RISING SUN
A film review by Mark R. Leeper
Copyright 1993 Mark R. Leeper
Capsule review: Culture clash and high-tech manipulation of reality are the themes that combine with a mediocre murder mystery in this adaptation of Michael Crichton's novel RISING SUN. Much of the anti-Japanese and anti-Western-decline diatribe from the book are toned down for the film. Rating: high 0 (-4 to +4).
A party slogan from Orwell's 1984 said "who controls the past controls the future and who controls the present controls the past." RISING SUN is a high-gloss technological murder mystery that, as everybody already knows, is about xenophobia, xenophilia, and Japanese-American relations, but what is getting less attention is that it is also about how electronic and computing technology is changing what we think of as reality. As portrayed in the film, the Japanese are masters at the electronic manipulation of reality--an art that gives them an immoral advantage over their American counterparts. This, by the way, is an interesting reversal of the 17th Century Japanese policy to suppress the Western technological advance of the gun which gave its wielder what was considered by the Japanese an immoral advantage over a swordsman. Times have changed and tables have turned.
In Los Angeles Web Smith, a liaison officer with the police department (played by Wesley Snipes), is investigating a murder in a Japanese corporation's skyscraper. Assisting him as a guide is John Connor (played by Sean Connery), a mysterious expert on Japanese culture. An American woman who was deeply into drugs and kinky sex is found dead, presumably murdered, on a conference room table. The police should have a big jump on solving the case with four observation cameras trained on the room, but that is electronic data in the hands of people who are masters of the manipulation of data. Also complicating the investigation is the amoral, financially-motivated, chauvinistic presence of the Japanese business executives. This aspect is toned down from the novel, but it is still very present in the film. But also toned down is the aspect of the novel being arguably as critical--or more so--of the cultural decline of the West as it is of the Japanese. Michael Crichton's book was intended as a wake-up call to the American people. Not surprisingly, that message has been completely obliterated in the transition to film, along with a large proportion of what was negative about the Japanese.
What we have left here is an okay murder mystery revolving in large part around technological elements. It is then given Hollywood gloss with high production values and a notable cast. Sean Connery is, of course, Sean Connery. His performance is exactly what you would expect it to be. In this film he also has the title "executive producer." Wesley Snipes is a good actor who balances the cast racially but unless I am mistaken, it is very unlikely that the LAPD would have a black in the diplomatic position of liaison officer to the Japanese, who have a very low regard for blacks. Also present is Harvey Keitel, certainly one of America's most highly regarded character actors. Japanese playboy Eddie Sakamura is played by Cary-Hiroyaki Tagawa, somewhat familiar for having played an alien lifeform in the crew of the short-lived television series SPACE RANGERS. But for all the gloss and high-tech hardware, the mystery just fails to be intriguing. This is not a puzzle mystery where the clues are all in front of the audience. It is more a "follow the police and all will be revealed" sort of mystery. I would have to give it a high 0 on the -4 to +4 scale.
Mark R. Leeper
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