WOW another one, another crappy film with bad everything. How does this guy even get work? Whats wrong with him, doesnt he know how bad his movies are? He made some pretty cool flicks back in the day, but every year he gets fatter and fatter and lazier and his films show that. I dont even know what to say, I just feel sorry for his hardcore fans.
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When I read comments like this one, it makes me wonder if the author is critisizing the actor or the entire genre of film in which the actor is involved. I've never considered myself to be a big fan of action films, so it wouldn't be entirely right for me to condemn Seagal for the roles he plays in any of his movies. I will say though, Seagal seems to have had a stint of sub-par films since his earlier work, but this one should not be included in that stint. So what if he's a little chunkier now? He still shows that he maintains a solid mastery of the martial arts he practises and on top of this, in Into the Sun, he accomplishes something that very, very few American actors do: be convincing when speaking and acting as naturalized Japanese. Considering Seagal's history, he not only speaks Japanese fluently, but he has the bodily/facial expressions and mannerisms in speech nailed down, too. Neither Tom Cruise nor Lucy Liu could ever hope to pull off such subtleties as convincingly, with their over-enunciation of words and hamming up of facial expressions that simply don't happen in Japanese. If you watch the film again, notice how Seagal shifts from expressive and emotive to dead-pan when speaking the two languages. I don't think that just any bilingual actor could do this; it takes the prowess of someone who CAN ACTUALLY ACT. I think that this movie had all the elements of a great action film and one of the few improvements that could be made would be to have better supporting actors. Another appreciation I have for the film is that a lot of the scenery used is more true-to-life than other films that are situated in Japan, for example: the places to find Yakuza - upscale American-style pubs, rather than campy izakaya; narrow, dimly lit streets in Kabuki-cho and the edges of Roppongi, not Ginza and Harajuku; *beep* parlours and traditional Japanese, underground needle-and-stick tattoo shops and not random, teak and rice paper-walled offices of stereotypical Japanese movie sets. I believe there are also some good shots of China Town in Yokohama, where one would expect to see Chinese gangsters like those in this film. The soundtrack includes shamisen and taiko which compliment the low-key and the action scenes. Someone was thinking when they made this film, paying very close attention to detail. Although the gun and sword homicides in the movie would probably account for several decades worth of true Japanese statistics, I find them hard to critisize - it's an action film and that much is to be expected. Pick apart what you want but at least recognize that this was better than most in the genre and also give Seagal some respect for keeping up his martial arts so well for so long and especially for maturing as an actor. The Academy blow-hards will give a prominent head-nod to drivel like The Last Samurai, which was basically a massive triple-coiler of celluloid crap dumped on Japanese history, but thumb its nose at a fictional depiction of real-life, contemporary Chinese/Japanese gang rivalry in Tokyo.
shareTo Bjorgan.
Thank you for acknowledging that fact that American movies that involve Japanese people, places, or things don't even care if they are correct. They rely on our ignorance to pass off crap! And I was angry at the Japanese actors in "the last Samurai" for letting so much lack of respect for the history of Japan be put on film. One example is that when a second was chosen to help someone in ritual suicide it was to relieve needless suffering after the cuts were made The head was not cut completely off but nearly so that the head wouldn't roll off someware (which would be discracful). I don't know nearly as much about Japan as you do but what little I do know ruined that film for me.
Other bitches are near the surface but I won't put you through that.
The idea that Steven Segal was not a badass and didn't know what he was doing or that a little flab around the gut will make a Master of many Martial Art forms a wimp is assinine.
Thanks for listening.
Weird. IMDB censored "p.a.c.h.i.n.k.o"
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Nlight, you are a *beep* Li is 41, chan is 50. thats NOT older than seagal, so just shut the #&$% up..
and for the moron who made this topic, thats quite usual for someone who just yaps just to be an ass. theyll say something is *beep* but dont back it up. what about it was bad? what parts? "everything" dont tell us *beep* tell us WHAT about it stupidass...
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U obviously have no idea at all what you are talking about Nlight, first the age mix up with Jet And Jackie, and now presuming that Steven Seagal doesnt even know a martial art. In fact Steven Seagal holds a 7th Dan Black belt in Aikido and owns two Dojos, he has been training since 7 years old under a Japanese master. he is also proficient in judo kendo and karate. why do u post crap when you dont even know the truth? whats the point?
shareNot taking sides here, but Segal does know what he's doing...he trained from a somewhat young age in Japan in Aikido and has his own school as in now...he got his 7th dan in Japan training with people who take their art REAL seriously, whether his movies are good or not, the guy's not a pushover in the martial arts department.
shareInteresting, slow and clumsy he may be but I don't think you would want to fight him, he is still a big powerful guy, I know a couple of stunt guys who will confirm it!!!!!
In into the sun, in the scene where he batters the guy against the pachenko machines he actually broke the set!!!!!! The stunt guy was bleeding but steven did apologise!
I was a big fan of SS in his early days, but lost track a bit of his recent movies.
But I'll say a couple of things to those idiots who think he is not a skilled martial artist.
He does hold a 7th Degree Black Belt in Aikido along with other black belts in Judo, Kendo, etc.
After he married a Japanese lady, he was the first non-Japanese to be given permission to open an Aikido dojo IN JAPAN. That is amazing in itself. Even today, for a foreigner to open a dojo in Japan is very difficult.
Don't forget how he got his break in Hollywood, after working with the CIA, he took jobs as bodyguard to some famous people, and got discovered that way.
I am lucky enough to have met him in person, when he was in Thailand filming, and I gotta tell you something. Sure, a bit round he may be now, but man is he tall. I'm not exactly short, 5'11, but he towers over me and could break me like a twig. Steven is a big, big man.
I would like to see you guys share your well considered thoughts with SS face to face. That would be fun to watch and I would make sure I had a camera running. We would see just how slow and clumsy he would be then...
It was wonderful movie.. Steven Seagal was awesome.. I liked all sword scenes..
Steven you are still the best !! I love you
j
This movie was lame but one thing im sure of:
The people who bash Seagal, he could still kick everyone's ass. In real life the man would just kick the *beep* out of you.
However his movies suck and this one even more. All talk, all talk, WTF! I dont watch Seagal for some crappy plot. I watch Seagal to see him kick some punk's ass period.
How do you like your brandy, sir?
In a glass.
FACT: Steven Seagal has never made a good movie.
Under Siege has been the only good Seagal movie. Most of the other movies made between the 80s and the late 90's (before he got fat, lame, and hippy) were pretty cool, despite some cheesiness.
All the movies he has made after Fire Down Below to all of his direct to video crap has been very, very disappointing.
He should retire and stick to his spiritual crap.
cant say i thought it all that myself...if like his films,you'll like this as much as any he does,but as pointed out its basicaly his usual stuff-stay calm under pressure,raise an eyebrow occasionaly and make the odd fight scenes look like he was wondering what to have for dinner while he blocks other peoples attacking moves.
Personaly i liked it,slow as it was between fights, but then i like this sort of rubbish(heh) but if i was to compare it to a half decent movie like, say, hostage or the upcoming sin city i would only rate it 4 outa 10 even though i liked it,and as much as i like the genre i dont have any preticular thoughts on seagal himself so wont abuse or praise him.If was to rate it without any comparisons,(which would be abit silly i think,) i'd still only give it a moderate 6-7 outa ten and thats mainly for some decent fights :)
but I believe that's an opinion
If you ever learned english you should know that.
Seagal has certainly gone downhill, actually, *beep* vertical is probably a better description. Older films like Nico did showcase his action style very well, and although he was never a good "actor" his movies were still entertaining. In the last 5 years or so, his career has undoubtedly spiralled downwards. Even his most hardcore fans can't deny it. Getting out of shape may seem to some like a whimsical criticism, but it has of course affected his agility and speed. His poor film choice is worse though, and is it just me or do all his films now seem exactly the same? They're all about him being either an Ex-CIA or federal dude (with the exception being "Out For a Kill" where I think he was an archaeologist who happened to be Ex-CIA. His wife/daughter/someone is killed and he single handedly goes after a group of usually foreign baddies whom he beats with his blurring hands and ends up flipping them around the room. Then he wins the day, has a bow, all without tearing that ancient chinese robe. Has anyone noticed he's never seen eating in his films, even if he's in a resterarunt he just sits there, not touching any food. He must be concious of his weight and I do feel sorry for him. But realistically, he's a physically active person so unless his weight problem is some other health issue I don't see why he doesn't work it off...
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It's a good thing (in this case bad) I was able to download a decent dvd rip, 2 days it took and I'm glad I didn't spend 2 euros for this, yet another Seagal crap film. From now on I'll just download until the day comes I'll stop watching his movies. It's sad to know his competition is now Dolph Lundgren or Lorenzo Lamas.
shareJust a footnote : when someone criticizes a movie, there will always be a grade-A jerkola who'll say "Then make a better oned". yeah, right. If you are in a restaurant, you have the right to complain about the food, even if you are no chef yourself. and if you get a botched medical operation that leaves you invalid, do you have to be a certified surgeon in order to complain ?
Besides, I imagine a chimp coulmd write a better thing than the lame excuse they had for a screenplay here... And what about the obvious fake-looking shots in an helicopter ?