CREMASTER 2 is rendered as a gothic Western that introduces conflict into the system. On the biological level it corresponds to the phase of fetal development during which sexual division begins. In Matthew Barney's abstraction of this process, the system resists partition and tries to remain in the state of equilibrium imagined in Cremaster 1.
Four guys sit around drinking beer and talking, trying to figure out the meaning of "the pompatus of love" (from the Steve Miller song "Joker") and analyzing their relationships with women.
Johnny, Chris, Sal, and Joe are four petty crooks thrown together for the job of a lifetime. $1 million in mob money being held at a delicatessen for pick-up seems like an easy score until the bumbling quartet collaborate to mess the whole thing up. Suddenly the Brooklyn mafia and police are on their trail and the fool proof plan now looks like a death trap.
