An average movie

I already saw this movie but since it was a while back, I thought I might as well check it out again. Well, the damned thing definitely had some potential. Indeed, I really liked the concept of mixing a neo-noir detective tale with a culture clash between Japan and the USA and the addition of a corporate war was also really neat. So, they seemed to have some very interesting ingredients to deliver a really solid thriller but, unfortunately, it all fell apart fairly quickly, I'm afraid. First of all, while most of the cast was good enough, Sean Connery was rather miscast in my opinion. Indeed, even though I always had a weak spot for this actor, he was never convincing as a supposedly expert in Japanese culture. It was also a mistake to add the private lives of the two main characters in the mix. Finally, they pretty much messed up the tone as it was obvious that it should have been gritty and realistic but they kept on throwing some lame jokes every two minutes which was just rather misguided. Anyway, to conclude, even though it could have been a really original and terribly entertaining thriller, it turned out to be rather half-baked after all and I don't think it is really worth a look.