The biggest problem is, is that it's trying to be bigger than it actually is.
Dead bang is a movie that time has forgot, if it wasn't for the lead and a bizarre performance from Forsyth, you would swear that it was a TV movie from the early eighties. Beck must also confront his own personal demons, including his growing problem with alcohol, if he wants to track down and stop the violent gang before it is too late. The investigation takes Beck inside the violent world of hate groups and white supremacists, who are hatching a deadly plot to attack even more innocent people. Los Angeles homicide detective Jerry Beck searches for a murderer who killed two people on Christmas Eve. Though it has a lot a lot humor Dead Bang also is a most serious look at a proliferation of white supremacist groups which makes the film maybe even more relevant for today. I also can't forget the uptight, anal retentive FBI guy that Johnson is forced to work with, William Forsythe.
Michael Jeter plays the psychiatrist who never encountered issues like Johnson has. He also handles department shrink in a most unusual manner. That whole sequence including what Johnson does while interrogating his lead is hilarious. Johnson really steps on a lot of toes, two prime examples are Bob Balaban a parole officer whom he kidnaps Christmas Day so that he can pursue without a warrant a lead. The object of his search is Frank Military identified by the convenience store manager who as it were is black. Following this suspect out of southern California in a tour around red state America leads Johnson on a merry chase through a variety of white supremacist groups.
A convenience store manager who was shot and survived gave out a description of someone who the deceased spotted before he was killed. But he figures if he's working Christmas investigating the shooting of a fellow officer no one else should be enjoying themselves. Like millions of the rest of us Johnson had plans to spend time with his family. On Christmas Eve Johnson catches a homicide of a patrol officer shot at point blank range. Soon enough he would be in Nash Bridges where he once again had a sunny disposition. After easy living Sonny Crockett on a houseboat in Miami Vice he does Dead Bang in which his character is working off a perpetual hangover. I guess Don Johnson after Miami Vice wad destined to be cast as irreverent police detectives who get results which is why they are tolerated.