Rising Sun (1993)

	Also Known As: -
	Year of first release: 1993
	Director: Philip Kaufman (Invasion of the Body Snatchers, The Right Stuff)
	Actors: Sean Connery (Highlander), Wesley Snipes (Blade 1-3), Harvey Keitel (From Dusk till Dawn), Mako (Conan the Barbarian, Sand Pebbles), Tia Carrere (Wayne's World), Ray Wise (Chillerama)
	Country: USA
	Genre: Thriller
	Conditions of visioning: 03.05.2015, Blu-ray, Home cinema
Synopsis: On a background of a big contract between American and Japanese companies, a woman is killed on the site. Lt Smith (Snipes) and Capt Connor (Connery) are requested to investigate.
Review: It is quite easy to date this movie, as it has the visual look of the end of the 80's but is displaying some futuristic technologies using the latest optical effects and first digital ones, rather typical of that year 1993 when Jurassik Park changed everything. It also belongs to that period when it was though Japan was the most advanced country in the world and would remain so (see also Die Hard from 1988). The movie shows, from a USA viewpoint, Japan not as an physical threat (there are a few Yakusas but that's all) but more an ideological and technological one. I found the conflicting characters in this movie well balanced: the master / apprentice duo Connery / Snipes, the more straight-forward cop played by Harvey Keitel, the Japanese boss played by Mako, the free electron Eddy Sakamura, and the Japanese reject by Tia Carrere. The murder investigation story that could have been very simple is cleverly put in perspective by its occurrence in a building controlled by a Japanese firm. During most of the movie the police seem to have no control of the situation, partly because they are outmatched in term of technology. It is also nice that throughout the movie Sean Connery plays the role of a teacher of the Japanese tradition not only for the character of Wesley Snipes but for the audience as well. I enjoyed watching this movie every time I saw it in the past ten years and enjoyed it this time as well.
Rating: 8 /10