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There is definitely a lot more to this one than meets the eye. I like how Dafoe's character, Rick MASTERS, is a counterfeiter and a painter, who takes his work seriously, so much so that he constantly burns beautiful paintings that others like if he isn't happy with it, and he burns money after it's been handled by the black gang -- which is probably a play on racism, though it may also be the fact that the product probably wasn't as good, since he probably rushed it to get the hit done.
This film is extremely unpredictable, and very absurd at times, like the dude's partner going, "why don't you just go up and shoot him in the head?" I mean, they know exactly where Masters is, all the time, so it's not some big deal finding the dude. The whole subplot with getting the money, the chase scene, all that, kind of insane and ridiculous, but makes the film all the more interesting.
There are parts of me that think the film is some sort of absurd, over-the-top commentary on the action/thriller genre and the 80's in general. Notice the car chase scene where, despite all the bullets fired, only one hits the car, and it's a hole in the windshield. From trained (what we learn to be) FBI agents, that seems a bit unlikely, and odd. Many scenes could be imagined, also, notice the bungee jumping scene that is occasionally flashed back to for a frame or two. Perhaps the main detective's life wasn't that exciting so he created this world in his mind where he was not only above the law, he was above life and death.
GReat film, surely one of the best of all time, and definitely amongst the most underrated.
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