Into The Sun (2005)- Steven Seagal (2)

Director: Mink

Stars: Steven Seagal, Tokao Oshawa, Juliette Marquis

Genre: Action/Martial Arts/Adventure/Thriller

MPAA Rating: R (Strong Violence, Language, Some Sexuality & Nudity)

Running Time: 97 Mins

Tagline: "Only One Man Can Stop The Yakuza"

Synopsis:

{According to IMDB}

"When a government official is killed, an American operative with experience in the Yakuza culture is brought into investigate."

Discussion

I don’t know why I keep watching these mediocre Seagal flicks. It is as if I’m a masochistic idiot who sets himself up for a bad movie, knowing all along it will ultimately suck. I’ve said many times before; I’m a diehard fan of Seagal’s old school movies. While they weren’t perfect either, At least they had a sense of realism and authenticity; which seems to be absent now in his movies. Actually all of his movies now are recycled stories from his old movies, even the titles. There are about three movies that have the same title.  Out for Justice, Out For a Kill, & Out of Reach. None of them are actually related, just similar titles to call the attention of fans like me.

As always Seagal plays either a CIA Agent, a retired FBI agent or a Secret Operative. This time he plays an Operative. Early in the movie a politician is killed by a member of the Yakuza. The government decides to get a man who knows the streets and connection of Tokyo. Undoubtedly they give this assignment to Seagal’s Character.   Seagal in real life knows a big deal about the Japanese culture, he actually grew up there. In fact he was one of the first Americans to open a Aikido School in Japan.  But back to the movie, Seagal and a partner are on the case to find why the politician was killed. In the long run there’s a deal going on between yakuza and tongs uniting there drug empire …or something like that. In the end I really don’t know why they killed the politician. The whole plot was so convoluted and nonsensical overall.  

The only thing that pleased me about this movie was that Seagal did most of the stunt work. There was barely any stunt doubles…at the most probably in two action scenes. Even if he is mostly only doing patty cake on the screen, I rather see him do it, not a stunt double. Yet, there were scenes were a a stunt double was used, even if it didn't call for it; then again this is a notorious fact in most of Seagal’s DTV flicks. 50 pounds lither double is placed from behind to make the real Seagal look skinny. I mean the guys pancake face is on the screen, it’s not like we can’t tell the guy is obese. I was also glad there wasn’t any dubbing of his voice this time.  Yet, in the scenes where he is “supposedly” speaking Japanese and I say “supposedly” because he sounds like he is muttering most of it,that they should have actually dubbed.  Personally, as a fan of Seagal, I would say just wait, they will eventually show it on TV. I’m sure spike TV will show it, they have shown several of Seagal's DTV flicks

DVD

Belly of the beast was the last Seagal movie I bought on DVD. Since then I either rent or borrow them from someone else. Or I just watch them online. This time, I got a back up copy from a friend. So in technicality this movie comes from the original DVD source.

Video

The copy of into the sun that I got had a lot of compression and pixilation all over the place. I don’t know if this is the actual case with the original DVD, but that was the case with this copy. Since it came from the original DVD, I am assuming it is the case with the original one as well.  

Audio

I wasn’t really impressed with the audio. Even at 5.1 Surround, it didn’t feel very loud to me

Bottom Line:

Like I said, wait for the TV to show it, not worth spending your money on. But if you are a fan like me of Seagal, I will post a free full movie link so you can see it in two parts. Without commercial interruptions.

THEATRICAL TRAILER:

Into the Sun Part 1 out of 2