Review of Rising Sun (1993) by Anthony F — 26 Feb 2010

The Japanese are a rich, well cultured that believe in respect for there culture and themselves, so picture it February 1993 a brash police detective named Webster Smith called in the middle of the night to Nakamoto Towers to investigate a homicide. but he is not alone, semi-retired police Captain John Connor(And no it's not the guy from the Terminator movies.) an expert in Japanese affairs tags along with Smith to investigate and what they find is wrapped up in corruption, murder, Japanese culture and a twisted game of cat and mouse , the answers could be explosive.

Michael Crichton's "Rising Sun" while well crafted and has all its pieces in the right place but it lacks a labor of love, it feels almost rushed in some way that it does not want you to be interested in its story or characters so it almost puts the audience into a coma with its extraordinary slow pace. But what "Rising Sun? has going for it is that it's story and plot are interesting and enticing but lack a refined touch of a director who knows the genre and knows how to deliver a true, blue cultural punch to the face. The two lead characters Smith(Snipes) and Connor(Connery) are to very diverse but very equal characters which by thriller standards is very, very rare most of the time the partnered up characters have different personalities, different ways of doing things and only one of them usual has a higher IQ. However, here the characters are equals on every level and that itself is something amazing to see. Nevertheless, for a film with so much going on there is not much going on?

Sean Connery is a legend in the film industry he was the first Bond that launched him into super stardom for his time, now in 1993 Connery still proves that he may be old but he is never out. Connery is playing a character that he so often plays now that he is much older the calm, cool and collected type that thinks it through here he plays it just like that in that order except he has serious kung-fu moves and insight into Japanese culture which makes his character different but not by allot. Wesley Snipes has never been a favorite of mine but here he doesn't play a tough as nails cop who shoots first and ask questions later instead he ask questions first and shoots later which is a good role reversal for Snipes. Snipes plays his part by thinking it through and using his brain than his brawn but still he is playing a stock character cop that is just slightly different from other film cop. The rest of the cast including Ray Wise, Steve Buscemi and Harvey Keitel are fantastic and help elevate this film from poor to average and display some serious talent.

"Rising Sun" is not great or good for that matter but the story and plot, the characters involved and the serious star power that it has makes this a must see despite the slow pace and controversial topic. This film succeeds if only for a little while.