WARNING: spoilers below
"A Los Angeles crime saga"; its tagline certainly doesn't pull any punches when it comes to setting the hype high for the film to come, but Michael Mann's Heat ultimately ends up justifying most of those lofty expectations, as Mann draws inspiration from both real life and from his previous films (including his 1989 TV movie LA Takedown, which served as the basis for this film) in order to create a sort of grand culmination of his career up to this point, pairing an excellent screenplay, a cast of Hollywood legends, and a sleek, stylish aesthetic in order to bring a unexpectedly expansive scope to a familar genre, creating one of his best films, and what can only be described as a true crime epic in the end.
Heat primarily tells the story of two men; Neil McCauley (portrayed by Robert De Niro), a high class armed thief looking to take down the biggest score of his "career" with his crew (while also avoiding a return trip to prison at all costs), and Vincent Hanna (played by Al Pacino), the LAPD detective chasing him, who is willing to sacrifice everything in order to catch McCauley, even as his personal life collapses all around him as his obsessive pursuit winds ever on. The two men's stories create a strong central dynamic through the sheer force of the screen icons portraying them, finally acting face-to-face with each other after a tantalizing close brush in the second Godfather (including a now infamous face-to-face conversation in the kind of all-night diner that Mann obsesses over), as they serve as mirror images of the other on their respective sides of the law, right down to the way that McCauley's newly-formed romance passes Hanna's crumbling marriage on a parallel track, and, even though they inevitably end up being enemies by nature, the two still can't help but share a respect for the other for their mutual professionalism, just like we can't choose one of them to truly "root" for here, so evenly spread are the film's sympathies for both of them.
However, while they would be enough to center an entire film around on their own, Heat's story isn't content to merely focus on just them, as Mann's screenplay widens its scope to also develop their personal lives, and their (often troubled) relationships with their associates, families, and lovers, weaving a multi-webbed tapestry of a crime drama that's just as much about the drama as it is the crime, with its well-written, emotionally insightful dialogue letting us know exactly what makes the characters tick. And, while the film is held back slightly by the occasional sense of bloat, with a few too many characters and sub-plots feeling crammed in, Heat's broader vision still ends up working in its for the most part, fully immersing us in its vivid LA underworld for nearly 3 hours straight, portraying each and every side of the city of angels, from shabby shacktowns to literal glass houses on the rolling hills above, to the point that the city itself is basically its own character here.
Finally, Heat impresses through its sheer overall style, as Mann paints the concrete jungle that is Los Angeles as a veritable sea of urban lights, with its immaculate, steely blue pallete and moody Elliot Goldenthal score creating an almost dream-like vibe to its imagery, which contrasts nicely with the film's insistence on a tactile sense of realism otherwise, as Mann engages in another familiar element of his films, that of the elite, professional criminal who's so good that you can't help but admire him, as the film takes joy in meticulously laying out the step-by-step intricacies of each heist, culminating in a spectacular centerpiece shootout that turns LA into a literal warzone, as the deafening sound of automatic weapons boom throughout the streets, with the thrills not coming from any truly unrealistic stuntwork, but from the sheer intensity that such an incident brings with it (which would see a terrifying echo in real life just a couple of years later with the North Hollywood shootout). All in all, this is one of the strongest efforts from one of the best directors working today, and ultimately well worth its lengthy runtime, so all I have to ask you now is, can you feel the Heat, coming roaring your way? Because I know I can.
"A Los Angeles crime saga"; its tagline certainly doesn't pull any punches when it comes to setting the hype high for the film to come, but Michael Mann's Heat ultimately ends up justifying most of those lofty expectations, as Mann draws inspiration from both real life and from his previous films (including his 1989 TV movie LA Takedown, which served as the basis for this film) in order to create a sort of grand culmination of his career up to this point, pairing an excellent screenplay, a cast of Hollywood legends, and a sleek, stylish aesthetic in order to bring a unexpectedly expansive scope to a familar genre, creating one of his best films, and what can only be described as a true crime epic in the end.
Heat primarily tells the story of two men; Neil McCauley (portrayed by Robert De Niro), a high class armed thief looking to take down the biggest score of his "career" with his crew (while also avoiding a return trip to prison at all costs), and Vincent Hanna (played by Al Pacino), the LAPD detective chasing him, who is willing to sacrifice everything in order to catch McCauley, even as his personal life collapses all around him as his obsessive pursuit winds ever on. The two men's stories create a strong central dynamic through the sheer force of the screen icons portraying them, finally acting face-to-face with each other after a tantalizing close brush in the second Godfather (including a now infamous face-to-face conversation in the kind of all-night diner that Mann obsesses over), as they serve as mirror images of the other on their respective sides of the law, right down to the way that McCauley's newly-formed romance passes Hanna's crumbling marriage on a parallel track, and, even though they inevitably end up being enemies by nature, the two still can't help but share a respect for the other for their mutual professionalism, just like we can't choose one of them to truly "root" for here, so evenly spread are the film's sympathies for both of them.
However, while they would be enough to center an entire film around on their own, Heat's story isn't content to merely focus on just them, as Mann's screenplay widens its scope to also develop their personal lives, and their (often troubled) relationships with their associates, families, and lovers, weaving a multi-webbed tapestry of a crime drama that's just as much about the drama as it is the crime, with its well-written, emotionally insightful dialogue letting us know exactly what makes the characters tick. And, while the film is held back slightly by the occasional sense of bloat, with a few too many characters and sub-plots feeling crammed in, Heat's broader vision still ends up working in its for the most part, fully immersing us in its vivid LA underworld for nearly 3 hours straight, portraying each and every side of the city of angels, from shabby shacktowns to literal glass houses on the rolling hills above, to the point that the city itself is basically its own character here.
Finally, Heat impresses through its sheer overall style, as Mann paints the concrete jungle that is Los Angeles as a veritable sea of urban lights, with its immaculate, steely blue pallete and moody Elliot Goldenthal score creating an almost dream-like vibe to its imagery, which contrasts nicely with the film's insistence on a tactile sense of realism otherwise, as Mann engages in another familiar element of his films, that of the elite, professional criminal who's so good that you can't help but admire him, as the film takes joy in meticulously laying out the step-by-step intricacies of each heist, culminating in a spectacular centerpiece shootout that turns LA into a literal warzone, as the deafening sound of automatic weapons boom throughout the streets, with the thrills not coming from any truly unrealistic stuntwork, but from the sheer intensity that such an incident brings with it (which would see a terrifying echo in real life just a couple of years later with the North Hollywood shootout). All in all, this is one of the strongest efforts from one of the best directors working today, and ultimately well worth its lengthy runtime, so all I have to ask you now is, can you feel the Heat, coming roaring your way? Because I know I can.
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