Rising Sun *** (1993, Sean Connery, Wesley Snipes, Harvey Keitel, Cary-Hiroyuki Tagawa, Kevin Anderson, Mako, Ray Wise) – Classic Movie Review 8985

Director Philip Kaufman’s smart 1993 action crime thriller Rising Sun is based on a novel by Michael Crichton and stars Sean Connery and Wesley Snipes, who form an entertaining odd-couple partnership as LA detectives Captain John Connor and Lieutenant Webster Smith investigating the murder of a young woman escort having passionate sex in the boardroom of a Japanese corporation’s Los Angeles headquarters, portrayed as a virtual foreign embassy in LA.

Rising Sun is an enjoyable high-tech thriller with a disappointingly mundane murder mystery (and no finish) wrapped up in an apparently anti-Japanese study of manners and mores and the business of the two different worlds of America and Japan at the point where the two cultures meet.

The plush production designed by Dean Tavoularis, director Kaufman’s taut, polished handling and the engaging performances keep it involving and there is a good helping of action, humour and strongly written characters. But there is less substance here than there should be with such tasty themes and it remains a fast-food movie and not the four-course meal that is advertised on the menu.

As the Japan-expert old cop and Snipes’s teacher in the ways of the East, Armani-suited Connery dominates the film easily, performing and moving gracefully, and having no trouble in his 60s with the huge close-ups. But Snipes, Harvey Keitel (typecast as a racist cop, Lieutenant Tom Graham) and the Japanese actors are effective too and could profitably have more to do. The technological detail is by far the most interesting and chilling aspect of the movie.

Also in the cast are Cary-Hiroyuki Tagawa, Kevin Anderson, Mako, Ray Wise, Stan Shaw, Tia Carrere Steve Buscemi, Stan Egi, Tatjana Patitz, Peter Crombie, Sam Lloyd and Alexandra Powers.

Rising Sun is directed by Philip Kaufman, runs 125 minutes, is made by Twentieth Century Fox and Walrus & Associates, is released by 20th Century Fox, is written by Philip Kaufman, Michael Crichton, Michael Backes and David Mamet, based on a novel by Michael Crichton, is shot by Michael Chapman, is produced by Peter Kaufman, is scored by Toru Takemitsu and is designed by Dean Tavoularis.

It was filmed between 22 June 1992 and 3 October 1992.

© Derek Winnert 2019 Classic Movie Review 8985

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