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.
