Soleil levant

This movie is not always easy to understand but if you give it a couple of looks, which it is worthy of doing, all the pieces finally fit and it's a good two hours of entertainment.

This modern-day crime movie may have a lack of action compared to others of its genre but it never loses your attention. Sean Connery, Wesley Snipes and Harvey Keitel star, along with Cary-Hiroyuki Tagawa, Kevin Anderson, Mako and Tia Carrere. This is a high-tech story (at least for 1993) as two cops try to figure out who murdered a woman. It's Japanese-big business-politics intrigue with surveillance cameras being the key to figuring out a murder.

Connery and Snipes complement each other as a "buddy" cop duo with Connery being mostly responsible for making this story interesting. The still-suave ex-James Bond plays the cool veteran and it's fun to watch him operate.

The only complaint I might have is the ending, a stupid romance-type story with Snipes and Carrere that was very post-climactic and not needed.

Having just left us, Sean Connery's movies are all over cable TV right now. From the over-rated and mostly execrable Bond series, through the unloved but brilliant The Hill, and on through his later-career home runs such as Red October and The Untouchables.

Rising Sun is one of these latter-day Sean Connery movies. Here he's trying to bridge the cultural gap between the Japanese and Americans in a murder mystery. And as usual, he's way better than the movie itself. Connery is smooth and natural and completely believable as a guy who understands the Japanese language and culture. Also in the plus column belong Harvey Keitel and Wesley Snipes.

But goodness the drop-off from there is enormous. The supporting cast would be hard-pressed to hold up their end of an L.A. Law episode. Ray Wise is esp terrible. As for the Asian actors, well, at least they were able to pick up a nice Hollywood paycheque. Kurosawa this isn't. More like an extra-long episode of Magnum, P.I.

The plot is a mess. It might have seemed interesting to hang a plot on a Japanese corporation's takeover of an American tech firm, but that seems laughably old-fashioned these days.

Connery and Snipes, as far as I can tell, put in about 3 weeks of detective work in one 24-hour stretch. As for the ultimate perp, phhhht, you'd have to be pretty dense not to see that coming.

The fight scene near the end was a nice touch. Pointless, but fun.

And then it keeps going. Like Kaufmann shot a million feet of film and couldn't bring himself to cut any of it.

You get the interesting team-up of Connery & Snipes in this Japanese infused tale that was one movie in a wave of similar entries in the 90's. However you can be forgiven if you find the story meandering on route to a simplistic ending or just too long in the tooth. At over two hours in length, there's only so much the cast of faces can do.

On the eve of a controversial merger between Japanese company Nakamoto and an American firm, a woman Cheryl (Tatjana Patitz) is murdered in an LA boardroom during a party. Lt. Web Smith (Wesley Snipes) is put on the case and he's told to get Cpt. John Conner (Sean Connery) a specialist in Japanese affairs to assist. At first, it's seems very simple. A sexual tryst gone wrong and the lady's boyfriend Eddie Sakamura (Cary-Hiroyuki Tagawa) is guilty, but everything is not what it seems in this clash of cultures.

You get prominent appearances by Mako, Harvey Keitel, Ray Wise, Tia Carrere. Unfortunately none of them stand out as they're all one note functionary roles. Connery turns in a decent trip, but it's a character very much suited to him. That leaves Snipes to be the slightly out of his depth, ignorant American pawn. Tagawa gets the best role and has fun with it.

The conspiracy, the lies. Watching the duo chase down leads, talk to people is somewhat mundane. You get some fun moments like Snipes having to fight off a naked woman on his back and Connery quickly disarming a bodyguard though. Balance that with cliches like Web in the ghetto to get help or Connery knowing all the right people.

'Rising Sun' wants you to believe there's more going on here than there really is because they dress it up in some exotic sense of mystique. That's all surface level. Fans of Connery & Snipes will be the biggest audience giving this a go, but will agree it's neither man's best work.

During a high level executive meeting between a Japanese corporation and an US weapons contractor a young woman is found murdered. Due to his connections Captain John Connor is sent to lead the investigation with Lt Web Smith. The investigation is immediately hindered by the Japanese culture, the shadowy business figures and political pressures, however before long Connor and Smith are presented with a cctv disk that shows the murder being carried out by a known suspect. When the suspect dies in a chase the investigation seems over but a closer investigation of the evidence shows that the case is far from closed.

Not being a real big fan of Michael Crichton, I wasn't sure how I'd like this film – I'm not a big traveler and don't buy my books in the airport when I do travel! It was apt then, that I wasn't overly taken by the plot here and felt that its pace was more responsible for it being an enjoyable thriller than any great skill in the writing. In its essence the glossy story takes in technology, big business, Japanese cool and political goings-on – all these and other things combining to mean that it moves well and is consistently busy. This is not to suggest that it all fits together because it doesn't; the plot has holes and lose strands within it that distract if you think too much about it – happily its pace and revelations did not give me too long to linger over these and I managed to enjoy it, the problems being forgotten in all the gloss.

On top of this gloss is piled a cast that is worth seeing no matter what they are doing together, and their presence and ability further cover for a plot that doesn't always serve its many characters as well as they deserve. Connery has fun in the sort of role he seems to greatly favour now – distinguished, wise men of age who can still dish it out if need be. He is easy to watch and only at times does he feel like he's forcing it (like when he suddenly shouts). Snipes does not look as confident but that may be because his 'look' has dated here and changed since 1993. However he is still good and has his moments despite being given a rather secondary role to Connery's. It the support cast that surprised me though – so many well known faces in supporting or minor roles. Keitel is very good, playing an interesting character that goes nowhere but is still interesting and well delivered; Tagawa is gifted a fuller role than he often gets and does well with it. Wise is OK but he forces it and didn't convince me as much as I would have liked – still did the job asked of him though. People like Mako, Carrere, von Bargen and Buscemi all add depth and make the film feel fuller than it is even with some small (and perhaps unnecessary?) characters.

Overall this is a slick and enjoyable film even if it is as much style and pace as it is substance. The plot doesn't totally fit together but its mix of techno-conspiracy, political plotting, sex and intrigue all keep it moving along enjoyably enough and the impressive and rather charismatic cast only help to make it feel all the slicker. Worth a watch even if some may find it a little inconsequential in regards some bits of plotting.

A woman is strangled to death while having sex in a Japaneses' corporation building. Lt. Webster Smith (Wesley Snipes) and Japan expert Captain John Connor (Sean Connery) are assigned to solve it. All the evidence points to her Japanese boyfriend but there's more to this than meets the eye.

Michael Crichtons novel was a frightening and powerful story about how it seemed (at the time) that Japanese corporations were taking over everything. As an adaptation to that this is a joke. Smith is made black for no good reason, the anti-Japanese slant was toned down a lot, there was no romantic interest between Snipes and Tia Carrere as is shown in this movie and the identity of the killer was completely changed! It really destroyed the book. But, if you ignore the book, this is OK on its own terms.

It's well done and written and there's some good acting by Connery, Ray Wise (as a slimy senator), Harvey Keitel (as a cop) and Steve Buscemi (still not sure what he was). But the story is way too convoluted, goes on far too long and has an ending which is more than confusing. Also Connery and Snipes do not work well together. There's no spark between them--they seem to be acting in different movies. There's also plenty of pointless female nudity. This lessens what could have been a good strong movie. So it's an OK thriller. Worth catching if you're a Connery fan. The book is much better.