Seagal's Sun Rises
Having been raised in Japan and taught martial arts by a former member of the Yakuza, former CIA agent Travis Hunter (Steven Seagal) is the perfect man to head to Tokyo when the governor is murdered during his election campaign. Assisted by inexperienced FBI agent Sean Mack (Matthew Davis), Travis explains that the Yakuza is divided between those who prefer the traditional ways and the new generation wishing to move things forwards. And it is the modern generation who have got in to bed with the Chinese Tong over drug dealing. But when Travis's girlfriend is brutally murdered the case goes from being just business to very personal.
With his hair tied back in a pony tail and wearing a long leather trench coat Steven Seagal looks like he could have walked off the set of one of his movies and straight on to the set of this one. But wait there is something different, Seagal looks happy, he is moving with confidence and looks like he is genuinely acting which any Steven Seagal fan will tell you hadn't been the case for some time with a series of lacklustre action movies which had preceded "Into the Sun". It makes a whole lot of difference as whilst "Into the Sun" is no different to many a Seagal movie the fact he seems involved and not just going through the motions lifts it.
But as I said "Into the Sun" is no different to many of Steven Seagal's other movies and as such we have the familiar elements such as some comic relief with Matthew Davis frequently ending up the butt of a joke due his characters inexperience. And like so many of Seagal's movies he ends up in bed with a young actress which makes you wonder whether that is a clause which is a set in stone part of his contract.
There is of course the action and as I said Seagal seems like he is enjoying himself with more of the action clearly showing it is him doing the martial arts stuff instead of a body double. Yes the action is still heavily edited to make it look more impressive than it is but the fact we see Seagal put in a few quick hand combos and so on also helps lift "Into the Sun" to become more entertaining than many of Seagal's preceding movies.
What this all boils down to is that "Into the Sun" is in truth nothing special, with a simple storyline to provide the source of some action. But because Steven Seagal seems genuinely interested in being part of the movie it makes a big difference to the movie's watch ability.
