| Into The Sun | |
|---|---|
| Directed by | Christopher Morrison |
| Produced by | Frank Hildebrand Tracee Stanley-Newell |
| Written by | Steven Seagal Joe Halpin Trevor Miller |
| Starring | Steven Seagal Matthew Davis Takao Osawa Eddie George with William Atherton and Juliette Marquis |
| Music by | Stanley Clarke |
| Cinematography | Don E. FauntLeRoy |
| Editing by | Michael J. Duthie |
| Distributed by | Destination Films Sony Pictures Home Entertainment |
| Release date(s) | Feb 15, 2005 |
| Running time | 97 min |
| Country | USA / Japan |
| Language | English / Japanese |
| Budget | $15,000,000 |
Into the Sun is a 2005 action film modeled after the American yakuza films The Yakuza and Black Rain. 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. The film was directed by Christopher Morrison also known as "mink."
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 (Ken Lo), and Kuroda is killing everyone who gets in his way.
It was Kuroda who had the governor killed. Hunter turns for help to 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 in his hiding place in a temple.
They arrive at the temple of Kuroda and they brutally kill all the members with katana swords. Akayo arrives to slaughter some members and teams up with the two men. Kawamura is shot by Kuroda. Hunter then battles Kuroda and kills him by slashing his chest. They leave the crime scene after that.
The three offer their respect to Nayako during a worship service and a ceremony is held to make a replacement of a leader. The hiding place of Kuroda is cleaned up with blue spray even his and all of the dead bodies and weapons. Hunter then walks to the park where he and Nayako used to stay.