cannot make work in any way. Don't feel too sorry for him though – he has a writer's credit on this turd. The presence of Johnson and Meth only serve to remind fans of The Wire how good things can be and by extension, remind us how bad this is even as we watch it. Hicks, T-Boz, Power and others all compete to see who can be the most wooden and unconvincing – my vote goes to TLC's T-Boz for reacting to the Nas being shot in the way one would react to the news that your partner had just snagged their favourite jumper on a nail and made a minor hole in it.Most surprisingly bad though is the film as a visual experience. Here and there we have some clever shot-framing and camera angles but for the vast majority of the film things are murky and dull, with the cinematography awful and none of the invention and eye for a shot that Hype Williams has made his career off. You hear people saying this film is bad but it looks great, I really have to disagree because on the whole it looks awful. And there we have Belly – a film that fails in almost every regard. It is clichéd and simple but yet still cannot manage to make the story flow, while the poor script makes sure that any hint of character or hope of performances from the cast are almost totally gone (with the casting processing putting the final lock on that door). The big clue of quality though is that the one thing we thought we could rely on Williams for (the visuals) is also mostly poor. I watch plenty of so-so films so please believe me when I tell you that this is not a disappointment or a letdown – this is a total pile-up of a film.

I had no clue about the film before I watched it. My hiphop knowledge is pretty poor since snoop's doggy style so I had heard of DMX and Naz but wasn't familiar with their tunes.The opening scene is breath taking.The story line is simple but enthralling, DMX and Naz are comfortable in their roles, as their characters play out the parts. Their business expands, they start treading on toes and ultimately pressure and stress grows between the two protagonists as well as their subsequent relationships with wives and girlfriends. The sound track is wicked, the action is well paced, its violent but also intimidating, really quite raw in some parts which I like. Some of the smaller part characters are quality too, like a local dealer in a Omaha.Its a classic for me.

there's a reggae song that comes on in the movie when Dmx and the Jamaican guy go to an "island" i really need to know its been bugging me for two years. please help i need the name of the song and or the artist if someone would not mind helping me out that would be great but know I'm just writing the ten line minimum of bull crap by the way this movie is average its just that Nas really needs to take some acting courses or something because he was horrible his wife can use the help too because her acting was horrible as well talking to someone requires emotion, she was just reading off of a script. since I only have eight and a half lines I have to bull crap this last line, this really grinds my gears.

Enjoyed all the great acting by all the actors and there were some real hot to trot gals that would knock your eyeballs out of their sockets. The gals and guys would love each other one moment and then in the next scene you would have a complete horror film. The guys and gals did a good deal of trading off lovers and there was plenty of laughs to go around. The gangsters all played their roles to perfection and it was a very entertaining film. However, I can see why some viewers would find this film boring and way too long. The producers and directors could very well have cut out about 45 minutes of the film and it quite possibly could still have been able to tell the complete story. It is all up to the VIEWER!