Touches You

The performances transcend the film's tropes, grounding it in characters that feel more complete than this subgenre often produces.

By the time the dramatic fireworks start popping off, each one feels earned.

The film never slows down or bores, plunging from one harrowing sequence to the next.

I am a big Steven Seagal fans. I loved his early films ("Out for Justice", "Above the Law", "Under Siege") and enjoyed some of the later ones too ("Hard to Kill", "Marked for Death", "Dark Territory", "The Glimmer Man", "Exit Wounds"), but as his career prospered and his weight grew, the quality of the films started to slip as did their box office appeal. Beginning in 2001, Seagal as a writer and producer made direct to video (DTV) films, usually cranking them out at a rate of 3 per year. They were almost universally poor and didn't showcase Seagal's considerable Aikido skills. This is one of those.Production values are uniformly good and the editing is excellent. Seagal plays the familiar role of the mysterious connected agent with a background in special ops and training in the ways of the east. He spouts a lot of the eastern philosophy we've come to expect in a Seagal film.Hard core Seagal fans will be disappointed that the action sequences don't include a lot of scenes of Seagal beating up the bad guys. He uses his usual fast cutting methods to suggest the scene rather than actually portray the action, probably because at this point in his life he no longer has the skills to perform, as he once did. Bottom line – Better than most of the films he made at this time, but not like the old days.

The fat man Steven F. Seagal plays an American agent, who was raised in Japan and works in Tokyo, so Seagal was easily in his element and I also found that cool in the film, seeing Seagal in Japan in this straight to DVD feature, it's also very interesting to hear him talking Japanese in some scenes, but of course, don't expect some good acting from this guy... Lame story, lame characters, lame acting, what to expect? The only thing that good is that Seagal is using Aikido again and he had a sword fight with the leading villain. But, it's one of those Seagal films, about revenge. Because yakuza killed the woman he loves, and than... well you know, all hell breaks loose. Action, fighting scenes, not that bad... but... alas, not too good either. Overall, it's not that boring just like more and more Seagal's recent films...

Mink Directed 'Into the Sun', turns out to be A Good Watch. A Nicely Written Screenplay, along-with Stylish Direction & A Super-Cool Performance by its lead-Star, All-Time Bad-Ass, Steven Seagal, just adds to its glory.'Into the Sun' Synopsis: When a government official is killed, an American operative with experience in the Yakuza culture is brought into investigate.'Into the Sun' has an interesting start, an okay middle & a killer end. The Screenplay Written by Seagal himself, is mostly interesting. Mink's Direction is completely Stylish. Cinematography is perfect. Editing is mediocre. Art Design is fair. Action-Sequences are top-notch.Seagal's Super-Cool Performance is among the merits of this film. And Like Always, his fight-scenes are a pleasure to watch. He's an All-Time Bad-Ass! On the whole, 'Into the Sun' works. A Must See for Seagal Fans!

I like Steven Seagal. Who doesn't like Steven Seagal? If you didn't I guess you wouldn't be reading this, yet alone watching the straight-to-DVD film "Into the Sun". The quality of his latter-career is nothing to talk about, and mostly disappointing and forgettable, but despite that I do find it hard not to sit there and be enthralled by the man. Even when his not kicking arse, and sadly I found "Into the Sun" (which Seagal co-wrote and produced) to have too little of it. More time spent sleep walking through it; however its glorious climax is indeed a bloody treat with Seagal going samurai. Chopping and slicing left and right, before breaking out the pistol. Even the editing stands-up better, as it's not choppy as hell (like some later films ala "Against the Dark"). We can "clearly" see him in action. It's too bad he spends more time looking good in his long black leather trench coat while simply wandering or strolling about; listening and talking… then listening some more… and then chatting away. You know; investigating (following up on leads and gathering info) and other things on mind like falling in love. He does take his sweet time, as his investigative partner grows impatient… maybe so the audience. Some times the language barrier (Japanese) keeps it distant, because you don't know what the characters are on about. No sub-titles, so it must be trivial. The narrative can get ponderous, but it's quite choppy too. There's a certain sharp slickness to the production, where it sets up some unnecessary computer images of locations. Fancy, but pointless. The performances are standard, decent enough. A blotchy, muddled Steven Seagal vehicle.