A film worth seeing, if just for the Pacino/De Niro coffee break scene

Rating: Null/10 (23 January 2001)

The biggest reason you should justifiably sit through this 2 hour and 50 minute film is to watch a scene about half way through the film where Pacino and De Niro's characters sit down to have a cup of coffee together. The first half of "Heat", a crime caper film by Micheal Mann, is Pacino and De Niro playing a game of cat and mouse. Pacino plays a veteran police lieutenant and De Niro plays a veteran high stakes thief. The scene is one of those magical cinematic moments that only come every so often. Pacino and De Niro, legends, masters of their acting trade, acting together on screen for the first time, at last! Mann's casting of the two to play opposing cop and robber was a masterful choice. The impact of the scene where the two momentarily put aside their differences to come to terms with the fact that they truly do need each other to do their own jobs goes above and beyond the film itself. It's as though the scene was two masters of the trade acknowledging each other for the first time.
The rest of the film is good, but it never quite lives up to the validity and authenticity of that scene. Mann tries too hard to make this film an "Epic" in the lines of "The Godfather", much in the same way Brian De Palma tried with "Scarface". The film is a top notch crime caper film with great, well thought out action scene's, wonderful cinematography and a plot that rings with authenticity (which gives it a one-up on "Scarface" right there), but much of the film seems forced. I wish filmmakers would realize that "Epic" films are a happening and not a pre-fabricated film made with the intention of being remembered as an "Epic" (for recent examples, see "Braveheart" and "Gladiator"). While "Heat" certainly is a lot more than a contrived wannabe-epic, it is, at the most, a very good crime film (apart from the amazing coffee break scene) no more, no less. I give it a 7.5 out of 10.