RISING Sun, a film starring Sean Connery and Wesley Sniper, starts off like any other thriller. A call girl is murdered in the executive offices of a major Japanese company in the US and two Los Angeles Police Department detectives are sent to investigate her death.

But as the investigation continues, a larger theme emerges. The film, which opens in America in July, is based on the best-selling novel by Michael Crichton. Like the book it becomes a broad description of how Japanese business interests - unbeknown to Americans, according to Crichton - have worked their way into the fabric of US society.