Released in 1995, Heat established Michael Mann as masterful film director. Mann was, of course, already famous for creating TV series Miami Vice, but his previous movies were respectable at best; after this he delivered The Insider, Ali and Collateral. Of all of those, Heat is most similar to Collateral and not only because both revolve around a criminal racing against the clock and the cops to finish a job and get out of town. While at the end of the day different, both movies are:
- Set up as a face-off between one main criminal against one main pursuer;
- Set all over Los Angeles, the incredible variety of landscapes combined with saturation of light and color breaks out of typically cramped urban visualization;
- Set to a pulsing, complex electronic soundtrack that throbs and beats; and,
- Set in motion by an outsider, a ponytailed Jon Voight here and a voice on the end of a phone for Cruise.
Hard to say which is better, really. The newer one is a bit crisper and more tightly focused, 120 versus 188 minutes, which might explain the differences in box office and overall reception. Not really any need to choose, both are well worth watching. Perhaps because film is considered a director’s medium, Mann’s writing ability seems often overlooked–he also wrote all four of the movies I mentioed–but I think his scripts and skill with dialog are excellent as well.
Heat pits two of the great modern American actors against each other, Robert DeNiro as the leader of an experienced criminal crew and Al Pacino running the LAPD Major Crimes Unit. But Mann cast recognizable, talented actors in almost every role. DeNiro’s crew are Voight, Val Kilmer, Dennis Haysbert, Tom Sizemore, and Tom Noonan, his girlfriend is Amy Brenneman, Kilmer’s wife is Ashley Judd, and Hank Azaria has a bit as Judd’s lover. Pacino’s squad includes Ted Levine, Mykelti Williamson, Wes Studi with Diane Venora as Pacino’s wife and a very young Natalie Portman as his troubled stepdaughter. Also featured are William Fichtner as a sleazy financial type, Jeremy Pivens, Xander Berkeley, Farrah Forke, Brad Cort and Tone Loc.
Heat has three major highlights: two honest conversations between DeNiro and Pacino discussing their substantial similarities and a midday gun battle between the cops and the crooks in which an awesome quantity of bullets are unleashed. But there are many smaller quality bits too, some that stand out to me are: Judds’ signal to Kilmer, DeNiro’s reaction to a barely noticeable sound during a preliminary robbery, Pacino’s disposal of a TV set, Brenneman’s realization that DeNiro is a crook and not a salesman, Haysbert’s on the spot decision to join DeNiro, and Pacino’s tenderness when Portman’s troubled nature is laid bare.
absolutely recommended
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