Rising Sun

The thinking man's action flick
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...

Rising Sun on Blu Ray
When will Amazon ever separate reviews of BluRay discs from those of the Standard Definition DVDs? When will most reviewers stop writing book report summaries of the plot and their opinions of the acting. If I am interested in buying a blu ray DVD it is because I have already seen the movie and liked it and may already have it on a Standard DVD and want to know of the quality of the BD transfer.

I bought this Blu Ray disc on an impulse for $6.00 as I had recalled that it was a pretty decent film. Bloated a touch and even a corny line or so, but I liked the film.

The video transfer is really quite good with details even in the many dark scenes. Color resolution is excellent.
The audio is a DTSHD 5.1 transfer that sounded clear and precise though there was very little directionality for the discreet channels to play with. I believe that this may be due to the fact that audio is often given the short hairs when it comes to the budget. Yes, it is clean but...

Much Better Audio
This "Blu-ray" version is excellent. The video portion is much smoother and the audio is "far superior" to the regular DVD. One has to appreciate that this movie was initially released on VHS and the regular DVD of it was not much of an improvement. This blu-ray takes care of all the VHS flaws of the origional DVD release.

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