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".
