Into the Sun (2005)

Steven Seagal has a lot of shit dumped on him for his endless wave of DTV films, most of which are quite horrifically bad (but oh so entertaining), that began after Half Past Dead (2002). Cast out of the theatres, Seagal has never returned to the silver screen, unless you count his role in Machete (2010). Seagal fans, myself included, are desperate for Seagal to have a comeback. We want a return to the awesome and brutal action of Out for Justice (1991) or even the glossy explosiveness of Under Siege (1992). It’s not going to happen. Why? Well, for starters, Seagal is a nutcase and has proven impossible to work with. But mainly because Steven Seagal doesn’t want a comeback. While he may appear to be trapped in DTV hell, in reality, Seagal is reveling in DTV heaven.

Acting as an executive producer on most of these efforts means Seagal essentially writes his own paychecks. And believe it or not, these DTV turds rake in the dough. Seagal has a loyal army of fans that will literally watch anything. If Seagal released a video of himself squeezing out a poo, fans would be crawling over each other to own it on blu-ray. (Although, to be fair, the idea of Seagal releasing a video of himself pooing is quite amazing and I’m sure everyone in the world would want a copy.) It would be hard to call any of Seagal’s DTV movies good, but hidden amongst the unwatchable stinkers are a few half-decent stinkers – films where Seagal at least looks awake. One of those half-decent stinkers is 2005’s Into the Sun.

 

INTO THE SUN
USA, 2005, mink

I suppose I should start with a warning that this exploration of Into the Sun will be ripe with spoilers. But come on! It’s a Seagal movie! You’ll see the spoilers coming a mile away!

Despite being directed by a guy called “mink”, Seagal’s writer’s credit and a handsome rating of 4.1 on IMDB, Into the Sun is probably Seagal’s most accomplished work since Half Past Dead…

… wow, I just re-read that last bit and I’m laughing pretty hard. Most accomplished work! Ha ha ha! Just give me a moment here…

Okay. I’m back. Quite seriously now, Into the Sun is almost a real movie, which is more than I can say for something like Against the Dark (2009) or Kill Switch (2008). Into the Sun appears to be shot on film, it has a few explosions and Seagal’s stunt double only shows up less than usual. Unbelievably, Seagal seems to have actually put a small amount of passion into this film. His acting is as wooden as ever, but his face isn’t the soulless dead husk we’re used to seeing in the bulk of his past decade’s work. That might be to do with the film’s story, which, as I pointed out before, was co-penned by Seagal and focuses on some of his lifelong interests (swords, for example). Seagal plays another stupidly named character – Travis Hunter. Hunter is an ex-CIA agent who is brought in to investigate Tokyo’s yakuza after the assassination of a government official. Hunter is assigned an idiotic FBI agent, Agent Sean Mack (Matthew Davis), to assist him. Hunter berates Mack for his ignorance of Japanese culture while leading a seemingly aimless investigation and occasionally stumbling across yakuza members.

The story of Into the Sun is insignificant. It exists only to allow Seagal to show off his Japanese skills (yes, he actually speaks another language and, apparently, according to my native speaking partner, he speaks Japanese quite well) and chop a few people up with a sword. And you know what? There’s nothing wrong with that. In fact, watching Seagal arrogantly ramble out a series of yakuza facts to his moronic sidekick is amazingly funny. Seagal’s ego drips off the screen:

Another huge plus point is Seagal’s romantic subplot. Part way through the film, Seagal disturbingly begins the courtship a (too) young Japanese lady. Happily, we are given many traumatising moments of Seagal whispering sweet nothings. It’s rare, even in Seagal’s earlier films, to see Seagal with women. Steven Seagal simply doesn’t have time for women. He’s too busy kicking motherfuckers in the balls and breaking arms for that romance shit. In previous films, if his character has a wife or girlfriend, they are usually all but ignored (see Out for Justice and Above the Law). Into the Sun demonstrates his lack of experience in acting alongside ladies. Observe (subtitles removed to make the scene funnier):

Into the Sun also seamlessly weaves in wonderfully stupid buddy cop element. Seagal’s young sidekick, Agent Mack, is the worst character in the film. Matthew Davis’s cringe-worthy performance manages to make Seagal look like John Hurt – or at least Anthony Michael Hall. In a stroke of unintentional brilliance, the film seems to realise how awful this character is and disposes of Agent Mack in a truly hideous way:

Into the Sun isn’t going to blow anyone’s mind with its technical prowess, but Seagal fans will be impressed that it at least looks like something resembling a movie. The shaky camera prevalent in Seagal’s recent turds – and modern movies in general – is noticeably toned down and irritating high-contrast colour correction is nowhere to be found. Into the Sun, though directed by British guy, has a very Japanese look to it. That might sound stupid, being that it is set in Tokyo, but often films shot by foreigners fail to capture Tokyo like the locals do. Into the Sun is peppered with stereotypically Japanese elements – cherry trees and geishas included – but beneath its cliched surface lies a fairly authentic, or at least typically Japanese, presentation of the yakuza and Japanese culture. It also features a handful of great Japanese actors, like Kurosawa regular Akira Terao and Masatō Ibu. For some reason, Chiaki Kuriyama (Kill Bill: Vol. 1) makes a tiny, wordless appearance.

And finally, what Seagal fans really want to know, how violent and bad-ass is Into the Sun? Well, action is noticeably absent for much of the running time. Sadly, when it does appear, the camera tends to drift away in points of impact. However, the film’s finale, which is essentially Steven Seagal on a vengeful rampage, is pretty good. Seagal gets to dish out a few infuriated one-liners. And this happens:

Yep, Into the Sun is not bad, though keep in mind the rating system I’m using here. In the scope of Seagal’s post-2002 output, Into the Sun is a borderline masterpiece. However, placed alongside Marked for Death (1990) and anything else from the 90s, even Fire Down Below (1997), it doesn’t stand a chance. In the past decade, Seagal has not given his fans much, but what little he gives we will lap up like the faithful fucking dogs we are.