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.

This movie has some pretty good action scenes and is full of signature Seagal classic moments. The only problem is that it is about 75% all in Japanese with NO SUBTITLES explaining ANYTHING that is happening! I bought the Amazon Instant Video version, so let that be your warning if you go to buy it. (They refunded me for what it is worth and I bought Urban Justice, great Seagal movie) That is the reason I had to dock it, because I missed all the great quotes that I love in my Seagal movies. Eddie George makes a brief appearance early on. I was like what the hell is Eddie George doing here? Early on Steven pulls a classic move: instead of using his silenced weapon to kill a couple baddies, he shoots one with the silencer, then shoots the other with the first bad guys unsilenced assault rifle! YES! I knew this was starting out right. After some good initial action the rest of the movie is pretty much Steven aka Big Poppa, asking Japanese and Chinese people about who the hell knows what because it is literally all in Japanese, then at the end he kills a bunch of people with a sword and it is just over. You will laugh your ass off when he ends up in the park apparently proposing to this chick out of nowhere. I mean, you see this chick twice, then the 3rd time he's getting married? He literally talks in English in two word sentences and people answer him back with 10 minutes of Japanese for basically the whole movie. So, as long as you don't care that you have no idea what is happening most of the time, go ahead and watch this film. I went back and read the teaser on Amazon after I watched it to see what the hell I had just watched and what the story was supposed to be, and it said something about Steven saving the US from a secret nuclear attack!? WTF? I never once caught wind of that in the movie, which just made it even more baffling. If it was in English or had subtitles it would have been so much better.

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!