Review of Heat (1995) by Charles P — 04 Apr 2013

One of Mann's best. (I dunno if that means much really but I like it.).

It packs a hell of a punch- you can feel every bullet land and there's a lot of bullets. It's more angry than anything else though- more of a constant fire than a nice pressure cooker. That isn't necessarily a bad thing though but it doesn't suit Pacino or DeNiro as well as other roles do. I think DeNiro handles himself better out of the two here- there's an element of control and pace to his performance where as Pacino seems to be all guns blazing throughout, which is good for the scenes where guns are actually blazing but not so great for other moments.

There's a hell of a supporting cast here too and they are all pretty strong. I think that's the real success of this movie- the formula in this film begins as an already pretty used one and even with such big names at the top, that isn't enough to save it and make it stand out. What does make it stand out though is the roles of the supporting cast who make this a collective success.

It's thoroughly entertaining and stands out against many of it's counterparts- it's possibly a modern classic but it doesn't have the originality it needs to match the real classics. A great one for a Friday night with some popcorn I'd imagine. (I have no popcorn, sadly.).