Time hasn't been kind to this film. If it
was made today, it would be the Chinese at the center of the story and it
would hopefully be less racist. But back in the 1980's Japan was the economic
villain buying up American properties - even Rockefeller Center - and America
was freaking out. Magazines were full of stories about how Japan was arrogantly
acting and that they were an economic juggernaut that would overtake the
USA. Then 1991 happened. The bubble in Japan burst, their economy crashed,
they sold many of their American properties and 30 years later they are still
recovering. It seems a little bit odd that this film made in 1993 basically
ignores that fact. It is horrifically insulting to the Japanese - stereotyping
them. mocking them, making them insidious and mysterious, having them screw
white prostitutes in demeaning ways, having them belittle America. I was
honestly taken aback. It is cringeworthy at times. The Orientalization whether
positive or negative is just insulting. And from a fine director like Philip
Kaufman whose film The Right Stuff is one of my favorite films. This was
not the right stuff.
But putting that aside! It is a well-plotted film of a murder and a cover
up that pulls in various strands of cops, Yakuza, businessmen and builds
the suspense. It also contains a good charismatic performance from Sean Connery
though his character as the Japanese expert indulges in some of the same
nonsense by explaining how wise and complicated they are and that everything
they say means something else and handing out aphorisms like a cheap Charlie
Chan imitator. Still, watching him with his gray hair and beard beat up guys
with some Japanese technique is fun. His playmate is Wesley Snipes. They
are both cops.
A keiretsu, Japanese conglomerate, and its head (Mako) are in the process
of negotiating a deal to buy an American chip maker. It is complicated and
there are forces at work to push it through and to stop it. During a large
lavish party given by the keiretsu at their building a blonde escort girl
is murdered upstairs on the conference room table. She enjoyed being strangled
during sex and it may have gone too far. Snipes is brought in and told to
bring the Japanese expert Connery with him. Connery knows these people, plays
golf with them (in real life Connery was a golf fanatic) and knows how to
navigate through the politics and the formalities. It seems likely that the
dead girl's main sponsor (Cary-Hiroyuki Tagawa) is the likely killer - but
that would be too simple. Everyone is trying to stop their investigation
on both sides of the law. Of course, they don't stop because they are Sean
Connery and Wesley Snipes!
Also on hand are Tia Carrere as the video expert and Steve Buscemi in a totally
pointless role. At the time this film was clearly playing on the prejudices
in America against Japan Inc., now the attitudes feel as worn out as
those towards slaves in a film like Gone with the Wind. This is based on
a novel by Michael Crichton which I never read. I don't know if the source
material is as racist as the film but considering that Crichton to his dying
dead did not believe in Climate Change I would not be surprised.
