Movie: HeatMPAA Rating: R for violence and language
Running Time: 170 minutes
Stars: Al Pacino, Robert DeNiro, Val Kilmer
Writer/Director: Michael Mann
I remember going to see this in the theaters when I was 8 years old. Now what could an 8 year old possibly gain from seeing a film like this, you might ask. Well, I'll be honest, this came out the same year as "Batman Forever" and the fact that Val Kilmer, who played the Caped Crusader in that film, was in this one made me wanna watch it. So, my mom took my scrawny butt to sit through what I didn't know was a 3 hour epic. I cannot remember if I behaved or not or anything about seeing it on the big screen, but I would always remember the movie through the years.
You're probably wondering, what does this have to do with anything and why after such a long time away from writing reviews am I writing about a film that came out 15 years ago? Well, the answer is, because I felt like it. Well, that and a friend of mine said I should write a review about one of my all-time favorites and he suggested this one. So, I sat down with my freshly opened Blu-ray copy of the movie as well as a soda and lunch and plowed into one of the greatest crime dramas to ever hit any screen.
The basic plot of the film follows the separate lives of two men who at first seem like completely total opposites, one is a thief (DeNiro) who's life motto is to not get too attached to something just in case he has to leave it behind if he feels the "heat" coming for him. The other, is a hard-nosed cop whose home life is becoming extremely strained as his obsession with catching the aforementioned thief grows to a head.
Much has been said about this "first on-screen pairing" of the two acting giants (which is a billion times better than their dreadful second, *COUGH* Righteous Kill *COUGH*), but very little that I know of, is actually said about the other performances. I mean, I'm not dogging Pacino or DeNiro because they are both in extremely fine form in this. But the other actors, they all deliver great performances too. Then again, if you're acting with these two, you'd definitely have to step up your A-game. The writing and directing by Michael Mann (whose "Collateral" and "Public Enemies" are also top-notch crime dramas) is simply incredible and makes you forget that he made that 2006 atrocity "Miami Vice". The dialogue is snappy and well-written and the story progresses at a great pace. The movie is pretty light on action but when there is, you actually feel like you are there. This is most evident during the bank robbery scene midway into the film. For the 15-20 minutes that that scene lasts, you barely take a breath once. You don't even blink. Not only is the scene visually stimulating, but the sound design and mixing is top notch. Then again, I've noticed that a lot about Mann's films.
In closing, "Heat" is one of those movies that while you're watching it, doesn't ever cause you to check your watch or look at the running time on the player. In fact, its 170 minute running time is not even a deterrent, it's a positive. It's so perfectly filmed, so perfectly paced and edited, so perfectly written, acted and directed. The final product is simply that: perfect.
