Belly (1998)

Director:

Hype Williams

Writers:

Anthony Bodden (story) &
Nas (story) ...

Release Date:

4 November 1998 (USA)

Genre:

Crime | Drama

Plot:

A pair of vicious black gangsters have spiritual awakenings.

Plot Keywords:

Ghetto | Drugs | Neorealism | African American | Tragedy

Awards:

1 nomination

Cast

DMX	...	Tommy 'Buns' Bundy
Nas	...	Sincere
Hassan Johnson	...	Mark
Taral Hicks	...	Kisha
Tionne 'T-Boz' Watkins	...	Tionne
Oliver 'Power' Grant	...	Knowledge (as Power)
Louie Rankin	...	Lennox
Stan Drayton	...	Wise (as Stanley Drayton)
James Parris	...	LaKid
Method Man	...	Shameek
Kurt Loder	...	Himself
Ben Chavis	...	Rev. Saviour (as Minister Benjamin F. Muhammed)
Tyrin Turner	...	Big
Jay Black	...	Black
John 'B.J.' Bryant	...	Thug #1

MPAA:

Rated R for strong violence, language, sexuality and drug use.

Runtime:

96 min

Country:

Jamaica | USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital | SDDS

Certification:

Germany:16 | South Korea:18 | Australia:MA | UK:18 | USA:R | Iceland:16

Filming Locations:

Jamaica

Company:

Big Dog Films

Trivia:

The scene of Sincere (Nas) and the 12 year old boy on the park bench is a direct reference to the last verse from Nas' song "One Love", off his 1994 debut album Illmatic.

Quotes:

Lennox: Jamaica is good.
Tommy 'Buns' Bundy: Yeah, Jamaica is good. Jamaica is very good.

Movie Connections:

References The Godfather (1972)

Soundtrack:

Bam Bam

One of the better "Urban/Hip-Hop" Movies of the 90's

First off this is one of those movie where you either hate it or love it. I loved the movie. I found it to be one of the better urban movies to come out in the 90's not better then boyz n da hood or menace II society. But It was the best one that centered around life in New York's crime underworld. I also think it's DMX's best movie so far. The movie is stylishly filmed by Director Hype WIlliams and the characters are extremely realistic. The dialog is also realistic. The movie might fall short when it comes to how the plot is set up and the overall development of the characters. That is not to say that the movie doesn't have an overall significant meaning because it does. It addresses some of the problems that face inner city youth today. Most people that don't like this movie fail to realize this fact. The minister character in the movie is not important but rather what he is saying is. With that said I feel that the movie takes bold steps to show how certain ways of life are wrong and why they should be changed. The movie is also not your typical crime/drug movie however it does have some of those moments that could have been rethought to be a bit more interesting. With all that said I recommend the movie to be at least watched once because if nothing else the movie does have a great soundtrack and decent plot.