Into the Sun

• Directed by Christopher “mink” Morrison
• February 15, 2005

A CIA operative becomes embroiled in a war between the Japanese Yakuza and the Chinese Triads. Sensei Seagal does it again!

The more Seagal movies I watch the more I become convinced Steven Seagal should really have one of his scripts converted into a comedy. They often get so very close to self-parody but never quite arrive there. You see the cheap production values or in this case no strong idea of how things actually work. In Into the Sun the FBI comes in and takes over an investigation of a Japanese politician’s murder. They’re not working hand-in-hand with Japanese authorities. Japanese authorities have taken a step back because ‘Merica!

Once again Steven Seagal is CIA agent here named Travis Hunter that is the best of the best and most awesome of the awesome. There is at least one of the obligatory extended moments of someone praising his abilities or really stoked about the mythology around his character. Women are always pleased to see him. Most find him sexy no matter how fake or real his hairline looks or how much he has spray tanned himself.

There’s a weird scene where Travis is talking to this woman he’s acquainted with. She’s speaking Japanese and he is speaking English. Huh? They couldn’t find a Japanese actress that spoke English? Or he couldn’t learn a few basic lines phonetically in Japanese to sell what was going on? More importantly it is incredibly unnatural to happen. You don’t have a conversation in two separate languages. Did they film Seagal’s moments separate from the other person’s?

Seagal tries for some witty one-liners and cool moves and is able to pull some of it off because he still looked the part more or less. But the story is the usual nonsense from Sensei Segal who cowrote the movie. This moves forward like a daydream rather than a film with questionable logic.

You know in a movie like Cobra there was no way Sylvester Stallone would be an actual cop but because of the world they set up it worked. Seagal doesn’t bother to set up the kind of world he would need to make this story work. This gets over the 90 minute line and that’s all he wanted.

Given the date of its release if Into the Sun had come out 10 or 15 years earlier it would’ve been a well-regarded oddity. I personally would’ve ate it up not only because Seagal would’ve been in his prime but everything they used was at its peak in the late 80s/early 90s. Seagal was behind the curve.

Takao Osawa as the main baddie Kuroda really gives it his all in his part. He is doing everything he can to sell it and overacting the exact way the role needed. It elevates Kuroda to larger than life. It’s a shame Takao Osawa wasted his talent in this movie. The man has talent and from all appearances his career has continued to the present despite slumming it here.

With the lumbering narrative and lack of logic Into the Sun gets boring. Seagal’s inability to own the screen puts the final nail in the interest coffin. The dialogue is clunky and between the talented Asian cast and the untalented others the feel is uneven. The lead must always be the best performer or equal to others in the cast and that includes the supporting cast. Not so here.

Into the Sun could have been something special if it had just come out sooner. Investors would’ve put a little more money into it and maybe even a big studio would’ve released it. Both of those would’ve helped it in one way or another. As it is it’s not a complete waste but it does some really dumb things which makes it far worse and less than enjoyable viewing experience.