Product Details

• Actors: Sean Connery, Wesley Snipes, Harvey Keitel, Cary-Hiroyuki Tagawa, Kevin Anderson
• Directors: Philip Kaufman
• Format: Closed-captioned, Color, DVD, Letterboxed, Widescreen, NTSC
• Language: French (Dolby Digital 2.0 Surround), English (Dolby Digital 5.1)
• Subtitles: English, Spanish
• Region: Region 1 (U.S. and Canada only. Read more about DVD formats.)
  
• Aspect Ratio: 1.85:1
• Number of discs: 1
• Rating: R (Restricted)
• Studio: 20th Century Fox
• DVD Release Date: May 21, 2002
• Run Time: 129 minutes
• Average Customer Review: 3.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (36 customer reviews)
• ASIN: B000031VPM
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #15,310 in Movies & TV (See Bestsellers in Movies & TV)

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  #16 in	Movies & TV > Action & Adventure > Action Stars > Wesley Snipes
  #29 in	Movies & TV > Action & Adventure > Blackmail, Murder & Mayhem
  #42 in	Movies & TV > Action & Adventure > Action Stars > Sean Connery

• For more information about "Rising Sun" visit the Internet Movie Database (IMDb)

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com

Author Michael Crichton and director Philip Kaufman had a falling-out over the script for this film, based on Crichton's best-selling novel (which was controversial for its take on the Japanese invasion of American business in the early '90s). Kaufman ultimately won, doing an above-average job creating a murder mystery based on the culture clash between Los Angeles cops and Japanese multinational business interests. When a prostitute is murdered at the opening of a new L.A. headquarters for a Japanese company, detective Wesley Snipes is forced to call upon retired cop (and Japanophile) Sean Connery to help solve the murder. But he runs into obstruction from the Japanese, as well as a high-tech cover-up, while having to deal with anti-Japanese sentiments from people on his own team. Intriguing if overlong. --Marshall Fine

Product Description

A Los Angeles special liaison officer (Wesley Snipes) is called in to investigate the murder of a call-girl in the boardroom of a Japanese corporation. Accompanied by a detective with unusual knowledge of the Japanese culture (Sean Connery), the two men must unravel the mystery behind the murder by entering an underground "shadow world" of futuristic technology, ancient ways and confusing loyalties.

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

25 of 29 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The thinking man's action flick, February 16, 2002

By	Peter Vinton Jr. (Not near Washington, DC) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

Michael Crichton's RISING SUN (and that's both movie and book) is sheer brilliance. Unfortunately for the average American moviegoer, this is a flick too loaded with subtleties and hidden clues to appeal to someone who's used to more explosions, shootouts, and decisive final confrontations. You must pay close attention to every line of dialogue in order to keep up, and in this the average viewer is going to lose interest. Which is a pity, as you are kept guessing throughout --it's presented in such a way as to enable you to see the point of view of almost every character. Snipes and Connery work extremely well off each other, Harvey Keitel plods through his usual role, Cary Tagawa shines as the unfortunate fall guy stuck between East and West, Tia Carrere proves that she's MUCH more than mere 'Wayne's World' eye candy, and the film's few deviations from the novel do not detract from the suspense --they actually help to keep the plot moving.

Don't believe the reviews --this movie is most emphatically NOT racist Japan-bashing; in fact such a reaction is even anticipated within the narrative. An excellent treatise on the mindset of the Japanese corporate and how ill-equipped American culture/politics is in dealing with it. Not overly violent, but there is a considerable amount of sensuality and a disturbing murder scene that, of necessity, is replayed over and over throughout the film --definitely not for children.

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Philip Kaufman's interesting take on Crichton's work, October 14, 2004

By	Andy Orrock (Dallas, TX) - See all my reviews (TOP 500 REVIEWER)

Like Michael Crichton's book on which this movie is based, "Rising Sun" hasn't aged well. That has nothing to do with the artistic effort itself, but is due rather to the reality of the post-bubble stupor of Japan over the last 12+ years vs. the hegemonic, ruthless superpower depicted in both book and film. Despite this disparity, "Sun" is worth seeing if for no other reason than to appreciate director Philip Kaufman's ability to stamp his own imprint on Crichton's tale.

As noted elsewhere on this page, Crichton and Kaufman had a famous falling out over Kaufman's efforts to bring "Sun" to the screen. In the recently re-released novel of "The Manchurian Candidate," Louis Menard wrote an introduction discussing John Frankenheimer's movie adaptation of that novel. Noting the criticism that Richard Condon's book seemed to read like a movie, he pointed out that current fiction masters like Michael Crichton "all but provide camera angles" in their works.

That may be true, but I credit Kaufman for bringing a lot of creativity and vision into the translation from print to screen. And it happens right from the start - it's a brilliant beginning to the film...you think you've stumbled into a Western, then via a very measured transition and pull-back, you release you're deep into a scene of Japanese sub-culture with tortured karaoke in a small watering hole.

That's great movie-making. Philip Kaufman wrote or adapted for the screen such classics as 'Raiders of the Lost Ark,' 'The Right Stuff' and 'The Outlaw Josey Wales.' This guy knows movies and how to stage a story. Crichton's criticism makes Kaufman's work all the more intriguing. Each work stands on its own merits. Even fans of the book can appreciate a movie that surpasses a simple shot-by-shot, by-the-numbers approach.

14 of 19 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars A great novel, an okay movie, June 25, 2000

By	Merrill Mattie - See all my reviews

This review is from: Rising Sun [VHS] (VHS Tape)

There's no question that the novel upon which this movie is based is infinitely more complex and subtle. That being said -- when isn't that true in a comparison between paper and film?

Moving on to the film itself... the story is ostensibly about a young woman found murdered in a Japanese corporation's hq during a major gala. This main plot intersects with the secondary plot about this same corporation's controversial impending buy-out of a major American chip manufacturing company, thus potentially putting American secrets into Japanese hands.

What the movie is really about, of course, is the buy-out of an impoverished, corrupt, lazy, disorganized, and short-sighted America by the evil, manipulative, unfeeling, unsportsmanlike, and well, un-American, Japanese. There's no question that the anti-Japanese tone of Crighton's novel is carried directly to the screen.

That being said, this is a fairly interesting murder mystery, with lots of good red herrings and complex strategy involved in solving the case. It also has some interesting predictive scenes about the easy manipulation of video technology -- cutting edge in 1993, but commonplace now.

Sean Connery is his smooth, masterful self in this movie, and Wesley Snipes, while not given much to do except react in bafflement to both the Japanese and his new mentor, does the best he can.

The film is a bit long, but a perfectly satisfactory rental, esp. if you like Connery or Snipes.