Don’t watch Rising Sun to learn new stuff about the Japanese culture. Only the broad stereotypical strokes are painted here. In fact if you bother jotting down what this film teaches you this is what you’d list.
- They like karaoke.
- The like golf.
- They are aggressive businessmen.
- They bow a lot.
- They wear sunnies at night.
- They do karate. (More on this later.)
Back to the film. A hot white chick is killed at a high society business soirée in the throes of passion. Killed by a Japanese guy.
Lt Webb Smith (Wesley Snipes) is teamed with Japanese relations specialist John Connor (Sean Connery) to get to the bottom of the case. The Japanese do their level best to pour sand into their investigative petrol tank, and elsewhere it seems that some of the American police force are reluctant to provide genuine assistance for fear of having their own secrets made public.
This is mainly personified by Harvey Kietel as a cop who scarcely bothers to hide his racist attitudes from view. Elsewhere a senator, a reporter, some cops and many Japanese businessmen and miscellaneous crew do all they can to provide some colour to the periphery of proceedings in what is essentially one of those “whodunit” films, while a big international business negotiation continues on in the background.
The primary relationship of course is between Webb and liaison John Connor, both of whom have baggage of their own. It’s remarkable how efficient the duo are though. Not a conversation is wasted. Not a innocent comment uttered. every chance meeting gives evidence or clues that push the case forward, even seemingly random occurrences prove vital.
It seems Connor is not only an expert on all things Japanese – which moves him to make 137 “yeah but this is why the Japanese do it and this is why that is better” comments – he is an expert on EVERYTHING. As others flail about aimlessly Connor takes Webb’s hand and leads him to the truth, ignoring the negativity and obstacles in his way.
This is also the first film I can remember where technology drives the plot, specifically when Tia Carrere appears as a Japanese tech-spert to zoom, cut and paste security film to uncover an entirely new reality to the situation. As Tia’s character herself intimates at some point, what you see isn’t necessarily what happened. Such is the case with this film.
On the surface Rising Sun has a top notch cast, an interesting central event and endless possibilities. It also looks nice and shiny. But the reality is that as a film all of these elements and potential assets are mismanaged. Webb and Connor never really seem to clarify their relationship, they are neither resentful rivals, buddies nor sparring combatants. The Japan vs America thing is also covered in broad and clumsy simplifications, mostly delivered by Connor. And an entire subplot regarding Tia Carrere’s character seem glossed over. She is physically deformed. She is John’s missus. She is on the outer with the broader Japanese community. All of these things are hinted at but none are followed up or expanded upon, leaving us feeling either cheated, bored, or both.
So we have a whodunit where we don’t really care about the killer’s identity (and it’s underwhelming when we do find out), a suspense film lacking suspense, and as far as the action elements are concerned, if we believe the stereotype that this film perpetuates and all Japanese are indeed proficient at karate, how did they manage to find the dozen or so Japanese guys who do it poorly?
Final Rating – 6 / 10. The blurb on the reverse of the DVD cover might seem compelling, but Rising Sun is a clumsy realisation of a flawed plot.
