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IMDbPro

Rising Sun

  • 1993
  • R
  • 2h 9m
IMDb RATING
6.2/10
47K
YOUR RATING
Sean Connery and Wesley Snipes in Rising Sun (1993)
Home Video Trailer from 20th Century Fox Home Entertainment
Play trailer0:31
1 Video
82 Photos
ActionCrimeDrama

When an escort girl is found dead in the offices of a Japanese company in Los Angeles, detectives Web Smith and John Connor act as liaison between the company's executives and the investigat... Read allWhen an escort girl is found dead in the offices of a Japanese company in Los Angeles, detectives Web Smith and John Connor act as liaison between the company's executives and the investigating cop Tom Graham.When an escort girl is found dead in the offices of a Japanese company in Los Angeles, detectives Web Smith and John Connor act as liaison between the company's executives and the investigating cop Tom Graham.

  • Director
    • Philip Kaufman
  • Writers
    • Michael Crichton
    • Philip Kaufman
    • Michael Backes
  • Stars
    • Sean Connery
    • Wesley Snipes
    • Harvey Keitel
  • See production, box office & company info
  • IMDb RATING
    6.2/10
    47K
    YOUR RATING
    • Director
      • Philip Kaufman
    • Writers
      • Michael Crichton
      • Philip Kaufman
      • Michael Backes
    • Stars
      • Sean Connery
      • Wesley Snipes
      • Harvey Keitel
    • 95User reviews
    • 37Critic reviews
    • 56Metascore
  • See more at IMDbPro
    • Awards
      • 1 win & 1 nomination

    Videos1

    Rising Sun
    Trailer 0:31
    Watch Rising Sun

    Photos82

    Wesley Snipes and Philip Kaufman in Rising Sun (1993)
    Sean Connery and Philip Kaufman in Rising Sun (1993)
    Sean Connery and Wesley Snipes in Rising Sun (1993)
    Sean Connery and Wesley Snipes in Rising Sun (1993)
    Sean Connery and Wesley Snipes in Rising Sun (1993)
    Tia Carrere, Sean Connery, Harvey Keitel, Wesley Snipes, and Tatjana Patitz in Rising Sun (1993)
    Sean Connery and Wesley Snipes in Rising Sun (1993)
    Sean Connery and Wesley Snipes in Rising Sun (1993)
    Sean Connery and Wesley Snipes in Rising Sun (1993)
    Sean Connery and Wesley Snipes in Rising Sun (1993)
    Tatjana Patitz in Rising Sun (1993)
    Rising Sun (1993)

    Top cast

    Edit
    Sean Connery
    Sean Connery
    • John Connor
    Wesley Snipes
    Wesley Snipes
    • Webster Smith
    Harvey Keitel
    Harvey Keitel
    • Tom Graham
    Cary-Hiroyuki Tagawa
    Cary-Hiroyuki Tagawa
    • Eddie Sakamura
    Kevin Anderson
    Kevin Anderson
    • Bob Richmond
    Mako
    Mako
    • Yoshida-san
    Ray Wise
    Ray Wise
    • Senator John Morton
    Stan Egi
    Stan Egi
    • Ishihara
    Stan Shaw
    Stan Shaw
    • Phillips
    Tia Carrere
    Tia Carrere
    • Jingo Asakuma
    Steve Buscemi
    Steve Buscemi
    • Willy 'the Weasel' Wilhelm
    Tatjana Patitz
    Tatjana Patitz
    • Cheryl Lynn Austin
    Peter Crombie
    Peter Crombie
    • Greg
    Sam Lloyd
    Sam Lloyd
    • Rick
    Alexandra Powers
    Alexandra Powers
    • Julia
    Daniel von Bargen
    Daniel von Bargen
    • Chief Olson…
    Lauren Robinson
    • Zelda 'Zelly' Smith
    Amy Hill
    Amy Hill
    • Hsieh
    • Director
      • Philip Kaufman
    • Writers
      • Michael Crichton
      • Philip Kaufman
      • Michael Backes
    • All cast & crew
    • Production, box office & more at IMDbPro

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    Storyline

    Edit

    Did you know

    Edit
    • Trivia
      Michael Crichton wrote the part of Connor with Sir Sean Connery in mind.
    • Goofs
      Senator Morton receives a color fax on a machine far too simple a model to accept one.
    • Quotes

      John Connor: The Japanese have a saying, "Fix the problem, not the blame." Find out what's fucked up and fix it. Nobody gets blamed. We're always after who fucked up. Their way is better.

    • Crazy credits
      There is a credit in Rising Sun thanking "The MIT Leg Lab" and "Marc Raibert and his Running Team." This refers to a short scene where the two detectives go out to a fancy-looking research lab (really a water treatment plant; also used as the set for Starfleet Academy on the TV series "Star Trek - The Next Generation). In the background of some of the shots there are two legged robots: one hopping in a circle in a tea-house; the other bouncing up a garden path. These robots are actually academic research projects from the MIT AI Lab's Legged Locomotion Lab. They really do hop about and maintain their balance. Power comes from off-board hydraulic pumps (hence the guy in the background (me!) pulling hoses for the robot), and body attitude is sensed with gyroscopes. A human with a joystick tells the robot what direction to go, and the control algorithms (which are the real subject of Leg Lab research) maintain speed, direction, and balance. However, the robots aren't designed for special effects. They're always being modified, and they tend to break down frequently. This made shooting in the hot july sun of the San Fernando Valley a real nightmare, with transputers crashing in the heat, stuck gyros, and hydraulic leaks. Three grad students and a professor worked steadily for about a month before Hollywood, and then five days on the set and on location to get the robots in about 15 seconds of film. The credits are: Marc Raibert (our prof), and Charles Francois, Rob Playter and Lee Campbell (me) who are students. We three students appear in the film in white lab coats acting like Robot Scientists!!
    • Connections
      Featured in Siskel & Ebert: Coneheads/Benefit of the Doubt/Poetic Justice/Another Stakeout/Hocus Pocus (1993)
    • Soundtracks
      Tsunami
      Written by Seiichi Tanaka

      Performed by Seiichi Tanaka and the San Fransisco Taiko Dojo

    User reviews95

    Review
    Review
    Featured review
    Great Book Turned Into Average Thriller on Film...
    "Rising Sun"

    There is an old Japanese motto: "Business is war." Well, that sentence is taken to new heights in the Philip Kaufman thriller "Rising Sun," based on the best-selling novel by Michael Crichton.

    Wesley Snipes plays Web Smith, a Japanese-American liaison officer in LA who is called on duty after a young woman is found dead at the opening party for the new Japanese company named Nakamoto. Sean Connery plays John Connor, a retired liaison officer who is an expert on Japanese customs and culture. He is requested to come on call as well, and does, trailing along with Web.

    When they get to Nakamoto, they find Tom Graham (Harvey Keitel) and other cops hovering over the body of the dead woman. Soon, foul play is suspected, and Smith and Connor must find the killer before it is too late.

    "Rising Sun" is taken from a great novel, and turned into an average thriller. There is nothing spectacular about the film. It stays surprisingly true to the book, but the very few things that stray from the course of the novel turn out to be the blunders.

    There are no sparks flying between Sean Connery and Wesley Snipes. I think that Snipes was a bad casting decision. Connery is perfect for the character of John Connor, but Snipes just doesn't fit Peter Smith - whose name was changed to Web Smith for the film, for no apparent reason other than Peter isn't a suiting name for Snipes.

    The director/screenplay writer of "Rising Sun" - Philip Kaufman, who brought us "The Right Stuff" - seems to have charisma and obviously tries to keep the film true to the book. Unfortunately, however, there is an element of suspense missing from the film. There are no real surprises. In the novel, Connery's character John Connor seems to know everything that is going to happen, but there is still a sense of suspense. In the film, however, Connery's Connor seems to know TOO much about everything that is going to happen. Instead of being one step ahead like he was in the book, he seems to be twenty steps ahead in the film. There is one scene that really jumped out at me where Connor walks in and says, upon discovering a man believed to be dead, "Oh, I was wondering when he'd get here!" In the novel, Connor gives a reason why he knew the man wasn't dead. In the film, he just seems to know the man is still alive for no apparent reason. If Connor knows everything that is happening, everything that has happened, and everything that is going to happen, why keep Web - and us - in the dark?

    At least Connery fit the character of Connor - it would have been about ten times worse if they had chosen someone else.

    Believe it or not, the film might have been better if it had NOT been so close to the book. What I mean by this, is that by making everything just like the book, Kaufman raises the expectations a notch, and when ONE SINGLE THING is changed from the book, the audience is disappointed, because by then we have come to expect everything in the movie to be like the book. Expectations wouldn't have been so high if he had made everything different from the book. Which is NOT to say I don't enjoy that he stayed true to the book.

    It's a confusing opinion. In some ways, I enjoy how true to the novel the film was. But there is just something missing. Even though the cast is top notch for the most part, Snipes just didn't fit. And while Connery was perfect as Connor, he seemed to know too much about what is going on. There is no real suspense. Perhaps that is the biggest flaw of the film.

    A great book turned into an average thriller worth seeing once.

    3/5 stars -

    John Ulmer
    helpful•42
    10
    • MovieAddict2016
    • Mar 17, 2003

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    FAQ1

    • A NOTE ABOUT SPOILERS

    Details

    Edit
    • Release date
      • July 30, 1993 (United States)
    • Country of origin
      • United States
    • Languages
      • English
      • Japanese
    • Also known as
      • Сонце, що сходить
    • Filming locations
      • Nate Starkman & Son Building - 544 Mateo St, Los Angeles, California, USA(Jingo's loft)
    • Production companies
      • Twentieth Century Fox
      • Walrus & Associates
    • See more company credits at IMDbPro

    Box office

    Edit
    • Budget
      • $35,000,000 (estimated)
    • Gross US & Canada
      • $63,179,523
    • Opening weekend US & Canada
      • $15,195,941
      • Aug 1, 1993
    • Gross worldwide
      • $107,198,790
    See detailed box office info on IMDbPro

    Technical specs

    Edit
    • Runtime
      2 hours 9 minutes
    • Color
      • Color
    • Aspect ratio
      • 1.85 : 1

    Related news

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