Michael Crichton's novel about murder and merger serves as the basis for a fine thriller of a film. For Sean Connery fans they will be pleased with what Connery does in this film.

Wesley Snipes plays a Los Angeles homicide detective who has it insisted to him that he bring retired police captain Connery along with him to solve a murder committed in one of those glass tower buildings owned by a Japanese firm. The book and the film were made at a time it seemed that the Japanese were acquiring a lot of things American and were beating us at our capitalist game.

Connery is quite a lover of Japanese culture and tradition in addition to possessing a keen eye for subtle nuances. His presence proves to be invaluable.

The murder is that of a high priced mistress and it looks like she was strangled during some rough sex. In fact the Japanese who have a very different attitude toward privacy and tape everything and everyone have the room under video surveillance. The tape they supply shows a US Senator Ray Wise doing the deed. A lovely piece of blackmail since his vote in the Senate is a key one to get.

But Connery doesn't buy it and eventually the truth is learned.

Both Connery and Snipes are manipulated to a first solution and then to a correct one. The subtleties of the Oriental mind.

Rising Sun is an OK thriller. It certainly gets a bit paranoiac about the Japanese taking over the country. Fears about that certainly proved to be premature.

Cary-Hiroyki Tagawa as an up and coming Japanese yuppie businessman who has the solution and is part of it should be singled out for praise. As well as Harvey Keitel playing a Philistine American cop who symbolizes the ugly American in his own country. Good thing he had Snipes and Connery along. I'm agreeing with a lot of other reviewers who think Steve Buscemi was totally wasted in a role that proved superfluous to the film and went nowhere. I'm betting in the book he had a more central purpose to the plot.

Sean Connery's world wide legion of fans should enjoy this.

What could have been a tired entry in the buddy-buddy cop thriller genre turns into something else at the hands of expert director and craftsman Philip Kaufman (INVASION OF THE BODY SNATCHERS). Sure, it's no masterpiece, but this adaptation of a Michael Crichton novel makes for compelling viewing, a fun entry in the East-meets-West sub-genre of the films detailing the conflict that arises when two different cultures are forced to come together.

The plot is essentially that of a murder mystery, but with Crichton as source material there's the expected preoccupation with technology (a piece of CCTV footage plays a pivotal role here, throwing up questions as to privacy and manipulation, with the film feeling way ahead of its time some twenty years later). The presence of Wesley Snipes as the lead begs the question "miscasting?" but I found him on top form here and a darned sight better than he was in the same year's DEMOLITION MAN. Connery bags the best role and steals all of his scenes, while Harvey Keitel gives a volatile performance and Cary-Hiroyuki Tagawa is a pleasure when he's given the chance to act (and not typecast as the villain, either). Altogether the culture clash plot kept me watching to the end and I wasn't disappointed, the complexity of the mystery carrying the viewer through some of the more unbelievable moments..

A woman is found dead in a Japanese company offices in L.A. Police detective Tom Graham (Harvey Keitel) investigates. Web Smith (Wesley Snipes) is called in but he's told to bring John Connor (Sean Connery) along. He's a former police Captain and Japanese expert. The woman is a professional escort who dies during rough sex. Senator John Morton (Ray Wise) opposes a deal with the Japanese. Connor receives the surveillance footage of the murder implicating Eddie Sakamura (Cary-Hiroyuki Tagawa) but it's been digitally altered.

The plot is a little too complicated with hidden agendas. The Japanese sensibility was interesting at the time. It would be better if the plot has fewer twists and a bit more clarity. Connery and Snipes don't really have good chemistry. It may also be better if Smith is more of a greenhorn. That chemistry would probably be more compelling.