When his Superintendent tells him to drop the case, he refuses.
No good will come of this.
CW: 70s as fuck. Objectification of women. There's a literal class of women called 'furniture' who are concubines of a sort that are provided along with the apartments of the better off.
This is close to peak 70s sci-fi dystopia. The world is ruined but not in an apocalyptic way, its rampant greed, environmental collapse and overpopulation. The air is green with pollution and violence and corruption is endemic.
It's interesting for maybe showing a computer game onscreen for one of the first times but then computers aren't a thing for the rest of the story. Thorn relies on his 'book' Sol (Edward G Robinson) for research from a hoard of books. Only the old remember the world as it was.
The rich live in full service apartments with armed guards, the teeming poor in communal flophouses with their own guards. The threat of unrest is constant.
Thorn blunders around until the truth is revealed. Which is one of the most comprehensively spoiled twists ever. In a fit of edgy marketing there's even a meal replacement named after it. All shock factor is gone.
Despite this, as a snapshot of a collapsing society it's good. Thorn's inefficient work personifies it. He spends time having sex with Shirl, the 'furniture' from the victim's apartment and everything about that is icky.
I think it does justify its runtime though. Decent dystopia 6/10