Boiling Point

Plot synopsis:
This film opens with Treasury officer Jimmy Mercer (Wesley Snipes) and his partner Brady (Dan Hedaya) doing some undercover work, when Mercer's fellow agent is shot and killed by a new man, Ronnie (Viggo Mortensen) that criminal Red Diamond (Dennis Hopper) pulled out of jail. Now on a snap of anger and thoughts of revenge, Mercer wants to find the killer and take him down before he gets transferred to Newark. Although a cop and close colleague claims over dinner that Mercer must do it "by the book," Mercer replies that "when I'm done with this motherfucker, I'm gonna put him in a box..... by the book."
A background theme is the closing of a big band dance emporium called the Palace. Lonely, Red takes hooker Vicky (Lolita Davidovich) there for dancing. Lolita is also involved romantically with Mercer, who is estranged from his ex-wife.
Red continues to try to build a relationship with his old girlfriend, waitress Mona, (Valerie Perrine). Typically, he has manipulated and betrayed her in the past.
Red is under increasing pressure to repay mob debts to boss Tony Dio (Tony Lo Bianco). He manipulates Ronnie into a crime spree culminating in the murder of the boss and ransacking his apartment. He tells Ronnie to meet him at the palace at 9 PM to split up the money. He asks Mona to meet him there as well. Mercer is building his case against Red and arrives at the murder scene seconds too late. Red is soon arrested and a net is laid for Ronnie at the club
At the club Red again manipulates Ronnie in an attempt to escape, yelling gun as he ducks. Ronnie is shot by Mercer in the exchange and Red almost escapes. As Red is taken away in the police car Mona arrives, seeing him pass by. In the last scene Jimmy asks Vicky to leave with him.
The epilogue reports that they actually did move to Newark.

Tags: violence, neo noir, murder

Review:
I will confess that it's not a thriller classic but I will defend it against the accusation that it's a terrible movie Red ( Dennis Hopper ) is released from prison and owes some mafia types money and so is given a seven day ultimatum .
Jimmy ( Wesley Snipes - And no early 90s urban thriller is complete without Wesley Snipes )loses a friend in the course of duty and the audience instantly know that these two unconnected characters will tie in with the plot somehow - And they do in a script that while not being the most tightly plotted screenplay you will ever see since there's a few too many characters involved is at least undemanding and easy to follow .On the style front it's not exactly in the same league as HEAT but probably contains more substance than an episode of MAIMI VICE while we also get to see an early supporting role from Viggo Mortenson .
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.
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.
The movie will like to Wesley Snipes fans and thriller buffs..
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.
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.
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.
Not That Bad At All. Thing is, I suspect fans of Wesley Snipes are going to see this R rated movie and want a ton of action...
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.
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..
Wesley snipes as a detective out to find his partners murderer and Dennis hopper as a man on the run from the mob..
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..
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..
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.
Also look for Viggo Mortensen{who played Aragorn in the Lord Of The Rings trilogy} as Denis hoppers slightly phycotic partner..
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.
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.
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.
There's a reason it was on that shelf.Boiling Point has less action than any other Wesley Snipes movie I've ever seen.
A documentary about real boiling points would've had more thrills than this wannabe actioner.Almost nothing about this movie made me want more.
Dennis Hopper acted weird the whole movie with over-exaggerated hand movements that made his character very off-putting.
Not one for the awards shows, but still an interesting thriller as Wesley Snipes is a good guy this time and he is after the one who killed an undercover cop.Need a sleaseball?
For a partner, he has the young Viggo Mortensen.There was a lot of support from some beautiful women like Lolita Davidovich and Valerie Perrine and Christine Elise.
Don't go in to this movie thinking its a regular shoot 'em up action film, even the cover shows it as one.
It doesn't even try to be an action movie, which would have saved it from the never-ending, always-growing pile of over-complicated movies.The plot mostly circles around a cop (Wesley Snipes) who is after the man who his partner was killed by, a newly free con man (Dennis Hopper).
The dialogue doesn't help much though, at times when Hopper is trying to be romantic with his ex-wife he drags on every word that you can almost see "Give me an Oscar" written on his forehead.The supporting players, Dan Hedaya and Viggo Mortensen, do an equally bad job.
Of course, that is understandable because they were at the beginning points of their careers, where as Hopper started decades earlier and Snipes established himself as an '80s Action Star' (the worst kind)."Boiling Point" tries everything to be a classic, but, in the end, disappoints, 3/10..
This adjunct to the melodrama in the story, although not entirely original, embellishes the overall plot and entertains as well, as some good lines flow freely in these scenes.All the actors render justice to their roles, especially the swaggering, high-stepping, red-headed Dennis Hopper, whose nostalgia-laced alter ego to his criminal self finds solace and peace on the "Palace Ballroom" dance floor.
In this film are Wesley Snipes, Dennis Hopper, Dan Hedaya, James Tolkan, Lolita Davidovich, Viggo Mortensen, and Seymour Cassel!
Snipes and Hedaya make two great cop partners and in My opinion Hedaya was the highlight character in this film.
Wesley Snipes plays a more believable character than usual but he is the weak link in this movie.
Jimmy Mercer(Wesley Snipes) is a police officer who is given one week to catch the men (Dennis Hopper and Viggo Mortensen) responsible for the murder of his partner, after a week he will be transferred and the race is on.
"Boiling Point" is a nifty, serious action film with good,brooding performances by the leads, and a slick screenplay.However, with the lack of violent action and suspense, thismovie can get pretty dull if you don't have the patience to sitthrough all the conversations this flick contains.
Wesley Snipes plays Jimmy Mercer, a tough L.A. treasury agentlooking to nab the scum who killed his partner during a bust.Dennis Hopper is Red, the dirtbag who was behind the murder,along with his sneaky accomplice Ronnie (Viggo Mortensen).
Those looking for an action hit look elsewhere, because this Wesley Snipes and Dennis Hopper starring vehicle is a lyrically moody and underplayed crime drama driven by characters and circumstances.
On a personal note, I greatly enjoyed the location shooting in the Hollywood streets which effortlessly brought back nostalgic flashbacks to my three-month trip over there between November 2005-January 2006.Writer/director Harris – formerly Stanley Kubrick's producer on his earlier films and the man behind one of the quintessential "Cold War" movies, THE BEDFORD INCIDENT (1965) – supplies some good lines and colorful roles to a fine group of veteran and up-and-coming actors: Dennis Hopper (particularly outstanding as the pitiful small-time criminal with delusions-of-grandeur), Viggo Mortensen (as his cold-blooded murdering partner), Tony Lo Bianco (as the big cheese in the L.A. underworld and Hopper's one-time associate), Seymour Cassel (as a hardened crook) and Tobin Bell (as a jailed counterfeiter).
i believe that the only reason the film manages to stay average and doesn't dip into "sub-par" is because of the cast.Snipes isn't intense enough, and you never really feel his emotions that he REALLY wants to get "the bad guys".
This is basically just a revenge story, with cop, Snipes after an aging scam artist, Hopper, perfect here, who's into money laundering, making his own cash.
Boiling Point falls under that "Why bother making this movie category" There's hardly any action.
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.
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.
Red is an aging criminal who gets released from prison before getting right back into his scams and crimes, getting tied up in a murder involving a cop working with Federal Officer Jimmy Mercer.
The two men follow their seven days with time running out for both and neither happy ending assured.At points this is an enjoyable cop thriller but for the majority it is a misjudged affair that lacks either an emotionally involving depth or a fast paced tension that holds you.
The cast deserved better and so do the audience  there are several cop thrillers that try the same thing as Boiling Point, my advice would be to watch one of the ones that actually does it well..
At the same time, life-long crook Red Diamond (Dennis Hopper) is given seven days to pay off his debt to a mobster.
Boiling Point turned out to be nothing more than a lukewarm action/crime movie..
Riding high from the success of surprise hit Passenger 57 (1992) which established Wesley Snipes as the next big action star, you would expect that from the posters, video covers and trailers that Boiling Point would be a non-stop action packed crime thriller.
And with a decent cast featuring the likes of Dennis Hopper (Speed), Lolita Davidovich (Leap of Faith), Viggo Mortensen (The Lord of The Rings trilogy), Dan Hedaya (Commando), Seymour Cassel (Indecent Proposal), Jonathan Banks (Breaking Bad), James Tolkan (Back to the Future), and Paul Gleason (Die Hard) this was a movie that certainly couldn't go wrong.
Boiling Point turned out to be a weak and lukewarm movie lacking any excitement let alone any interest.Treasury Agent Jimmy Mercer (Wesley Snipes) and his partner Brady (Dan Hedaya) are involved in an undercover operation gone awry when Mercer's fellow agent is shot and killed by a young psychopathic thug named Ronnie (Viggo Mortensen) who is partnered with scam artist Red Diamond (Dennis Hopper) who organises fake money sales to rob and kill the buyers.
Mercer vows revenge on the killer and swears to take down Red and Ronnie within 1 week before Mercer is transferred out of Los Angeles.On paper the movie looks like a good popcorn action flick right?
this movie is a so so crime drama.i mean it's not really awful,but it is awfully slow and not really memorable.this movie has been done before,it just had a different title with(maybe)different actors,and the same characters but with different names.Wesley Snipes is Jimmy Mercer, an undercover treasury agent who's good friend/work colleague has been killed during an undercover operation.naturally Mercer vows to catch the bad guys.Dan Hedaya is Brady,Mercer's partner.also in the movie are Dennis Hopper,(you can probably guess what role he plays),Viggo Mortensen,Tobin Bell,Paul Gleason,Christine Elise,Johnathon Banks,Lolita Davidovich and Valerie Perrine and Tony Lo Bianco.the people who really impressed me were Valerie Perrine and Dan Hedaya and Paul Gleason.the rest of the cast is all okay,but doesn't really stand out.the movie is just only 92 minutes,but it feels way longer.i just thought it took too long for things to get rolling.and like i mentioned,the movie is not original.the only thing i really like about was is the music,especially the big band stuff.otherwise,it's your stand crime drama,better than some,not as good as others.for me,"Boiling point" is a 5/10.
In "Boiling Point", a Treasury Agent (Snipes) has one week to find a killer while a scam artist (Hopper) has the same one week to pay off an underworld debt.
Unfortunately, "Boiling Point" hasn't the intensity the title would suggest and just slogs it way through a more-of-the-same cops vs bad guys plot with poor quality drama and almost no sensationalistic action...no chases, crashes, stunts, pyro, sex, nudity, etc.
This is alright I suppose, Snipes and Hopper are a bit typecast as hardnosed cop with broken down marriage and flaky, manipulative conman disliked by all but play the roles as only they can, the story is reasonably interesting in a formulaic kind of way, it builds up a bit of atmosphere and tension towards the end but is a bit of a let-down really.
Marketed cleverly as an action vehicle for Wesley Snipes, this film is anything but that.
An even film that generates more laughter than thrills, Snipes is laughable as the Treasury agent, but it's Hopper (sporting red hair that makes him look like Archie) that get the laughs as a greedy, scheming windbag of a con man, looking for easy scores and easy money..
All The characters were great, and the story was pretty cool,plus Wesley Snipes is simply amazing in this!.
This is an above average cop thriller, with fantastic performances, and a story that keeps you interested, and i say it's well worth the watch!.
Wesley Snipes is AMAZING as always, and is amazing here, he is extremely likable, fantastic in the acting department, is very charismatic, had good chemistry with Lolita Davidovich,was quite intense, an just did an amazing job overall!
Viggo Mortensen is excellent as Hopper's partner, his character was very interesting, and he was quite spiffy overall, i liked him lots.
Granted that the story it aimed to tell should have been accompanied by other parallel stories criss-crossing the main plot over an added 30 minutes or so because at approximately 90 it came up too short for a good time frame.The cast is great (Dennis Hopper, Seymour Cassel, Lolita Davidovich, Viggo Mortensen and, of course,Wesley Snipes who radically departs from the portrait of the apostle of gore like in the Blade trilogy earlier.
Each one of the listed actors gave a better-than-average performance to make this movie one I expect to watch a few more times.
During the start of a new fake-money sales business and kill the buyer, Ronnie kills an undercover cop, and his partner Jimmy Mercer (Wesley Snipes) is given a week to get his revenge and catch the killers before being transferred.
But then again, I don't find the vast majority of "cops and robbers" stories to be great or inspiring.It's a good film.
Dennis Hopper with that red hair and swagger is totally memorable in this film.
The two of them are into counterfeit money.Wesley Snipes plays an FBI agent out for revenge when his friend and colleague is killed by the Mortensen character.The beginning is particularly interesting as both the lives of Snipes and Hopper seem to be running parallel.
Snipes does remotely well where as Hopper again plays a character who does not live up to the expectation of a creative and mindful villain as audiences would hope for.