Boiling Point (1993)

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.

Fmovies: I liked this movie, it had a lot of action and even a little comedy.Denis Hopper plays the bad guy of course like usual but the movie focuses on what his character is going through and I sort of worried about what was going to become of him.Wesley Snipes was the "good guy" but while watching the movie I got so annoyed with his character{one of the many characters hes played that all look exactly the same with the same personality and dull face expressions} i wanted to shoot him myself. So il give this movie a 7 out of 10 but without the help of Denis hopper the movie would only get about a 3. Also look for Viggo Mortensen{who played Aragorn in the Lord Of The Rings trilogy} as Denis hoppers slightly phycotic partner.

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.

Boiling Point fmovies. Wesley snipes as a detective out to find his partners murderer and Dennis hopper as a man on the run from the mob.. the two stories interweaving until they both cross paths and one meets a violent end.. an ok suspense action flick with good acting by snipes and hopper in an understated role Davidovich plays her part well as an ill fated lover but there is just not enough for all the talent to work with ...overall a disappointment.. on a scale of one to ten ..a 4

I skimmed through the other reviews about this film and it's unbelievable that none of them made mention to "To Live and Die in L.A.". First of all, both films were based on novels written by former Secret Service agent Gerald Petievich, and if you look closer the plots are very similar: there's a whole police investigation on a dangerous counterfeiter, then there's the death of an undercover agent and his partner will revenge his death doing whatever it takes to get the bad guy. And once again, it's all criminals doing fake money and spreading all over...Los Angeles!

But the thing "Boiling Point" doesn't imitate from Friedkin's movie is the quality, the surprises, the plot twists. And there's so much life in that movie that it's really difficult to make something so close to it. Not to mention that Warner changed the game and edited down the film in order to generate a bigger hit after their success with another movie with Wesley Snipes, who plays the hero in this one. Maybe this could be a different kind of film with an unusual approach on the villains played by Dennis Hopper (in one of his best efforts I must say) and the then unknown Viggo Mortensen (who plays one of the most deadly and mean guys I've ever seen) as the original project conceived by director/writer James B. Harris was.

Most people don't like comparisons but it's hard not to. One must compare to have a full idea of what's going on. The main difference between "To Live and Die in L.A." and this in terms of plot is that the bad guy is quite sympathetic despite his frightening looks and his strange yet confident walk. We kind of trust this guy because there's worse guys than him, people of whom he owns a lot of money. We look at him, thinking he might kill someone just to get what he wants but no, he refuses to do so, even when we're sure he's about to do it. Willem Dafoe in "To Live..." was a real artist who used of his kraft to be a criminal but he was also a unmerciful stone cold killer. What connects both films is one character named Max Waxman (here played by Jonathan Banks), a corrupt lawyer who meets his fate in the other movie.

"Boiling Point" is a fine movie, although a little bit dated, more dramatic than what's not supposed to be. The few action scenes, the engrossing tension built in all the business transactions scenes worth the view just as seeing the good cast giving solid performances. Dan Hedaya, Paul Gleason, Lolita Davidovich, Seymour Cassel, Tobin Bell, James Tolkan made the show very enjoyable.

Entertaining but only just another average picture. 7/10

I thought it was a very good movie that was based on a good story with only a few improbable points to it, such as both main characters having a week deadline to find each other.

I also thought that the gangster who was owed money would be more likely to give a guy fresh out of prison more time and hence more likelihood of a successful con to get him money. The viciousness of the deadline did not seem to serve the greed that should have been the main motivation of the gangster who was owed 50 thousand. If he had the money and wasn't paying up then the viciousness would have served a purpose.

Other than that small plot point I thought Dennis Hopper was brilliant and the relationship between him and the murdering thief kept me on the edge of my seat as I thought that at any moment the hit-man would find out he was being used or conned. But Dennis Hopper laid down a sweet story each time.

Leslie Snipes did a fine job as a Cop. And I liked the Duo he had with his partner of ex Cheers Fame.