Heat (1995) Warner Bros./Action-Thriller RT: 172 minutes Rated R (pervasive language, strong violence, some sexual content, drug references) Director: Michael Mann Screenplay: Michael Mann Music: Elliot Goldenthal Cinematography: Dante Spinotti Release date: December 15, 1995 (US) Cast: Al Pacino, Robert De Niro, Val Kilmer, Jon Voight, Tom Sizemore, Diane Venora, Amy Brenneman, Ashley Judd, Mykelti Williamson, Wes Studi, Ted Levine, Dennis Haysbert, William Fichtner, Natalie Portman, Tom Noonan, Kevin Gage, Hank Azaria, Danny Trejo, Susan Traylor, Henry Rollins, Jeremy Piven, Xander Berkeley, Jerry Trimble, Kim Staunton, Martin Ferrero, Tone Loc, Hazelle Goodman, Bud Cort. Box Office: $67.4M (US)/$187.4M (World)
Rating: ****
Heat is to cop movies what The Godfather is to gangster movies. Not only is it a rip-roaring, guns-blazing action flick, it’s also a brilliant character study of two men on opposite sides of the same coin.
Like the protagonist in director Michael Mann’s Manhunter (1986), Lt. Vincent Hanna (Pacino, Scarface) is a hunter able to get inside the mind of his target, career criminal Neil McCauley (De Niro, Taxi Driver). Also like Will Graham, Hanna’s job consumes his very existence and affects his personal life. Heat is that rare cop movie that focuses not on wild car crashes and shoot-outs, but on the lives of protagonist and antagonist. It shows that they’re not all that different aside from their chosen careers.
Mann ups the ante by giving us a look at the lives of others involved in the case. Wives, girlfriends, colleagues and children all factor into the story thanks to a well-written inclusive screenplay by Mann. Here’s a filmmaker who knows his subject inside out. He burst onto the scene in ’81 with the gripping crime thriller Thief starring James Caan. I still regard it as one of the finest crime dramas ever made. Mann did a remarkable job with Manhunter as well. With Heat, the man almost tops himself. This sleek action-thriller contains the best bank robbery sequence ever captured on film. It occurs about midway through and it’s a testament to Mann’s ability as a filmmaker that everything that happens after the robbery does not prove anticlimactic. On the contrary, it’s consistently awesome.
The film opens with an armored car robbery that goes horribly wrong real fast when unhinged new crew member Waingro (Gage, G.I. Jane) kills one of the guards. Up until this point, things were running smoothly thanks to meticulous planning by McCauley. The tight-knit crew consists of Chris (Kilmer, The Doors), Michael Cheritto (Sizemore, True Romance) and Trejo (Trejo, Machete). They still manage to achieve their objective which is to steal $1.6 million in bearer bonds belonging to money launderer Roger Van Zant (Fichtner, Black Hawk Down).
Hanna leads the investigation into the heist. His team consists of Sgt. Drucker (Williamson, Forrest Gump), Detectives Casals (Studi, Dances with Wolves), Bosko (Levine, The Silence of the Lambs) and Schwartz (kickboxer Trimble). Once Hanna, also a meticulous kind of guy, identifies his target, he’s determined to take him down. That’s going to be a challenge since McCauley always seems to be one step ahead of him. He eventually learns of the bank job and surprises the robbers as they attempt to make their getaway. Because Hanna spends so much time on the job, his personal life is less than perfect. His third marriage, to Justine (Venora, Romeo + Juliet), is pretty much over. She’s pretty bitter about it. Her teenage daughter Lauren (Portman, Leon the Professional) is a complete emotional wreck, but neither of them really notices. Despite his rule about not getting involved in anything that can’t be left behind at 30 seconds notice, McCauley gets romantically involved with aspiring graphic designer Eady (Brenneman, Judging Amy). We also get a glimpse inside the life of Chris and his rocky marriage to Charlene (Judd, Double Jeopardy) who retaliates by carrying on an affair with a sleazy Las Vegas businessman (Azaria, The Simpsons). Heat has a very involved and involving plot of which I don’t want to divulge too much.
Mann couldn’t have made better casting choices than Pacino and De Niro. Both actors have portrayed characters on either side of the law which is a real boon as it allows them to understand their co-star’s character as well as their own. Some have complained about Pacino and De Niro only having two scenes together, but as I see it, it would upset the balance of the movie. There has to be some distance between hunter and prey. The scene in the coffee shop where they compare notes on their lives is brilliant. But so is everything else. The bank robbery scene, the movie’s centerpiece, rivals anything done by Sam Peckinpah (The Wild Bunch). The mayhem is extremely well-choreographed. It’s violent and exciting and a fine example of how to stage an action scene.
Heat also benefits from a great supporting cast playing interesting characters. Portman, in an early role, is very affecting as the teen isolated by inattentive parents too pre-occupied with their own stuff to notice that she’s suffering. The score, by Elliot Goldenthal, fits the mood perfectly. It’s reminiscent of Tangerine Dream, the progressive rock group that scored Mann’s early movies. The cobalt-hued cinematography by Dante Spinotti suits the dark tone of the movie. It is, after all, set in the criminal underbelly of L.A. It’s classic Mann.
The coolest thing about Heat is that it never feels overlong even with a running time of just under three hours. None of it is extraneous or superfluous. The pacing allows us to get to know the characters so we understand their actions and decisions. Heat is a masterpiece of a crime thriller, no two ways about it. Mann gets everything right. You can’t argue with perfection, no?
