A Modern Crime Masterpiece

Rating: 10/10 (4 September 1999)

This movie promised so much. A powerhouse cast including De Niro and Pacino together on-screen for the first time and director Michael Mann's abilities as a filmmaker very much in the ascendancy, how could it possibly deliver? Well it does, in spades.
Pacino has the showier role of Vincent Hanna, an instinctive career detective and Pacino pitches it just right without being too flamboyant. De Niro is Neil Macauley, the cool and chillingly collected head of a gang of professional thieves. Much is made of the contrast between the problems with personal relationships that both are experiencing but De Niro is also grappling with a psychotic gang member, a slippery businessman whose bail bonds he has stolen along with the heat he fears is 'just around the corner'.
Mann's taut and muscular direction makes the most of the LA locations and the grimly professional action scenes only bring even more depth to the multi-layered and detailed plot. Two scenes in particular remain in the memory: a casual encounter between cop and criminal in a coffee shop (the only scene between Pacino and De Niro) and a botched bank raid of such ferocity that will have the hairs standing up on the back of your neck.
Incredibly well directed and acted and almost mythic in places, HEAT is a definitive work in the crime thriller genre.