This is, I'm sad to say, an awful, misguided mess of a movie. Every actor seems out of place, every line of dialogue contrived, every shlock moment of gratuitous sex or violence obviously engineered to evoke a reaction, which it does not.
It has been said that this adaptation removes the anti-Japanese bias of the book, but in trying to soften the blow the filmmakers have tripped themselves up and are left with something that is still wholly offensive and startlingly obtuse in its ignorance. A Scotsman throwing a game of golf, to humour the Japanese businessmen who had joined him and to "save their faces"? This is for Japanese businesses what "Bulletproof Monk" did for Buddhism.
It seems that director Philip Kaufman had a film camera in one hand and a checklist of stereotypes in the other. There are no genuine moments of action or thrills in this plodding, so-called "action-thriller", and the high-tech element of digital video forensics now seems awfully dated. The entire aesthetic and feel is very reminiscent of your below-average direct-to-TV so-called action film vehicle for a past-his-prime movie star - this is a pity because at that point of time, Connery and Snipes were anything but past their prime.
This was a time when Wesley Snipes was a viable action star, and yet he appears spends the whole movie in dazed disbelief. When even Sean Connery visibly gives up on the project and knows he can't save it no matter how much he tries, one knows he is in deep trouble.
It has been said that this adaptation removes the anti-Japanese bias of the book, but in trying to soften the blow the filmmakers have tripped themselves up and are left with something that is still wholly offensive and startlingly obtuse in its ignorance. A Scotsman throwing a game of golf, to humour the Japanese businessmen who had joined him and to "save their faces"? This is for Japanese businesses what "Bulletproof Monk" did for Buddhism.
It seems that director Philip Kaufman had a film camera in one hand and a checklist of stereotypes in the other. There are no genuine moments of action or thrills in this plodding, so-called "action-thriller", and the high-tech element of digital video forensics now seems awfully dated. The entire aesthetic and feel is very reminiscent of your below-average direct-to-TV so-called action film vehicle for a past-his-prime movie star - this is a pity because at that point of time, Connery and Snipes were anything but past their prime.
This was a time when Wesley Snipes was a viable action star, and yet he appears spends the whole movie in dazed disbelief. When even Sean Connery visibly gives up on the project and knows he can't save it no matter how much he tries, one knows he is in deep trouble.