Into the Sun (2005 film)

Infobox Film
name = Into The Sun


caption =
director = Christopher Morrison
producer = Frank Hildebrand
Tracee Stanley-Newell
writer = Steven Seagal
Joe Halpin
Trevor Miller
starring = Steven Seagal
Matthew Davis
Takao Osawa
Eddie George
with William Atherton
and Juliette Marquis
music = Stanley Clarke
cinematography = Don E. FauntLeRoy
editing = Michael J. Duthie
distributor = Screen Gems
released = flagicon|USA Feb 15, 2005
runtime = 97 min
country = USA / Japan
language = English / Japanese
budget = $20,000,000 USD
website = http://sonypictures.jp/homevideo/intothesun/
imdb_id = 0358294 "Into the Sun" is a 2005 action film modeled after the American yakuza films "The Yakuza" and "Black Rain".Fact|date=August 2007 It stars martial artist/actor Steven Seagal. Originally conceived as a remake of Sydney Pollack's "The Yakuza", Warner Bros. wouldn't release the rights to the story and the film was consequently reworked into "Into the Sun".Fact|date=August 2007

ynopsis

:Tagline: "Only one man can stop the yakuza"

When Takayama (Mac Yasuda), the governor of Tokyo, is murdered, it falls on ex-CIA agent Travis Hunter (Steven Seagal) to track down those responsible. And rookie FBI agent Sean Mac (Matthew Davis) is assigned to work with Hunter on the case.

It was the FBI who actually asked the CIA's Tokyo office to look into the killing, believing it to be linked to the Yakuza, a dangerous Japanese mafia, so the CIA is sniffing around under the auspices of Homeland Security.

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 rising leader of a new Yakuza outfit, to build an enormous drug-dealing network with a Chinese Tong outfit leader named Chen (Kenneth Low), and Kuroda is killing everyone who gets in his way.

It was Kuroda who had the governor killed. For help, Hunter turns to help from 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, they are becoming too powerful.

Kojima tells Hunter that Kojima would love nothing more than to permanently get rid of Kuroda. So who will get to Kuroda first -- Hunter or Kojima?

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.

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, permanently...even if he has to die trying.

Production

Seagal reportedly put up much of his own money to finance this film as a homage to the Japan of his youth,Fact|date=August 2007 and included a scene through a Shinjuku back alley he routinely walked through going from his then 4 tatami apartment to the dojo he was training at and features many locally popular Asian actors such as Akira Terao, Takao Osawa and Ken Lo. Portions of the soundtrack were performed and recorded by Seagal, and released on his 2005 album "Songs from the Crystal Cave".Fact|date=August 2007

Seagal showcased his Japanese linguistic abilities and many of the scenes were shot in Japanese. The Japanese dialogue is subtitled in English.

Cast

* Steven Seagal .... Travis Hunter
* Matthew Davis .... Sean
* Takao Osawa .... Kuroda
* Eddie George .... Jones
* William Atherton .... Agent Block
* Juliette Marquis .... Jewel
* Ken Lo .... Chen
* Kosuke Toyohara .... Fudomyo-o
* Akira Terao .... Matsuda
* Eve Masatoh .... Kojima
* Pace Wu .... Mai Ling
* Chiaki Kuriyama .... Ayako
* Kanako Yamaguchi .... Nayako
* Namihiko Ohmura .... Takeshi
* Daisuke Honda .... Kawamura
* Roy Oguri .... Kenji
* Sokyu Fujita .... Investigator Maeda
* Vikrom Suebsaeng .... Chang Choudong
* Tim Yan .... General
* Shôji Oki .... Ishikawa
* Mac Yasuda .... Governor of Tokyo
* Kairi Narita .... Young Yakuza
* Ginji Yoshikawa .... Yakuza Ceremony Master
* Joe Sagal .... Tech #1
* Hatake .... Sword Buyer
* Korokke .... Club MC

External links

*
* " [http://www.sonypictures.jp/homevideo/intothesun/index.html Into the Sun] " at Sony Pictures Japan