- An ordinary man frustrated with the various flaws he sees in society begins to psychotically and violently lash out against them.
- On the day of his daughter's (Joey Singer) birthday, William "D-Fens" Foster (Michael Douglas) is trying to get to his estranged ex-wife's (Barbara Hershey) house to see his daughter. He has a breakdown and leaves his car in a traffic jam in Los Angeles and decides to walk. Along the way he stops at a convenience store and tries to get some change for a phone call but the owner, Mister Lee (Michael Paul Chan), does not give him change. This destabilizes William who then breaks apart the shop with a baseball bat and goes to an isolated place to drink a coke. Two gangsters (Agustin Rodriguez & Eddie Frias) threaten him and he reacts by hitting them with the bat. D-FENS continues walking and stops at a phone booth. The gangsters hunt him down with their gang and shoot at him but crash their car. William goes nuts and takes their gym bag with weapons proceeding in his journey of rage against injustice. Meanwhile Sergeant Martin Prendergast (Robert Duvall), who is working on his last day before retirement, is following the wave of crimes and believes that the same man is responsible but the other detectives do not pay attention to him.—Claudio Carvalho, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
- It is a sweltering summer day in Los Angeles and a man (known only by his car registration: D-Fens) is stuck in his car in an early-morning traffic jam. It is his daughter's birthday and his only aim is to see her on her special day. Abandoning his car in the traffic he sets out to get to the house of his ex-wife to see his daughter. Along the way he meets all manner of obstacles, causing his pent-up frustration at the hindrances and absurdities of life and cynicism and criminality of average people to boil over. What follows is a peaceful man's violent odyssey, an odyssey to see his daughter.—grantss
- William (D-FENS) Foster (Michael Douglas) just wants to get home to see his daughter (Joey Singer) on her birthday. Unfortunately, nothing seems to be going right for him. First there's the traffic jam, then the unhelpful Korean shopkeeper named Mister Lee (Michael Paul Chan) who "doesn't give change". D-FENS begins to crack and starts to fight back against the every day "injustices" he encounters on his journey home. The film has a story running in parallel about Detective Prendergast (Robert Duvall); a desk-bound cop who is about to retire. He's retiring for his wife's (Tuesday Weld) sake, and obviously isn't happy about it. The cop tracks down D-FENS and in the final scene.....—Rob Hartill
- William Foster, AKA D-FENS (Michael Douglas), is an unemployed, divorced engineer in the defense industry who's reached his boiling point. First he finds himself in gridlock, which he deals with by abandoning his car. He subsequently happens across an unhelpful convenience store clerk named Mister Lee whose prices D-FENS 'rolls back', by demolishing the store with a baseball bat after overpowering the clerk. Soon he finds himself in gangland, and deals with some tough-looking gang members ('Agustin Rodriguez' & Eddie Frias) by attacking them and running them off. When the gang members try to retaliate, it fails when they crash their car and D-FENS takes their bag full of guns. Unfortunately for him, Detective Predergrast (Robert Duvall) retiring cop is on his trail, and soon things will come to blows as D-FENS heads towards Venice for his young daughter's (Joey Singer) birthday party....—Derek O'Cain
- Michael Douglas plays a disturbed man whose true identity is unknown through most of the film. He is stuck in Los Angeles traffic on a very hot summer day and finally just gives up and abandons his vehicle. D-Fens, as he is credited in the film (based on his vanity license plate), begins walking west, trying to reach his estranged wife and daughter. It's the little girl's birthday, and he is determined to reach "home" to be with her.
In a parallel story line, Detective Prendergast of the LAPD (Robert Duvall) is on his last day before taking an early retirement. His needy, bossy wife demanded that he do this, and Prendergast took a "safe" desk job a few years back to placate her as well. He comes upon D-Fens's abandoned car on his way to work and helps push it out of traffic.
D-Fens calls his ex-wife on a pay phone but hangs up when she answers. Short on coins to call again, he enters a Korean-owned convenience store. He respects the "no change without purchase" policy and tries to buy a can of Coke. He is incensed at the high price and begins a tirade against foreigners who come to America and charge outrageous prices. He is soon fighting with the Korean owner and, after grabbing a sawed-off baseball bat from the man, begins wrecking the store. Eventually he calms down a little, pays a "reasonable" price for the soda, and leaves.
Heading for Venice, California, D-Fens climbs a hill in "gangland," an area rife with Hispanic gang activity. Two young gang-bangers accost him because he's a white man in a white shirt and a tie, with a briefcase, wandering through their "hood." When D-Fens fails to hand over any money, they threaten him with a knife, and he counters with the bat he got at the convenience store. He injures one assailant's arm and drives the other off. Dropping the bat, he picks up the butterfly knife, establishing a pattern of increasing his armament throughout the film.
The Latino gang members vow revenge, and a carload (with many firearms, including automatic weapons) is soon out hunting for D-Fens. He is again calling his ex from a pay phone, threatening to show up at his daughter's birthday party. The gangsters attempt a drive-by shooting but miss D-Fens, hitting other bystanders and crashing their car. Going up to the wreckage, D-Fens admonishes them for missing him, shoots one in the leg, and makes off with a gym bag filled with guns.
Hungry, D-Fens stops by Whammy Burger, only to be told that breakfast stopped being served five minutes earlier. Not a wise thing to tell the psychotic D-Fens, and he soon pulls out a submachine gun, threatening everyone and deciding to have lunch instead. After berating the staff for serving him a hamburger that looks nothing like the advertising posters, he leaves.
Prendergast (in between whiny calls from his wife) is starting to notice a pattern. The Korean store owner came in to complain, and the detective heard about the bold daylight shooting attempt. He looks on an L.A. map and sees that the mysterious man in a white shirt and a tie is walking toward the ocean. Perceived as a "fallen" cop by his superior, however, Prendergast's observations are not taken seriously.
D-Fens's ex calls the police to gain protection from him, but they don't believe he's much of a threat and leave.
The increasingly disturbed D-Fens goes into an Army-Navy surplus store run by a gay-bashing Nazi (Frederic Forrest) to buy more durable footwear for his trek. While he's being fitted, police detective Torres (Rachel Ticotin) comes in asking about him. The Nazi owner distracts her and, after she leaves, tells D-Fens he knows all about his activities. The Nazi assumes D-Fens is a racist who is attacking nonwhites. After being corrected about this, the irate skinhead attempts to handcuff D-Fens to turn him over to the police. He is instead knifed and ultimately killed. D-Fens clothes himself in military-style garb and sets out on his quest once again.
He cuts through a nearby golf course and is accosted by two elderly golfers. After berating them for wasting such lovely green space on a silly game, he shoots up their golf cart, causing one to have a heart attack.
D-Fens eventually reaches his former home, but his wife leaves just in time. Prendergast, who has put the whole puzzle together, rushes to the scene with his friend, Detective Torres. Having turned in his weapon (it's his last day before retirement), Prendergast is unarmed. D-Fens shoots Torres, wounding her slightly, and the older detective grabs her weapon and chases D-Fens onto a fishing pier.
Prendergast confronts D-Fens and hears his rant about feeling deceived by society. Annoyed this criminal's pettiness and immature complaints, Prendergast tells D-Fens that everyone faces that kind of deception in life, but that is no excuse for the fact that he has been terrorizing people with violent felonies that day. Despondent at finding himself in the wrong all along, D-Fens lures Prendergast to kill him with a toy gun.
In the aftermath, Prendergast decides to postpone his retirement and stay on the force.
Contribute to this page
Suggest an edit or add missing content