Rising Sun

Starring Sean Connery and Wesley Snipes

The Japanese have a saying: "Business is war." Rising Sun takes a look at the war involved in the purchase of an American company by the Japanese. It is a clash of the two cultures when the police are called to investigate a murder that takes place in a boardroom of the Japanese company involved in the transaction. Not everything is as straightforward as it initially seems, and the battle lines are quickly drawn, though not immediately discernable. There are many twists before the final confrontation that will leave you grateful that you aren't trying to wrangle a multi-billion dollar deal with people who take business this seriously.

I bought this movie because Amanda said it was really good. I'd have to say that I agree. It was made in the early 90's, I think, and it's still an enjoyable flick. The only things that actually age this movie are the clothes and hair style. Otherwise, it's classier in a lot of ways than some new movies these days.

I like Sean Connery in this movie except for his eye brows. It's as though Sean opted for spoilers when God was putting his face together!

Mr. Snipes is written as pretty dumb and wimpy. Consequently, he's alot more human and likeable than in the Blade movies.

This movie really has guts - that's why I really like it. It has the guts to transpose Wesley Snipes' head onto Sean Connery's body. For good or bad, it deals with the concept of "gaspers" - gutsy. Oh yeah, this movie is definitely rated R.

Overall, I have to give this film a pretty good rating.

Off the top of my head, I'm not sure that Michael Crichton has written a single book that hasn't been made into a movie. Don't get me wrong, the man is a prolific and incredible storyteller. Who would imagine that the man who wrote Jurassic Park also wrote Disclosure?

However, this one might have just been a little too much to bite off. While the book was an in-depth look at the perceived takeover of American commerce by Japanese business, it doesn't translate as well to the screen. Luckily, I saw the movie a few years after I read the book, so had lost a lot of the nuances involved. But when I went back and read the book, I recognized the shortcomings. So just don't read the book around the same time you see the movie.

I adore Wesley Snipes and Sean Connery in this film. And in a wonderful nod to "Six Degrees," Steve Buscemi is also in this movie. (I was able to make it to Kevin Bacon in five moves two different ways.) Harvey Keitel is over the top, and Tia Carrere less than believable, but all in all, I think some really decent acting within the confines of an underdeveloped script.

To reinforce Jonathan's comment about being rated R, there are unnecessary and not even very interesting flashbacks to the murder, which coincidentally involves a naked sexy blonde ~ even though it doesn't add a darn thing to the storyline. I feel that is the biggest weakness of the film.