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List Price: $14.94 | | Label: Sony Pictures
Salesrank: 13226
Released: February 15, 2005 |
| Our Price: $4.97 |
| Used Price: $1.90 |
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MPAA Rating: R (Restricted)
Media: DVD |
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Editorial Review:
No Description Available.
Genre: Feature Film-Action/Adventure
Rating: R
Release Date: 6-JUN-2006
Media Type: DVD
Into the Sun Reviews:
Here comes the sun, oh wait it's just the human panda Steven Seagal 
2009-07-25 - When it comes to a Steven Seagal film it can typically go one of two ways; either it blows beyond belief or it's so hilarious that we reference it for years to come. Into the Sun appeared to be extremely dull due to many reviews which forced us to keep it on the back burner into our no priority bin. When it came on tv this afternoon we figured this was the opportune time to finally see for ourselves, and we were very surprised. This movie was actually good yet hilarious at the same time. We were graced with Seagals legendary ponytail as it was at the end of it's career before a luscious head of Myers hair took over. This was one of the last films it could be seen in so that was a big star there.
Our hefty, leather trench coat sporting friend Seagal plays his usual destructive character as he tears through Japan with brute force. His name is Travis and returns to his Japan, where he was raised which confirms the Seagal being Dutch's dad theory, to bring down a drug ring one Chinaman at a time. Yeah it's been done a million times but never seems to get old. Naturally he rips through everyone using his sped up fighting action and a nice sword (2nd Dutch confirmation). The final scene is one to remember as limbs are loped off in record timing.
We were very pleased with this entry into the long obese list of Seagal flicks, and wonder why more didn't enjoy it. You could actually understand what he was saying as opposed to the inaudible dialogue with the stuff he puts out now. He evens speak some Japanese throughout the movie which is almost as hilarious as his Russian accent in Driven to Kill (review will be up this week). This is surely one Sid would have enjoyed many moons ago and feels it deserves the beloved Drive in Totals;
self inflicted finger chopping
XXXL Nights of the Roundtable trench coat
Ponytail/Myers hair combination (a very rare occurrence)
chopped off arm
3 broken arms
Sword Fu
Seagal Fu
dead Seagal Japanese fiance
and a thoroughly enjoyed addition the Sid's Seagal library
Into the dumpster 
2009-04-23 - I am a fan of some of Seagal's films, Above The Law, Under Siege, On Deadly Ground, Marked For Death. I attended an Ai Ki Jitsu seminar taught by him. I am a fan of Samurai films. I am especially fond of East-Meets-West, "sword porn," Yakuza [a magnum opus], The Hunted, The Challenge, Red Sun [a largely unrecognized masterpiece]. I am a student of Japanese martial arts, Nihon To and culture. That said, Into The Sun is a major disappointment. It is as if someone took all of the best images, worst clichés and dull moments from the aforementioned films, all of Seagal's worst deadpan non-acting, and a large chunk of money, threw them into a cement mixer and this film fell out. It has a compelling plot concept, good cast, art direction, set and setting, all the elements, great potential, however, it has no soul, no elegance. The fight scenes are like watching Bo Derek's sex scenes, all the hardware is there, all the action, but it is still boring. As with most of Seagal's films it is burdened with an anti-government sub-message. In particular it suffers from inept direction and incoherent editing. It is like overcooked filet mignon, flat champagne or too old sushi. Rent it and watch it before you buy it. I shall be trying to sell my copy after one viewing.
awesome 
2009-03-25 - Seagal kicks the tar out of a bunch of Japanese bad guys with the help of some Japanese good guys and a Samurai sword the size of a small man. Seagal also flexes his ability to speak Japanese in this film, something that I think is pretty cool. Either way, I really don't agree with most of the negative reviews on here. One thing though is this film does kind of pander to orientalism, and they show Seagal in Jap-mode drinking out of everything but a cup...but that's okay. Sword fights are awesome, and so is Steven Seagal. Five stars.
Not what it could have been... 
2008-03-29 - In Steven Seagal's A&E Biography, he was very upbeat about his (at that time) upcoming feature, "Into the Sun". He touted it as the movie he had always wanted to make, his triumphant return to Japan for a big-budget Yakuza vs Seagal movie...so I had high hopes...which were dashed soon after the film began.
The movie wasn't his worst, but it was not anywhere close to his best efforts, and isn't worth buying, in my opinion, as it doesn't bear repeated watching the way "Out For Justice" or "Hard To Kill" does.
Swing A Sword, Steven! 
2008-03-16 - Rumor has it that "Into the Sun" - Steven Seagal's third action offering of 2005 - was originally penned to be a rework of Sydney Pollack's cult picture "The Yakuza". As interesting as it would've been to see Seagal in the role of Robert Mitchum, he nonetheless manages to throw together a fairly decent story of his own with this little straight-to-DVD bit of actionery, centered around the exploits of a CIA agent tracking down Yakuza crime lords responsible for the assassination of a Tokyo governor.
No, the story isn't anything particularly out of the ordinary, and Seagal continues to portray the only repetitious character he knows how to (albeit one that speaks fluent Japanese, often), but unlike the sloppy DTV debacles that were "Ticker", "The Foreigner", and "Out For A Kill", "Into The Sun" shows promise in being surprisingly firmly-molded, with no plot holes or glaring technical snafus in sight. Sure, it's got a handful of thoroughly useless characters, the number of fight scenes is limited, and the plotline is a bit too complicated for its own good, but for a Seagal film in this day and age, it's more than acceptable.
Steven Seagal is Travis Hunter - a best-of-the-best CIA agent who's tired of his job and accepts his latest assignment only under the condition that it will be his last. Paired with a thoroughly clueless partner (Matthew Davis, "Below"), he returns to the streets of his adolescent home, Tokyo, to seek the Yakuza- and Tong-associated masterminds (Takao Osawa and Ken Lo, the latter of "Legend of the Drunken Master") responsible for the killing of a campaigning governor. Along the way, he revisits his origins as a master swordsman, his benign relationship with the Yakuza of old, and an old flame looking to be rekindled.
Effectively hiding his gut underneath a trenchcoat, Seagal is surprisingly nimble in some pretty decent hand-to-hand and sword fights, and the brutality of these is realistic enough to show that Seagal isn't playing around anymore. Seagal shares an equal amount of screentime with his stunt double when it comes to the okay hand-to-hand encounters, but wields a katana himself during the undeniably cool final battle, in which he cuts off a man's arm while taking on a stronghold full of other swordsman; this is definitely one of the best action scenes that Seagal would ever be involved in. I'm nonetheless disappointed that the amazing Ken Lo doesn't get to show off very much and ends up getting killed by Steven pretty quick, but I guess you can't have everything.
The story itself, while occasionally going off on useless tangents (Seagal's relationships with his doomed girlfriend and a female agent only distract from the plot, as well as the inclusion of the thoroughly useless Matthew Davis character), is solid and comprehensive enough to appeal to the "Seagal standard". The other actors pull their weight as well, with Takao Osawa standing out as particularly effective as a young, coldhearted crime lord.
While not dynamic nor refined enough to measure up to the likes of his theatrical features, "Into the Sun" offers a satisfying high for Seagal-fans starving for our next fix. It's a shame to think that Seagal followed up this fun little exploit with the atrocious "Submerged" , but inconsistency is something that we fans of Master Steven have come to live with. I wholeheartedly recommend giving "Sun" both a rent and a purchase.
