Premise: A CIA operative raised in Japan is assigned to investigate the murder of a prominent Japanese politician and goes up against a dangerous new breed of yakuza who have allied themselves with a Chinese triad.
Review: Into the Sun may be the closest we ever get to seeing aging martial arts stars Steven Seagal and Jackie Chan tangle. No, Jackie is no where to be found in this Kill Bill-inspired clunker. But one of his most famous action team members is, namely Ken Lo of Drunken Master II fame. Seagal continues in what appears to have become his filmic obsession with all things Asian by playing a round-eyed Tokyo native with a background as a CIA operative and Japanese martial arts expert. This is familiar territory that is covered here no better than any of his other recent Far Eastern forays and in fact is probably one of his more plodding and listless in recent memory despite attempts to spice things up.
With Seagal it's usually hit or miss and let's be honest, the latter tends to crop up the most. The trouble with Into the Sun is that it's just more of the same from Seagal, but this time with more dull plot development and chatter and less action. The film opens with Seagal as CIA action man Travis blasting some generic drug smugglers in the jungle with an assault rifle before he makes a dramatic getaway and settles in Tokyo where he's called upon to investigate the murder of a prominent Japanese politician. The one responsible is a hot-blooded yakuza upstart (played by Takao Osawa of Sky High) who is challenging the old ranks, killing people around him on a whim, and drawing support from a Chinese triad led by Chen (Ken Lo). Reluctantly paired up with a generic FBI rookie, Travis puts his knowledge of Tokyo's underworld to use in finding the culprits. The task turns personal, however, when the criminals catch the FBI agent sniffing around and then target Travis' Japanese gal pal. Joined by two sword-wielding buddies, Travis goes looking for some yakuza to slice and dice.
For a direct-to-video "action" movie, there is definitely way too much mind-numbing dialogue involving a bilingual Seagal and his mostly Japanese-speaking costars. The same goes for scenes of Ken Lo and Takao Osawa doing their best bad guy mugging. Sprinkled in among these bland filler sessions are stylishly vacuous transitions depicting satellite zoom-ins as the CIA keeps tabs on Travis, and a number of action scenes that are generally over-edited and lacking in any spark of excitement, much like most of the movie.
The opening scene of Seagal doing his gun-totting special ops work is laughable and completely unnecessary. All that's left to speak of is a street tussle between Seagal and yakuza punks that shows glimpses of the killer Aikido-fighting that originally made him a star and two sword fights that are both poorly shot and wholly forgettable. The one attraction is that some of the violence is the bloodiest of any of his movies and includes limb cleaving and generous amounts of spurting (but not spraying) blood. There is a fight between Ken Lo and Seagal, but it's awful. It's shot extremely tight and doesn't flatter either actor. Imagine two grown men flailing their arms at each other as fast as they can.
It's clearly no coincidence that Japanese starlet Chiaki Kuriyama (AKA Kill Bill's Go Go Yubari) makes a very brief cameo as the politician's daughter. There is definitely a sense that Seagal was "inspired" by Tarantino's work on this movie. The Tokyo setting, the yakuza theme, the increased bloodletting, the swordplay, the driving music, and even one overhead shot towards the end are all too familiar in a roundabout way.
The lighting deserves special mention for being particularly annoying. It's generally too dark for most interiors and someone thought it would be a "bright" idea to frame Seagal in shadow with only a sliver of light across his face for nearly the entire movie. So, regardless of whether he's in a car, in a bar, shot close or shot far, there is usually just this face hovering in the darkness. This effect is made complete by the fact that Seagal wears black like it's going out of style. Equally annoying is how Seagal repeatedly talks in English to his Japanese costars while they only answer back in Japanese, as if people really hold conversations this way. He has an entire conversation with his love interest like this that makes the scene almost as painful as having to see him briefly get busy with her later. What is it with Seagal and Jean-Claude Van Damme anyway? Both stars have repeatedly felt the need to show off their prowess in bed onscreen recently, although Seagal thankfully does so only briefly. Do they even know their audience? Nobody really wants to see these action stars make out with chicks. Can the romance and bring on the gratuitous violence!
Into the Sun is another in a long string of backward steps for Seagal that briefly saw a promising about-face with the Ching Siu-tung-directed Belly of the Beast. There's nothing much to recommend here including soulless direction from a fellow who goes by the name of "mink" except for a bit of gruesome violence and a modest English-language performance from Ken Lo who sadly is reduced to doing a cheap Bruce Lee imitation at one point.
Rating : 2/5
By Mark Pollard
Source : Kung Fu Cinema.
Review: Into the Sun may be the closest we ever get to seeing aging martial arts stars Steven Seagal and Jackie Chan tangle. No, Jackie is no where to be found in this Kill Bill-inspired clunker. But one of his most famous action team members is, namely Ken Lo of Drunken Master II fame. Seagal continues in what appears to have become his filmic obsession with all things Asian by playing a round-eyed Tokyo native with a background as a CIA operative and Japanese martial arts expert. This is familiar territory that is covered here no better than any of his other recent Far Eastern forays and in fact is probably one of his more plodding and listless in recent memory despite attempts to spice things up.
With Seagal it's usually hit or miss and let's be honest, the latter tends to crop up the most. The trouble with Into the Sun is that it's just more of the same from Seagal, but this time with more dull plot development and chatter and less action. The film opens with Seagal as CIA action man Travis blasting some generic drug smugglers in the jungle with an assault rifle before he makes a dramatic getaway and settles in Tokyo where he's called upon to investigate the murder of a prominent Japanese politician. The one responsible is a hot-blooded yakuza upstart (played by Takao Osawa of Sky High) who is challenging the old ranks, killing people around him on a whim, and drawing support from a Chinese triad led by Chen (Ken Lo). Reluctantly paired up with a generic FBI rookie, Travis puts his knowledge of Tokyo's underworld to use in finding the culprits. The task turns personal, however, when the criminals catch the FBI agent sniffing around and then target Travis' Japanese gal pal. Joined by two sword-wielding buddies, Travis goes looking for some yakuza to slice and dice.
For a direct-to-video "action" movie, there is definitely way too much mind-numbing dialogue involving a bilingual Seagal and his mostly Japanese-speaking costars. The same goes for scenes of Ken Lo and Takao Osawa doing their best bad guy mugging. Sprinkled in among these bland filler sessions are stylishly vacuous transitions depicting satellite zoom-ins as the CIA keeps tabs on Travis, and a number of action scenes that are generally over-edited and lacking in any spark of excitement, much like most of the movie.
The opening scene of Seagal doing his gun-totting special ops work is laughable and completely unnecessary. All that's left to speak of is a street tussle between Seagal and yakuza punks that shows glimpses of the killer Aikido-fighting that originally made him a star and two sword fights that are both poorly shot and wholly forgettable. The one attraction is that some of the violence is the bloodiest of any of his movies and includes limb cleaving and generous amounts of spurting (but not spraying) blood. There is a fight between Ken Lo and Seagal, but it's awful. It's shot extremely tight and doesn't flatter either actor. Imagine two grown men flailing their arms at each other as fast as they can.
It's clearly no coincidence that Japanese starlet Chiaki Kuriyama (AKA Kill Bill's Go Go Yubari) makes a very brief cameo as the politician's daughter. There is definitely a sense that Seagal was "inspired" by Tarantino's work on this movie. The Tokyo setting, the yakuza theme, the increased bloodletting, the swordplay, the driving music, and even one overhead shot towards the end are all too familiar in a roundabout way.
The lighting deserves special mention for being particularly annoying. It's generally too dark for most interiors and someone thought it would be a "bright" idea to frame Seagal in shadow with only a sliver of light across his face for nearly the entire movie. So, regardless of whether he's in a car, in a bar, shot close or shot far, there is usually just this face hovering in the darkness. This effect is made complete by the fact that Seagal wears black like it's going out of style. Equally annoying is how Seagal repeatedly talks in English to his Japanese costars while they only answer back in Japanese, as if people really hold conversations this way. He has an entire conversation with his love interest like this that makes the scene almost as painful as having to see him briefly get busy with her later. What is it with Seagal and Jean-Claude Van Damme anyway? Both stars have repeatedly felt the need to show off their prowess in bed onscreen recently, although Seagal thankfully does so only briefly. Do they even know their audience? Nobody really wants to see these action stars make out with chicks. Can the romance and bring on the gratuitous violence!
Into the Sun is another in a long string of backward steps for Seagal that briefly saw a promising about-face with the Ching Siu-tung-directed Belly of the Beast. There's nothing much to recommend here including soulless direction from a fellow who goes by the name of "mink" except for a bit of gruesome violence and a modest English-language performance from Ken Lo who sadly is reduced to doing a cheap Bruce Lee imitation at one point.
Rating : 2/5
By Mark Pollard
Source : Kung Fu Cinema.