• Director: Michael Mann
• With: al Pacino, Robert De Niro, Val Kilmer, Tom Sizemore, Amy Brenneman, Ashley Judd, Ted Levine, Jon Voight, Diane Venora, Natalie Portman, Wes Studi, Dennis Haysbert, William Fitchner, Tom Noonan, Kevin Gage, Hank Azaria, Danny Trejo, Xander Berkeley
• Music by: Elliot Goldenthal
• Platform: Prime Video (Amazon)
• Studio: Warner Bros (Regency)
• Duration: 2h50
• Rating: 8/10

Synopsis:

Neil McCauley leads a group of professional bank robbers, taking down major scores around LA. However after their latest heist goes terribly wrong and ends up in homicide, Det. Vincent Hannah finds a clue and becomes obsessed with the case determined to stop McCauley’s crew. Hannah and McCauley are competing against each other in a deadly cat-and-mouse game. Although they are on different sides of the law, they still find huge respect, recognition in each others troubled personal lives and they understand each others motivations – however this won’t make them hesitate to do whatever they can to win the battle between them two in this crime saga.

Review:

This is branded as one of thé best movies of the nineties. So rewatching this was no punishment. And I had an ulterior motive, Michael Mann co-wrote (with Meg Gardener) a sequel to this movie (which will be adapted into a feature movie as well, rumours going that Adam Driver might be in it) and as I hadn’t seen the movie in ages I didn’t want to get into the novel before I rewatched it… and I’m glad I did because I had forgotten a lot of things and was gravely mistaken thinking that bank robbery was the final scene in the movie… and what I had forgotten as well was the duration of 2 hours and 50 minutes (yes, almost three hours!!)

And I have to admit it, I loved it every bit as much as I did when I first watched it. Will I say it’s the best movie of the nineties? Maybe in its genre but although it ís a fantastically build-up and an amazing cast, it’s not the best movie for me… but it ís high up the ranks!

The two greatest foes and actors in this movie are Pacino and De Niro! Those two ARE the heat of the movie! Especially De Niro is great in this one. This was actually the first time these two acted together (although they had both been in Godfather Part II, the didn’t share any scenes together in that one) and they will be in the same movie again later, in Righteous Kill!

The strong point in this movie is how you actually sympathise with the bad guy and are rooting for him to win the game he’s playing with the “good” guys. Hana (Pacino) is a cop but has no skills in acting with other humans at all, while McCauley is the one that cares for his people, his friends. So you start to wonder whether you should wish for the bad guys to get away with their thieving and killing. But even they have weaknesses and that is what the cops are counting on so they can catch them!

What bugged me a little bit in this movie were some scenes that slowed the entire movie down. Pacino’s relationship with Justine and her shenanigans didn’t really need that much attention… I’m sure that storyline would have been shortened in a modern day action thriller. On the other hand, it might be necessary just to prove that a supposedly good guy can also be very unlikeable! In that case, it worked.

But apart from that: great movie, great action by great actors and amazing story! I can’t wait for Heat 2! (Book ànd movie) —> review book: https://looneybooks79.blog/2023/05/17/heat-2/