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Into the Sun (2005) More at IMDbPro »

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69 comments in total

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23 out of 29 people found the following comment useful :-
Not his best, but it's getting better, 18 February 2005

Author: scorch4321ic from United States

I've watched many Seagal movies and his latest ones in the past 4 years or so have really been downers. Although they were fun to watch because you could always get your kicks out of the cheap acting, unrealistic gun battles and pathetic plot. I rented this movies looking forward to laughing more than paying attention. However, I must say, I was quite surprised because this movie is definitely much better than the other ones he's released lately. It's not near a 10/10 because it's simply put a low budget film and the whole 22 year old girl and Seagal getting engaged was a bit disturbing. But yeah, other than that it was a much better movie this time around.

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31 out of 48 people found the following comment useful :-
"This one is so sharp.....I'll use it tonight......This kills very well!", 24 February 2005

Author: lee nicholson (dolemite72) from middlesbrough, UK

INTO THE SUN was supposed to get a limited cinema release, i don't think it would have fared well on the big screen? The beginning is good, the ending is great, but the mid section (as with most recent SEAGAL movies) felt a little padded. SEAGAL (great as ever) plays TRAVIS HUNTER (great name) ex CIA Yakuza expert, sent to Tokyo, to solve the case of a murdered governor. SEAGAL meets up with his (soon to be) young bride, and makes his peace with his old sensei, but the Yakuza are on to Hunter (and his rookie partner) and plan to take them, out of the picture......BIG MISTAKE!!

On paper this sounds fine, but i just wish that the director had given SEAGAL more to do than spend an hour, questioning people, or driving around. When the fight scenes do come, they are very good (i've watched it slo-mo, and looks 100% genuine SEAGAL.......so why all the quick cutting?) and SEAGAL still has amazing hand-speed (the sword fights are awesome) and i quite liked some of the Yakuza scenes (but it's in this mid-section, that SEAGAL is rarely on screen, or even forgot about) but with more fight scenes, this movie could have been a classic. As it is, it's a million times better than the (rather dull) OUT OF REACH, but still nowhere near the giddy heights of BELLY OF THE BEAST (the perfect combination of SEAGALism and kick ass action) Director MINK (eh?) does a good job with the action scenes, and tries to inject the movie with flashy visuals, from time to time. I'll give them credit, however, for using music tracks from SEAGAL's album (SONGS FROM THE CRYSTAL CAVE) throughout this movie. The sword fighting scenes are quite bloody as well (take note QUENTIN!) and the movie has a more 'polished' look than previous SEAGAL epics. The bottom line is this, people expecting another UNDER SIEGE need not watch this, but fans of 70's Yakuza flicks will enjoy seeing the old cliché's on display.

It was rumoured that this picture was meant to be a remake of sorts to 1975's classic THE YAKUZA (with ROBERT MITCHUM) but the blood soaked climax aside, it bears little resemblance.

Final thoughts; Good movie, solid fight scenes (when they come) OK performances, crisp photography, great soundtrack (that i'll bet is never released anywhere) No voice doubles and some violent bloodletting, make INTO A SUN a (slow) step in the right direction for STEVEN SEAGAL, still the baddest man on the planet known as 'action' 8 OUT OF 10

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16 out of 26 people found the following comment useful :-
Into The Sun Review, 16 January 2005

Author: Craig Robertson (Robo-19) from Ayr, Scotland

Action: Steven Seagal looks in the best shape he's been in since Exit Wounds. The action fight sequences unfortunately were few and far between. There was a fight at the mall that was superb, in my opinion this was great, but it was over too soon. This was really the only time where he truly showed off his hard to hand combat moves as well as his Aikido throws. The other fights later on were mainly sword based although there were a few punches. No care chases at all. The movie was certainly more plot based than we are used to for a Steven Seagal movie.

Characters: Steven Seagal get's a partner in this movie, but he is pretty much under-used. There's a few funny moments between them. The other characters are pretty poor too. William Atherton as the boss doesn't seem to interested in his role and the other Chinese and Japanese stars don't improve the movie much either. I sure miss the days when Steven Seagal made movies with a decent support cast.

Soundtrack: The radio stations and restaurants in Tokyo must all be tuned in to Steven Seagal FM, everywhere he went his music was playing - i heard a few of his tunes from 'Songs From The Crystal Cave' playing through the film. Overall i counted at least three of his songs including the credits song. The soundtrack was good though.

Direction: The movie begins with an action sequence in the jungle, which is not very well done. The opening credits begin and then some graphic work happens to show the movie is in Tokyo. When i saw this is reminded me other Michael Oblowitz's work in 'Out For A Kill' and i thought the worst, but after that panic it was certainly well directed. Good job mink.

Overall: Pretty disappointing, i was expecting much more for a budget of $35 million, i don't know where all this money was used as it seems rather excessive considering not much was blown up. It is certainly a better movie than 'Out For A Kill' and 'The Foreigner', but it is not better than 'Belly Of The Beast' and nowhere near as good as his earlier work. For a direct to video effort it is certainly above average though. I must admit i pretty much agree with the review form 'Ain't It Cool'.

Rating: 2 / 5

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8 out of 11 people found the following comment useful :-
Steven Seagal now as a tough agent in the country which he truly lived, 6 February 2006

Author: ma-cortes

Governor Tokio is murdered and an agent Travis Hunter(Steven Seagal) and a partner(Matthew Davis)are assigned by CIA Chief(William Atherton) to resolve it and going track down the responsible terrorist,a Japanese version of the Mafia(Yakuza).However the terrorist killing is only a string part of violence and corruption.A new leader Yakuza is planning a scheme to create an enormous dealing drug organization with the Chinese Mafia(The Tongs).Thus Travis Hunter united to his pal must detain the operation and remain alive.This new generation of Yakuza along with Tongs are getting into big business and interfering business ancient Yakuza.There were rules Yakuza respected and followed in the past but these rules do not apply to the new generation.For the introducing themselves into gangsters spheres,they simulate being a master or¨sensei¨(Seagal)and his pupil or ¨deshi¨(Davis).Besides they get into neighbourhood where Seagal truly grew up and he explains that all organised crime gathers and does their things there,all kinds of organised crime(Tong,Yakuza,)they are all centralised here,there is major struggle for turf and for power,most of that power comes from heroin or ¨shabu¨as they call it there. It's a westernized oriental action film with a interesting mingle of suspense,buddy movie,martial arts,ancient ritual with typical code of honour and actual Japanese places .Abundant fists fights as swords struggles in which arms and body parts are slice off here and there and limbs are slit open everywhere or blasted apart.Cruel and savage murders make only recommended for those adults no squeamish and with strong stomach enough to take it. The motion picture is regularly directed by Mink. Rating : Average but entertained.

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3 out of 3 people found the following comment useful :-
Segals Finally Hits A Lucky Number, 22 November 2006

Author: callmealiar2 from United States

If you put out 3 action movies every year as it seems Steven Segal has been doing for the last five, then your bound to make a good one even if its by mistake. In Into The Sun the Sword Master Segal takes on a mafia of drug dealing young runts who aim to take back hong Kong from the aging gangsters. Playing one gang against another Segal gets the edge on these highly successful young gangsters before cutting them to fish bate with his trusty ancient samurai master sword.

I enjoyed the acting of both Segal and the Asian gangsters. The leader of the young group really puts on a great performance convincingly portraying a psychotic young man, obsessed with gaining power at any cost. Other Older gangsters are well acted as well. A realistic performance of what mondern day mafia gangs are like i think.

This film has a great end scene if you like action movies with a lot of violence. The other entertaining part was the cinematography of the hong Kong area which was well filmed.

If you like Segal, Action and Asian set films then you'll like Into The Sun.

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5 out of 7 people found the following comment useful :-
Flawed, Full of Clichés, But Very Entertaining, 2 June 2007

Author: Claudio Carvalho from Rio de Janeiro, Brazil

When the governor of Tokyo is killed in his campaign for election, the former CIA agent Travis Hunter (Steven Seagal) is assigned to find the responsible working together with the rookie FBI agent Sean (Matthew Davis). Travis was raised in Japan, has great connections with the underworld of the streets and is a master in sword and martial arts, trained by a former member of Yakuza. Travis discloses that there is a war between the old and traditional members of Yakuza and the new generation leaded by the deranged and sick Kuroda (Takao Osawa), who has associated to the Chinese Tong mobster Chen (Ken Low) in a powerful drug dealing business. When his fiancée Nayako (Kanako Yamaguchi) is brutally and cowardly murdered by one of Kuroda's men, the mission of Travis becomes a personal issue and he seeks revenge.

"Into the Sun" is the best of the recent works of Steven Seagal. The story is flawed, full of clichés, but also very entertaining. Steven Seagal does not have the same agility of his first movies, but the plot is well supported by magnificent landscapes, wonderful soundtrack and a great cast. I really have not understood why he alternates speaking in English or Japanese; there are some dialogs that the Japanese characters speak in Japanese and Travis speaks in English, in a complete mess. But in the end, I liked this film. My vote is six.

Title (Brazil): "Operação Sol Nascente" ("Operation Rising Sun")

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8 out of 13 people found the following comment useful :-
S10 Reviews: Into the Sun (2005), 14 March 2005

Author: suspiria10 from The Void

Steven Seagal once again return to straight-to-video hokum as a high-level American operative who is lent out to Japan to investigate a Yakuza hit on a top Japanese government official. Is the new generation of Yakuza out for world domination since they seem to no longer be content with just the drug trade? Will Seagal be able to defeat them all on his own and most importantly will you care or bother to continue watching?

Sadly Seagal's career is pretty much DOA. I really enjoyed many of his older films (Above the Law, my personal favorite Hard to Kill, Marked for Death and Under Siege). But sadly his films of late (The Foreigner, Belly of the Beast and now Into the Sun) just don't cut the grade. Never the most energetic and kinetic action stars, Seagal of late seems to have slowed down further and at times appears to be way out of shape. The scripts represent the dartboard method of writing with tired combos that fall flat.

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21 out of 39 people found the following comment useful :-
Same Steven. Same plot.. Less quality., 6 January 2005

Author: thesociety from San Pedro

It's the billion dollar formula, the cop on his last investigation, loses his new bride to bad guys and swears revenge. You hope there's something new, in the flair, the setting, or maybe the bad guys. Not in this movie. The grouchy FBI boss was toothless, the rookie recruit wasn't likable and the wife didn't even get to struggle.

The bad guys weren't believable or scary, and neither was the violence. Steven has slowed down a step or two, looks more like David Carradine. Maybe they expected Steven's competent Japanese to give him character. The violence was cheap, very cheap. No one dies in any exciting way. The blood is so terribly fake. A movie about Yakuza and made by Yakuza Productions Inc.

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13 out of 24 people found the following comment useful :-
Into The Sun **** of ****, 16 February 2005

Author: ryan larson from U.S.A

It is interesting that so many people are giving this 7th dtv Seagal effort such a mediocre to bad rating. "Into the Sun" is Seagal's best and most enjoyable effort since 2001's "Exit Wounds"-this easily could have been a theatrical release as the production value of the film is much better than that of his previous efforts. Seagal plays Travis Hunter with much more charisma than in his last 5 efforts-and looks like he is having fun. The best acting job by Seagal since 1996's "The Glimmer Man"-The camera work is fast-the story is better than his last efforts, although it does take a while to get going. The last 20 minutes reminded me of the sword work from "Kill Bill"-very well done for a D.T.V effort-the action, though scarce, is done very well. Seagal fans should be happy with this latest effort.

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1 out of 1 people found the following comment useful :-
This film made me appreciate the Genius of Howard the Duck!, 26 August 2006

Author: getsomeusmc from Japan

*** This comment may contain spoilers ***

As much as I like Seagal, this film was TERRIBLE! The plot gaps were bigger than the grand Canyon, the acting lame, and the action scenes instantly forgettable! The only redeeming feature of the film is being able to see some familiar sites of Tokyo for those that live here. The dialog switches back and forth between Japanese with subtitles and dubbed over voices in English (with poor sound quality) for certain actors. A junior high kid could have made a better movie.

Spoilers: He barely say 10 words to the bar hostess he has not seen in years we presume, then out of the blue asks her to marry him?!? Of course she accepts in badly dubbed over English, which was totally unnecessary given the fact that Steven can speak fluent Japanese. Then she gets herself conveniently killed right before the final fight scene. And Steve's tattoo artist and Japanese sword shop owner blurts out that his girlfriend was also killed by the bad guy right before the wade into battle together...how utterly puke provoking. Lame lame lame...

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