Into the Sun (2005 film)

Into the Sun
DVD cover
Directed by	mink
Written by	Steven Seagal Joe Halpin Trevor Miller
Produced by	Frank Hildebrand Tracee Stanley-Newell
Starring	Steven Seagal Matthew Davis Takao Osawa Eddie George William Atherton Juliette Marquis
Cinematography	Don E. Fauntleroy
Edited by	Michael J. Duthie
Music by	Stanley Clarke
Production companies	Destination Films Franchise Pictures
Distributed by	Sony Pictures Home Entertainment
Release date	February 15, 2005 (2005-02-15)
Running time	97 minutes
Countries	United States Japan
Languages	English Japanese
Box office	$175,563

Into the Sun is a 2005 American action film directed by Christopher Morrison, and written by and starring Steven Seagal. The film modeled after the American yakuza films The Yakuza and Black Rain. Originally conceived as a remake of Sydney Pollack's The Yakuza, Warner Bros. would not release the rights to the story and the film was consequently reworked into Into the Sun. The film was directed by Christopher Morrison, also known as "mink".

Plot

The assassination of Tokyo governor Takayama (Mac Yasuda) causes a stir of public outrage in Tokyo, Japan. Upon hearing the news of the incident, the FBI asks the CIA's Tokyo office to investigate the killing, believing it to be linked to the Yakuza, a dangerous Japanese mafia. Retired CIA agent Travis Hunter (Steven Seagal) and rookie FBI agent Sean Mac (Matthew Davis) are assigned to work on the case and to track down the perpetrators. The Japanese branch of the CIA starts sniffing around under the auspices of Homeland Security. During work, Mac proves to be more of a distraction, not really knowledgeable about procedures or Japanese customs. Hunter was raised in Japan, and has a strong understanding of the Yakuza and their mysterious, eccentric, and sinister ways.

Hunter and Mac discover a plan by Kuroda (Takao Osawa), the new boss of a new Yakuza outfit, to build an enormous drug-dealing network with a Chinese Tong outfit leader named Chen (Ken Lo), and Kuroda is killing everyone who gets in his way. It is revealed that Kuroda masterminded the governor's assassination. Hunter turns for help to Kojima (Masato Ibu), the second-in-command of an old school Yakuza outfit run by elderly Oyabun Ishikawa (Shoji Oki). Hunter has been told that Kojima is the only Yakuza player who is capable of defeating Kuroda. Hunter visits Kojima, who says that now that the new Yakuza are joining forces with the Tongs, becoming too powerful. Kojima tells Hunter that he would love nothing more than to permanently get rid of Kuroda.

As Hunter gets closer to Kuroda, he begins to endanger everyone associated with him. First, Kuroda has Ishikawa killed, making Kojima the new leader of Ishikawa's Yakuza outfit. Mac gets out of his depth and is also murdered. When Kuroda has Hunter's fiance Nayako (Kanako Yamaguchi) brutally murdered, Hunter's search for Kuroda becomes devastatingly personal. Teaming up with CIA spook Jewel (Juliette Marquis) and tattoo artist Kawamura (Daisuke Honda), whose wife and young child were killed by Kuroda, Hunter sets out to take down Kuroda in his hiding place in a temple.

They arrive at the hideout and brutally kill all the members with katana swords. Akayo arrives to slaughter some members and teams up with the two men. Kawamura is shot by Kuroda. Hunter then battles Kuroda and kills him by slashing his chest. They leave the crime scene after that.

The three offer their respect to Nayako during a worship service and a ceremony is held to make a replacement of a leader. The hiding place of Kuroda is investigated and cleaned up with blue spray even his and all of the dead bodies and weapons. Hunter then walks to the park where he and Nayako used to stay.

Cast

• Steven Seagal as CIA Agent Travis Hunter, a law enforcement agent sent to Tokyo to track down a crime syndicate responsible for murdering the governor
• Matthew Davis as Sean Mac
• Takao Osawa as Kuroda, the leader of the crime syndicate responsible for assassinating Tokyo's Governor and the main antagonist.
• Eddie George as Jones
• William Atherton as Agent Block
• Juliette Marquis as Jewel
• Ken Lo as Chen
• Kosuke Toyohara as Fudomyo-o: One of Kurodas lieutenants
• Akira Terao as Matsuda: One of Kurodas lieutenants responsible for killing Nayako and Ishikawa
• Dale Payne as Zen Custodian
• Eve Masatoh as Kojima
• Pace Wu as Mai Ling
• Chiaki Kuriyama as Ayako, the younger sister of Nayako
• Kanako Yamaguchi as Nayako, Travis' Japanese fiance' who is murdered by one of the Yakuza mafia members
• Namihiko Ohmura as Takesh
• Daisuke Honda as Kawamura
• Roy Oguri as Kenji
• Sokyu Fujita as Investigator Maeda
• Vikrom Suebsaeng as Chang Choudong
• Tim Yan as General
• Shôji Oki as Ishikawa
• Takashi Fujii as Stand-up comedian in bar scene
• Mac Yasuda as Governor of Tokyo
• Kairi Narita as Young Yakuza
• Ginji Yoshikawa as Yakuza Ceremony Master
• Joe Sagal as Tech #1
• Hatake as Sword Buyer
• Korokke as Club MC

Reception

Beyond Hollywood wrote that the film could have been good if it had starred someone besides Seagal, whose extensive scenes of dialogue feel like padding and do not play to his action hero strengths. Ian Jane of DVD Talk rated it 3/5 stars and, while calling it one of Seagal's better recent films, recommended it fans of mindless action films.

External links

• Into the Sun at IMDb