Author Michael Crichton and director Philip Kaufman had a falling-out over the script for Rising Sun, based on Crichton's best-selling novel (which was controversial for its take on the Japanese invasion of American business in the early 1990s). 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 LA 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. Rising Sun is intriguing, if overlong. --Marshall Fine, Amazon.com