राइज़िंग सन

This adaptation of Crichton's novel of the same name is flawed, specially in some key casting (Snipes is wrong for the part) and tone choices (the main relationship is badly portrayed, some characters enter and leave without regard and the action scenes seem very off).

However, it makes the grade into the above-average category of high-tech thrillers for the excellent Sir Connery performance and the adherence, in about 80%, to the gripping and quite scary, economically speaking, original plot.

Crichton was never afraid to take a stand and the movie version, although clearly into a more action-driven-politically-correct approach, tried to present a more layered portrayal of the business war arena, without hiding the author's criticism of the American posture towards the velvet covered Japanese iron hand on such matters, which is refreshing.

The pace is lightning fast, the convoluted plot is presented in a very satisfactory fashion - the audience can understand what is going on and why - and the almost 2-hour movie passes by with grace.

The little disappointment goes for the last 20 minutes, that present a rather stupid conclusion (different from the book, I might add) and wastes the audience time with perfunctory developments that could, easily, have remained in the edit room floor.

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.

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.

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.

The background of the film is the American-Japonese business competition in L.A. where a cop (Wesley Snipes) accused by corruption teams up with old man (Sean Connery) , expert on Japanese world . They're investigating a killing case filmed in videotape recording and located at an important corporation run by powerful manager (Mako)and it implicates a senator (Ray Wise) . The homicide is committed on a boardroom table while a beautiful prostitute is strangled when having sex with her lover , being prime suspect a Japanese executive (Gary -Hiroyuki Tagawa). The identity of the murderer is taken by a security camera on a missing disk . Meantime , another tough police( Harvey Keitel) is also investigating and they're helped by a gorgeous video expert (Tia Carrere). Soon discover on the final breaking point that even the truth can lie .

The tale mingles suspense , thriller , mystery , quick action , buddy movie and is quite entertaining . However , the complicated script contains some flaws and gaps , originating fails on credibility but gets its nice moments here and there . Based on controversial novel by Michael Crichton , it is adapted by Philip Kaufman and Crichton, blending business, Japanese customs, high technology and international politics, turning out some confusing and silly . For that reason, the screenplay was rewritten several times, focusing more the killing suspense and relying heavily on relationship between two leads and the differences US-Japan . Michael Crichton, author of the book and co-author of the screenplay, wrote the part of Connor with Sean Connery in mind. Writers Michael Crichton and Michael Backes quit the project largely over disagreement with director Philip Kaufman that one of the lead characters should be changed into an African-American . Evocative Japanese music score by Takemitsu (Kurosawa's usual musician) and appropriate cinematography with stylized camera techniques by Michael Chapman . This one gets acceptable direction by Philip Kaufman (Quills, Right stuff, Body snatchers) . The film will appeal to Wesley Snipes and Sean Connery fans.