Belly Movie Review 1998

Inner-city crime tale preaches against crime, violence and drugs while it visually glorifies the opulent benefits of them. Childhood pals Tommy (Simmons) and Sincere (Jones) are successful criminals who head down different paths. Sincere dreams of turning legit and moving his family to Africa. Tommy gets deeper into the drug biz until he is caught by feds and forced to bring down innocent black leader Reverend Saviour (Muhammed). Although the movie ends with a plea for change, it may itself be part of the problem.

Distribution

Artisan Entertainment, 2700 Colorado Ave., Ste. 200, Santa Monica, CA 90404, Phone: (310)449-9200, Fax: (310)255-3730, URL: http://www.artisanent.com, Remarks: Does not handle retail queries from consumers; contact your local video distributor.

Available on VHS, DVD
Running time 95 minutes.

Cast and Crew

Genres

Crime Drama, Buddies, Gangs, Anti-Heroes, Heists, New Black Cinema, Urban Drama, Drug Use & Abuse

Screenplay

Nas, Hype Williams, Anthony Bodden

Cast

Nas, DMX, Taral Hicks, Tionne "T-Boz" Watkins, Method Man, Tyrin Turner, Hassan Johnson, Power, Louie Rankin, Benjamin F. Muhammed

Cinematography

Malik Hassan Sayeed

Director

Hype Williams

Music

Stephen Cullo