Review of Rising Sun (1993) by Allan C — 08 Sep 2017

Writer Michael Crichton wrote the part of Captain Connor with Sean Connery in mind and Connery absolutely shines in the role. Connery plays a police detective with an expertise in Japanese culture who's called in to assist on a murder case that took place at an LA high rise owned by a Japanese multinational corporation.

Connery is partnered with a very American of detective, Wesley Snipes, which unfortunately gives the film a disappointingly conventional buddy-cop-film vibe that was wisely absent from Crichton's novel.

Crichton (a film director himself) and "Rising Sun" director Philip Kaufman reportedly clashed over changes to the script Kaufman made regarding making Connor's partner black, which I'll side with Kaufman that it added an interesting new element in this clash of cultures murder mystery, but I'll side with Crichton in that it was badly done.

The scene where Snipes take Connery to a black neighborhood and Captain Connor suddenly becomes the most uncomfortable whitest white person of all time, seemingly to have forgotten all his skills and control previously demonstrated up to that point.

This could have been an interesting scene if it was done in a more subtle manner, but Connor is suddenly becoming a buffoon seemed out of place. It's as if Sherlock Holmes for a few scenes became Inspector Clouseau.

I'll also side with Crichton on the change of murderer at the end of the film, which seemed completely unnecessary and also went against much of what the book and film had to say about the nature of culture and culture clashes.

Despite these deficiencies, there is much to enjoy. Connery has one of the best roles of his career (minus the Inspector Clouseau scenes). Director Phillips Kaufman bring style and atmosphere, crafting a slick modern day noir, while also bringing a surprising amount of sensuality to a mainstream film, rivaling his more arthouse of features like "Henry & June" and "The Unbearable Lightness of Being.

" Director of photography Michael Chapman also gets kudos for his moody photography. The film also features a strong supporting cast that includes Harvey Keitel, Kevin Anderson, Mako, Ray Wise, Stan Shaw, Tia Carrere, and Steve Buscemi.

Overall, despite it's deficiencies, this is a stylish mystery that borders on erotic thriller and is centers around an interesting (though not so subtle) subtext about culture.