Search Movie Review Archives

Inspired by a true story that occurred in 1964, Michael Mann’s “Heat” reinvents the police action drama in the story of two men on opposite sides of the law who have respect for each other but, ultimately, must face off because of their roles in society. One a police officer named Vincent Hanna (Al Pacino) the other a thief named Neil McCauley (Robert De Niro) ultimately face off in battle. McCauley hopes to pull off one big last score. His philosophy of lif reflects that of a great thief; don’t become attached to anything in life so that you can walk away. Pursued by an obsessed Hanna, he’s driven only by the work and pushes his family away and pushes his men to capture McCauley before that last score goes down. ***

A brilliant crime thriller where Mann reinvents the genre inverting the clichés of the genre, the secret to “Heat” is the compelling story of duality that drives the characters and Mann’s storytelling style and unconventional narrative that allows audiences to identify with both sides of the conflict. Stylish with rich visuals “Heat” captures Mann at the top of his game. ---

A full disc of extras accompanies the film. Featuring 1 documentary divided into five parts which can be viewed in segments or all together, the first “The Making of Heat” features interviews with Mann and others from the production cast and crew discussing how Mann originally envisioned “Heat” (then called “L.A. Takedown”) as the pilot for a TV series. The TV movie that Mann made in 1989 was an abridged version of the final script which, ultimately, became “Heat”. Mann had just completed writing “The Jericho Mile” (a TV movie) but no one was likely to approve him directly a major motion picture of the scope envisioned by Mann. Producer Art Linson read the complete screenplay that Mann had completed and told him bluntly, that it needed to be a feature film. Mann got his first choice for both major roles; both Pacino and De Niro agreed to do the film from the moment they were asked. Pacino discusses that his amped up take on his character was created because he envisioned that Hanna was on cocaine using it to keep him going so he could reach his objective of capturing McCauley. Pacino points out that Hanna is “a hunter” and Mann states that he’s “addicted” to complete the journey not so he can reach the end but just for the joy of catching the bad guy. In “Crime Stories” the ctors and production crew discuss how “Heat” has elements of a Greek tragedy as these two characters move on their collision course without no way out. Mann was interested in looking at the lives outside the story for each of these characters giving them depth and background. ***

“Pacino and De Niro in Conversation” discusses the legendary showdown between Pacino and De Niro who meet together on screen for the first time. These two charismatic characters meet briefly in the film and that’s the power of their meeting; the meeting is delayed creating dramatic sparks on screen even though it’s a low key conversation when they meet. “Return to the Scene of the Crime” allows the location manager and associate producer who discovered the locations for the film to revisit them and discuss how they found some of the unusual areas they shot in. ---