There is a house in New Orleans….
In this incredibly convoluted film Wesley Snipes plays a cop, Webster Smith, who is partnered with an expert on Japanese culture played by Sean Connery. (Sean Connery’s character is called John Conner, now there’s an idea for the next Terminator film. Hello $$). There’s some business dealings going on in L.A. and then there’s a murder at the location of the business party and then…honestly I’m not even sure.
Smith and Connor work their way through the cultural barriers to try and find out what’s really going on. There’s betrayal, suspicion and mistrust everywhere. I found it best to just sit back and let the film happen, and I actually quite enjoyed it. Sean Connery actually doesn’t just play himself; there’s an actual character there. I thought he and Snipes had good chemistry and the whole mystery of the film was fairly intriguing. I liked learning about Japanese culture too, and the action was one well. The film was well-paced as well and I can’t fault it on that aspect. That said, some of the scene transitions and hairstyle/fashion choices do date the film.
When the ending comes it appears that everything has been wrapped up but it actually leaves you with a lot of questions, and those aren’t just because there’s so much going on. I liked that and I think this would actually benefit from a re-watch because there are things we learn later in the film that we should perhaps have paid more attention to. Unfortunately I didn’t enjoy this film enough to re-watch it any time soon, but I think if you did re-watch it you’d be rewarded. But just sit back, watch Snipes and Connery put on a good show and try and just let the movie happen. If you do that you’ll probably enjoy it.
