L'extrême limite

My review was written in April 1993 after a screening in Manhattan's Chelsea neighborhood.

Promoted as a hard-action film for Wesley Snipes fans, "Boiling Point" turns out to be an old-fashioned police procedural. Low-key and bland in the extreme, it's strictly for film buffs, though Snipes should ensure a strong first-week sampling among action enthusiasts.

Disappointingly, writer-director James B. Harris ("Cop"), in his zeal to re-create the mood and character acting of 1940s film noir, seems to have forgotten about excitement and visual flair.

Snipes toplines as a U. S. Treasury agent partnered with Dan Hedaya. The third T-man on their stakeout is killed by ruthless thug Viggo Mortensen, who gets away with his partner Dennis Hopper before the feds can close in.

Because of the fatal snafu, Snipes is reassigned from Los Angeles to Newark. He holds out for one week's time to catch the killers; coincidentally Hopper is given a week to find the $50,000 he owes gangster Tony LoBianco.

Loaded with false irony, Harris' mechanical script emphasizes the parallel lives of the two main characters to an almost laughable extent. Throughout the picture, Snipes keeps running into Hopper, neither knowing one is methodically hunting for the other.

Because of terrific acting down to the smallest role, one's interest is maintained despite the minimalist direction and lack of story twists. Particularly through Mortensen's careful underplaying, the film builds suspense and a sense of dread, but it never pays off.

Hopper's Red Diamond is a memorable small-time rogue who's a romantic at heart. Snipes is stuck in a one-dimensional role. Valerie Perrine is touching as the woman Hopper once put out on the street to pay his debts. Lolita Davidovich, as Snipes' ex-flame turned hooker, has little to work with in a patently unbelievable part. Seymour Cassel and Jonathan Banks are on the money as criminal types.

Pic looks nondescript. The soundtrack makes repeated use of Johnny Mercer's lovely standard "Dream".

The film begins with Red Diamond, an ex-con(Dennis Hooper),recently freed from jail . He along with Ronnie(Viggo Mortensen), his pal from prison, undergo a new business, an operation about money forgery. But the issue go wrong and Ronnie murders an undercover agent. His partner a two-fisted named Jimmy Mercer(Wesley Snipes) together with another policemen(Dan Hedaya) swear discover the killer. Meanwhile, Red Diamond deals with mobster(Tony Lo Bianco) whom he owes some money. The story continues the trail some people after another attempting to get close over tracks of Red and Ronnie and there relationships with girlfriends(Valerie Perrine, Christine Elise) and lovers(Lolita Davidovich).

The picture contains action, suspense, several shootouts, bloody killings and lots of violence. It's exciting and tense, at time no too much interesting cop thriller. The story is plenty of firepower, intrigue, action packed and good performances. Wesley Snipes is fine as tough cop and excellent Dennis Hooper as likable delinquent and Viggo Mortensen as cold killer.Magnificent secondary cast with a plethora of known actors, such as Seymour Cassel, Tony Lo Bianco,James Tolkan, Jonathan Banks, Paul Gleason, among others. Atmospheric musical score made by means of synthesizer and fitting to action by John DÁndrea and Cory Lerios. The motion picture is written and directed by James B Harris. He's a notorious producer, he produced Stanley Kubrick's three awesome films(The killing, Paths of glory and Lolita)and occasionally director of thrillers(Cop, Fast walking)and another genres(Bedford incident). Rating : Acceptable and passable. The movie will like to Wesley Snipes fans and thriller buffs.

I am going to make this review short for now, with the intention to expand it upon a second viewing if one ever occurs.

My understanding of this film is that it was a complete failure during production. They redesigned the film to give Wesley Snipes more screen time, as he was a rising action star. And they changed the name from "Money Men" to "Boiling Point"to imply that it's an action film. Well, quite simply, it's not. There's some twists in the plot, but no real action.

Wesley Snipes is a good lead, but more interesting is Dennis Hopper as Red Diamond, a prostitute lover and crook. Hopper has said he considers this his best role, which may be true, but it's embedded in a bad film. And most interesting? Viggo Mortensen in an early role as Hopper's crook friend. Had the film's creators had the foresight, they would have cut down on Snipes and expanding Mortensen. And, you know, with no fan following, we'll never see a director's cut.

Not a must-see.

Boiling Point was too pithy to be a successful thriller; too low profile to be a successful action movie. If the plot had thrown more twists, offered more insight on the characters psyche, or had a much more involving story, the movie could have sufficed even as a decent thriller. Had there been explosives, chase scenes, and other good action ploys, this movie could've made a decent action film. However, it is not much of either category, thus suffering from mediocrity.

Police detective, Jimmy Mercer (Wesley Snipes) and his partner, Brady (Dan Hedaya), are investigating the shooting death of an undercover U.S. Treasury agent who investigating a counterfeit ring. The two guys who he was dealing with, gunned him down and fled the scene, before Mercer and Brady could intervene and save their partner. Mercer and Brady don't know who the two men were, but spend the remainder of the movie looking for him.

Actually, they are fast-talking Red Diamond (Dennis Hopper), so named because of his red hair. He owes fifty grand to another gangster within seven days. He and his partner, Ronnie (Viggo Mortensen), an eerie kind of guy who is never sure if Red is just handing him a line of garbage with all the schemes he involves him in. Although, for Ronnie, he would have no problem shooting Red. Why Ronnie remains faithful to him at all given Red's consistent failures is beyond me. These two guys need a get rich quick counterfeit scheme.

Meanwhile Mercer and Brady are going from one informant to another, trying to get them to give up information about Red and Ronnie, a description, their location, anything. Sometimes they're successful and sometimes not. The movie goes on and on like as the two trail one person after another trying to get close on the trail of Red and Ronnie. It is wholly uninteresting, offering no real suspense and even less action to fill the time. The movie fails to deliver any real substance in between, which is sad when you consider the possibility of your characters, and especially, the potential of the actors.

This movie was OK way better then i thought it would be but the movie still has some flaws and the movies about 2 men who just got released from jail and kill an undercover cop and his partner has a week to find them before he is transferred.The film has an all star cast full of actors and actress like The great Dennis Hopper from the great movie Rivers Edge,Wesley Snipes from the movie Blade,Lolita Davidovich,Viggo Mortensen,Seymour Cassel and Christine Elise.This film is worth the rental prise but save your money and do not buy this film unless u are a fan of Dennis Hopper or Wesley Snipes and over all this film was entertaining with some boring scenes and my rating is 5 out of ten.