Michael Crichton's novel about murder and merger serves as the basis for a fine thriller of a film. For Sean Connery fans they will be pleased with what Connery does in this film.
Wesley Snipes plays a Los Angeles homicide detective who has it insisted to him that he bring retired police captain Connery along with him to solve a murder committed in one of those glass tower buildings owned by a Japanese firm. The book and the film were made at a time it seemed that the Japanese were acquiring a lot of things American and were beating us at our capitalist game.
Connery is quite a lover of Japanese culture and tradition in addition to possessing a keen eye for subtle nuances. His presence proves to be invaluable.
The murder is that of a high priced mistress and it looks like she was strangled during some rough sex. In fact the Japanese who have a very different attitude toward privacy and tape everything and everyone have the room under video surveillance. The tape they supply shows a US Senator Ray Wise doing the deed. A lovely piece of blackmail since his vote in the Senate is a key one to get.
But Connery doesn't buy it and eventually the truth is learned.
Both Connery and Snipes are manipulated to a first solution and then to a correct one. The subtleties of the Oriental mind.
Rising Sun is an OK thriller. It certainly gets a bit paranoiac about the Japanese taking over the country. Fears about that certainly proved to be premature.
Cary-Hiroyki Tagawa as an up and coming Japanese yuppie businessman who has the solution and is part of it should be singled out for praise. As well as Harvey Keitel playing a Philistine American cop who symbolizes the ugly American in his own country. Good thing he had Snipes and Connery along. I'm agreeing with a lot of other reviewers who think Steve Buscemi was totally wasted in a role that proved superfluous to the film and went nowhere. I'm betting in the book he had a more central purpose to the plot.
Sean Connery's world wide legion of fans should enjoy this.
Wesley Snipes plays a Los Angeles homicide detective who has it insisted to him that he bring retired police captain Connery along with him to solve a murder committed in one of those glass tower buildings owned by a Japanese firm. The book and the film were made at a time it seemed that the Japanese were acquiring a lot of things American and were beating us at our capitalist game.
Connery is quite a lover of Japanese culture and tradition in addition to possessing a keen eye for subtle nuances. His presence proves to be invaluable.
The murder is that of a high priced mistress and it looks like she was strangled during some rough sex. In fact the Japanese who have a very different attitude toward privacy and tape everything and everyone have the room under video surveillance. The tape they supply shows a US Senator Ray Wise doing the deed. A lovely piece of blackmail since his vote in the Senate is a key one to get.
But Connery doesn't buy it and eventually the truth is learned.
Both Connery and Snipes are manipulated to a first solution and then to a correct one. The subtleties of the Oriental mind.
Rising Sun is an OK thriller. It certainly gets a bit paranoiac about the Japanese taking over the country. Fears about that certainly proved to be premature.
Cary-Hiroyki Tagawa as an up and coming Japanese yuppie businessman who has the solution and is part of it should be singled out for praise. As well as Harvey Keitel playing a Philistine American cop who symbolizes the ugly American in his own country. Good thing he had Snipes and Connery along. I'm agreeing with a lot of other reviewers who think Steve Buscemi was totally wasted in a role that proved superfluous to the film and went nowhere. I'm betting in the book he had a more central purpose to the plot.
Sean Connery's world wide legion of fans should enjoy this.