Heat (1995)
Director: Michael Mann
Writer: Michael Mann
Genre: Crime/Drama/Thriller
The Story
Neil McCauley (Robert De Niro) is the head a small group of professional thieves and Lt. Vincent Hanna (Al Pacino) is after them. Hanna will stop at nothing to find them after their heist of an armored truck and McCauley won't stop planning and proceeding with heists. The story is fairly simple overall, but the character complexity and depth of emotion make this film one of my favorites of all time.
Everything Else
The Last of the Mohicans, Heat, The Insider, Ali, Collateral, and Miami Vice. These are the last six movies that Michael Mann has made. I think I will start calling him Michael "the" Mann from now on. I have loved all of those movies and even his earlier effort Manhunter was pretty good. It had a little too much of the 80s in it, but it was still good. Heat is likely the movie that really made people realize how good of a director that Michael Mann really is. Heat was astonishing for its story, scripting, locations, and acting, and for its great soundtrack. People often have a problem with the two hour and forty-five minute runtime, but I loved every second of it.
The film looks great visually and the constant use of blue tones and vast empty backdrops invokes an incredible emotion on its own. The story was fairly basic, but the scripting brought the story to life. There is so much depth to the characters it is hard to believe anyone could get bored even with the long runtime. Of course the scripting would not have worked without the tremendous talent involved. With Robert De Niro and Al Pacino being the two main stars, you would have to be crazy to pass this one up. They both did an amazing job as is to be expected. Then you have a stellar group of supporting actors and actresses to back them up. There was Val Kilmer of course (it wouldn't be a Val Kilmer movie without him, duh), Tom Sizemore, Jon Voight, Diane Venora, Ashley Judd, Natalie Portman, and Dennis Haysbert. You even get to see a short scene with Jeremy Piven. No one can argue whether Heat had a killer cast.
The sound of Heat is actually something I would like to make a point of now. The sound effects are unique in that the guns do not sound normal for an action film and a lot of the sounds are even muted a bit. I absolutely loved the shooting in the middle of the city with its incredible echoes. I can't get over how awesome those shots sounded. The soundtrack will also be remembered for its excellent help in controlling the mood and building the intensity. I only saw Miami Vice once, but I seem to recall a lot of similarities in the two films. Possibly that is why I liked Miami Vice so much. Also, I had never seen any of the original TV shows which I hear make Miami Vice difficult to like. In its own right though I think it was incredible. Getting back to the sound effects and soundtrack of Heat though, the sounds were the greatest finishing touches I could have wanted for Heat.
Val Kilmer
Val Kilmer did yet another smashing job. He stood back in the cast and provided a solid supporting role for the two stars. The movie was about Pacino and De Niro, so it would have been annoying to see Kilmer steal any of the show. With that said though, his performance could be described as strong and professional. He joined Sizemore with his performance here and this worked great. Heat was an excellent move for Kilmer broadening his acting talent to be more of a key supporting role even though he had already proven his ability as a lead.
The Real Deal
I loved Heat and that should be obvious by the review above. In fact I still think Heat is overlooked too often. I can't wait until I have a Blu-ray player again and can afford to buy movies. Heat would be amazing in high definition. There is a lot of language and violence in Heat, but it is mostly gunshots and such so it isn't overly gross like a horror movie or something. Even so the R rating is quite appropriate. Heat was intense and powerful and will always be loved as it seems to get better with each viewing.
The Short Version
Raw Score: 901,293
Sharon Movie? No
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