Review of Heat (1995) by Bryan C — 25 May 2015

How do you sum up a behemoth just shy of 3 hours, in a simple review? An essay would need to be written to do the movie Heat justice, but without going that far, im going to try my best to critique the film, without being too long winded.

For those of you who have never seen Heat before, where have you been? Its a filmatic landmark, in genre defining, its gorgeous, it influenced hundreds of films, computer games, television shows... In what is arguably the best Michael Mann film to date, all of his qualities come out to play, with an all star cast, a plethora of content and some fucking awesome set pieces.

In a nut shell, a small criminal group lead by Neil McCauley, put together a series of heists, in order to pave the way for their retirement, all family men, despite Neil, who longs for company. These guys are complete professionals at what they do.

When a simple heist goes wrong, due to a dodgy member of the group, the attention of Vincent, a detective, in every living breathing word of the term, sets out on a no holes barred mission, to take these guys down, before they can execute their plan and flee the country.

Only McCauleys group are always 1 step ahead of the game, proving this to be a worthy adversery for the detective mastermind Vincent. The cast is just a cut above the rest, Robert Ne Niro, Al Pacino, Val Kilmer, Danny Trejo, Natile Portman, Ashley Judd, Tom Sizemore, Jeremy Piven and Jon Voight but a few make up this extremely large and powerful ensemble, that merge together to bring us a neo noir, full throttle, heart pounding criminal masterpiece and with Michael Mann at the helm, the film just oozes style, substance and character all the way through.

Pacino is on fire as Vincent, his character is possessed with catch De Nero"s McCauley, he eats sleeps and breathes his every moves sacrificing his own life and marrage, in order to stop this guy.

Equally De Niro equals his every move, trying to find company, while trying to hold together a dream that becomes impossible to hold onto. Val Kilmer is brutally excellent as Neil's right hand man, with his own sub plot, a family, a child, willing to risk it all, while trying to keep a dying marrage intact.

Everyone here, no matter how small the role plays a key part in the films success. Everyone in this film is important and of extreme content, not one person is throwaway, no circumstance to convieniant.

Heat is also the first time, that the 2 acting legends get to meet, on screen and go toe to toe in a film ever, making this an even more impressive set up, yes their scenes together are few and far between, but that only strengthens their impact.

The script is tremendous, it just keeps barrel rolling down a steep slope until crashing at the bottom, firing off twist and turns, back stabs and double crosses, heists gone wrong, marrage failures, death, parole, rape, action, obsession, it touches on every single subject imaginable and in really outstanding detail.

No matter how bad or innocent a character is, you feel for their outcome, you itch to find out their fate. This makes Heat just wonderful to watch, not least to mention the wonderfully shot and lit LA skyline, Mann has always had a thing for the colour blue, but here, he goes into overdrive, with what might be his bluest movie yet.

The tones, the grit, the sheen and vibrancy of every meticulous shot, lend exactly to the edit what needs to be shown, nothing is of waste here, there is no filler, nothing boring. It's all down to brilliant acting, brilliant dialogue and an enthralling story, that just keeps on giving until the last seconds.

Heat also contains a hand full but a golden handful of set pieces, that inspired everything that came after it, a band heist for example, that is high octaine, pounding, loud, damaging and violent. Its a no holds barred effort and boy does it really pack a punch.

The way the entire sequence is handled, running through stages of calm and hysterics, and taking the time to masterfully pace them together is just jaw dropping, bravo to the editor for managing to keep your heart pounding, especially during some of the quieter scenes.

There is always a sense of tension round every corner, every character feels endangered, every moment feels like it could explode. In my eyes, there really isnt much to fault about this film. The entire story is satifying on so many levels, its smart, its heart felt, its powerful.

The visuals are stunning, the effects mind blowing. The acting is some of the best your going to get anywhere across the board. The music is a treat and adds such a wonderful cherry on top. It never bores, it has infinate rewatchability and is without a doubt one of the greatest films ever made, dont own it at your ignorance and dont watch it at your stupidity.

A complete masterpiece.