Boiling Point

Red Diamond has just left prison, and he needs money quickly. He teams up with Ronnie, a younger, easily led ex-cellmate, to run a scheme involving counterfeit cash: set up a sale, then rob the buyer. The plan goes badly wrong when Ronnie shoots a man who turns out to be an undercover officer. Detective Jimmy Mercer, who was close to the dead man, is determined to find those responsible and is given a week to do it before he is transferred. With little to work from beyond a single bogus bill, he pursues the pair across Los Angeles while Red keeps using Ronnie to pull in more money.

James B. Harris wrote and directed the film, his second outing as director after Cop in 1988. Wesley Snipes plays Mercer, with Dennis Hopper as Red and Viggo Mortensen as Ronnie; Lolita Davidovich, Seymour Cassel and Jonathan Banks also appear among a credited cast of twenty-six. The production had a budget of about nine million dollars and took in roughly ten million worldwide, a modest return.

On IMDb the film sits at 4.4 out of 10 from twelve reviews, while TMDB users rate it somewhat higher at 4.9 from 136 votes. Both figures point to a largely unfavorable reception for this crime thriller.