Heat

A three-hour gem full of star actors! Few people can make a film that is so kinetic, energetic, desperate, riveting, blunt and brilliant with such a simple story. Al Pacino, Robert De Niro and Val Kilmer give perhaps the best acting performances of their careers. However, it is disappointing to see a very overlong running time and insufficient space for the female cast – Ashley Judd and little Natalie Portman – but I am satisfied. A solid olds-chool flick. 80%. (18/02/2014)

As much as I didn't think Michael Mann was that great in Miami Vice and Collateral, I liked him 100% from the start, and although I was very skeptical about the three-hour running time, after a few minutes I knew it would be good. It's hard to pick just one aspect of the film, because Heat scores in almost all of them. The characters are fleshed out, we learn a lot about their families and overall backstory, so we as viewers get a decent foundation around which to build our emotions throughout and actually understand everyone involved and their motivations, both from the detectives and the robbers. Not to mention, all this filmmaking around the individual characters is pretty meaningful scenes and fills the runtime decently instead of the boring filler that is seen in today's output. In terms of acting, the film is uncompromising. Robert De Niro is excellent, Al Pacino fits the role of the detective beautifully, and Val Kilmer is my new favorite because he's an actor with a unique look, facial expressions, and charisma. The film oozes authenticity, the characters are written and acted excellently, we understand all their motivations and thoughts, and the action is decent too, which hints at the only problem I had with the film. I found the last hour to be a bit of a "finisher" that skimps on action and suspense, but rather just tries to draw out the climax of the relationship between the main characters and create a final impression, which is a shame because if they had gone one better with more action, a bigger shootout or a robbery, I would have had nothing to object to. All in all, though, this is a very good film that had no competition in the genre even then, and I think it would be pretty hard to find even today – Mann just showed that this is what he's good at, and Heat is a full-on action entertainer that doesn't fall short on any level. (14/08/2021)

A film that redefined the genre of modern detective stories. A film that pitted actors considered among the greatest in the history of cinema against each other. A film that etched itself into history with the most realistically portrayed shootout (one that will never be erased). Indeed, Heat excelled in many ways. As a fan of crime films, I regret that today’s filmmakers don’t devote the same passion to similar genre pieces as they did in the past. If Heat were made, say, 20 years later, I believe it would have been trimmed by about an hour and the creators would have tried to amplify everything. However, it’s the gradually building pace with excellently written dialogue scenes that captivated me in Heat. Overall, the film doesn’t rush, which artistically elevates it even more. Michael Mann is a professional in every respect; few filmmakers can retell a seemingly linear story as masterfully as he does. His camera cuts and precise direction give the film an air of craft perfection. Add to that the divine cast (in crime films, no villain has ever matched the quality of the protagonist; Robert De Niro's character is unmatched in charisma). And the action is top-notch, with the shootout being the cherry on top. It's a pity I couldn’t experience that loud sequence in a movie theater, as it must have been quite the event. And the ending, where the audience sees how the two central characters respected each other, is an experience that won’t be repeated. A masterpiece. I give it 93%. (24/08/2020)

A thrilling film where I didn’t mind the excessive runtime. De Niro and Al Pacino are reunited in a movie after a long time and it's worth it. A brilliant mix of action and a kind of subtly psychological portrait of two standing on the opposite side of the law, but who have respect for each other and something in common. Some passages are based on real events, e.g. the pivotal scene of DeNiro and Pacino's conversation in the restaurant actually happened. Heat is one of the best films of the 1990s. (11/05/2003)

I needed a second screening to fully discover the genius and filmmaking level of this masterpiece by Mann. Now I know where to look for the tip of the iceberg, which in this case is a metaphor for all crime films, and to what height Heat rises above all others. Together with The Godfather and The Fugitive, it’s the most intense experience in the genre, and for me personally, in cinema as such. Long after the end, you can still feel on your own skin the incredible atmosphere of the second half, which will forever be written in golden letters in the history of cinema – every scene heightens the tension and the emotions, every look of the excellent actors is worth a thousand words. The action scenes are incredibly realistic and impressive, and the famous shootout in the city streets is probably the best ever on screen. The script is well thought out and unreadable, just as it should be, and I've never seen such a brilliant acting duo as the one Pacino and De Niro have created here as two sworn enemies that respect each other; their amazing performances complete what Mann wouldn’t have been able to do on his own, and most importantly, the two of them bring the film to the unwavering top. They, and the developed psychology of all the other characters, admittedly stretch the runtime quite a bit, but without that the story could never have achieved such power and brought even the toughest action fan to tears with the final shot. Now I also know another thing I can be a little proud of: I was born the year Heat was made. (15/09/2011)