Rising Sun (1993)

Director: Philip Kaufman

Writers: Michael Crichton, Philip Kaufman, Michael Backes

Composer: Toru Takemitsu

Starring: Sean Connery, Wesley Snipes, Harvey Keitel, Cary-Hiroyuki Tagawa, Kevin Anderson, Mako, Ray Wise, Stan Egi, Stan Shaw, Tia Carrere, Steve Buscemi, Tatjana Patitz

More info: IMDb


Plot: At the offices of a Japanese corporation, during a party, a woman, who's evidently a professional mistress, is found dead, apparently after some rough sex. A police detective, Web Smith is called in to investigate but before getting there, he gets a call from someone who instructs him to pick up John Connor, a former police Captain and expert on Japanese affairs. When they arrive there Web thinks that everything is obvious but Connor tells him that there's a lot more going on.

My rating: 7/10

Will I watch it again?  No.

It's held up as well as I remember from seeing it in the theater 22 years ago.  I've been a lifelong fan of Connery since the 70s and I'm keen to see every movie he's done no matter how bad it is and he's done very few stinkers.  Here he looks great and he's a badass who knows what to do and no one can stop him.  I love it when he plays that type.  He's a lot of fun and the rest of the cast does a fine job.  The pacing is good but the story probably gets a little to convoluted with the bits about what happens with Eddie (with the exploding car and all).  It's not like it's a big detraction.  Who cares, really, because we're all there to see Connery, Snipes and Keitel (mostly Connery) anyway.  It's a good crime thriller that shows us some of how the Japanese business culture works.  That was neat.  Ray Wise is fun, too.  The 20th Century Fox DVD presents the film in non-anamorphic widescreen and the only extras are the fullscreen trailer for the film and the trailer for another Connery picture, ENTRAPMENT (non-anamorphic widescreen).