Only one man can stop the Yakuza.

Into The Sun
2005 | R | 1Hr 37 Min | Action | Columbia Tri Star

Director: mink
Writers: Steven Seagal (story), Joe Halpin (story)

Stars: 

Steven Seagal 

Takao Ohsawa

Juliette Marquis

Synopsis:

Ex-CIA agent Travis Hunter (Steven Seagal), is called to bring down the criminals who murdered the governor of Tokyo. Hunter uncovers a Yakuza plan to build an enormous drug-dealing network in conjunction with the Chinese Mafia. With time running out and the cold-blooded Yakuza determined to see their plan through, Hunter must thwart the operation, and then get out alive.

Well crap, this movie has left me with so many questions! Into the Sun is part of Box Office Jocks Blogathon hosted by Dubsism and Return to The '80s. The idea behind it simple it is all about movies featuring actors who used to be athletes at the college, Olympic, or professional level, OR movies in which a famous athlete appears. So I picked Into the Sun starring Steven Seagal and wanting to keep up with the Super Bowl-themed weekend this also star's Tennessee Titans Running Back Eddie George. 

Looking kick ass Seagal!

Who didn't enjoy those great action stars of the late '80s like Van Damme, Stallone, Schwarzenegger and of course Seagal? With a box office smash Above the Law in 1988, Seagal became a cinema legend. And here he is in 2005 keeping that action movie mojo alive well to him anyway. It is cool to see him still working but after watching Into the Sun I'm not convinced I need to watch any of his newer stuff. Being a Master in Japanese Kendo you should be in for a treat and as of 2006, his movies have earned $600 million worldwide. So why did I have a hard time getting into this flick? But first Eddie...

Eddie George the badass.

**Spoiler Alert** Eddie George looks badass in the opening minutes playing a CIA Agent going undercover. But sadly that is it! I have let this Blogathon down as he was only in this movie for maybe seven minutes! I was so excited to learn he was in this bad boy with Seagal but that quickly turned to let down. This movie needed more George! Sorry gang but the review must go on.

Sorry to see you go, Eddie.

I would also like to point out this was the directorial debut for mink, yeah I have never heard of him as well. In fact, he has only done 4 movies in his career. What I will say about him he took a crap script and made it look fantastic. He actually shot the film in Super 35 with the intention of framing the completed picture in the 2.35:1 aspect ratio for theatres, but sadly Sony decided to send the film straight to DVD, the studio re-framed the picture to 1.85:1. And one quick note about the soundtrack its horrible in fact it will spoil the moment at times and it is so frustrating.

The movie does look good!

What was more frustrating then the score is the story! It is all over the place and if you did not study Japanese culture you'll find your self on google a lot! And it really does not help that Seagal is talking in Japanese tongue so you find yourself reading the dialog way too much. Then out of the blue, they speak English again. This back and forth is a bunch of crap! So you would think the saving grace would be the action but sadly it lacks their as well. They set the movie up for what should be an epic sword battle that ends up being well MEH. 

The fighting is framed so tight that you can only imagine that it is from Seagal's age or maybe that damn leather jacket that kept him from moving around. Into the Sun seems to have signaled the end of his Action movie career and yet here we are in 2018 and he has been pumping them out year after year, 36 other flicks to be exact! So hopefully he has learned from this one.

I really like Seagal's early body of work and was excited to get reacquainted with him once again. Sadly Into the Sun is a dull action flick that looks good but falls way short on fun. I sure hope the other bloggers had more luck with there picks so make sure to check those out here and here.

2 out of 5 Stars