Another look 17 years later

Rating: 10/10 (28 February 2013)

HEAT made a big splash in 1995 and there was a lot of controversy about the amount of violence in the film. Now 17 years later the film still remains a strong hallmark of cops and robbers genre films but the violence pales in comparison to what we are exposed to at present. Michael Mann who both wrote and directed this suspenseful thriller went on to direct and produce such films as Public Enemies, Miami Vice, Collateral, Ali, The Insider, Texas Killing Fields, Hancock and The Kingdom and he hasn't lost his touch with action cinema. Another entertaining aspect of looking at these big films of the past is seeing the beginnings of the careers of some young actors and observing the work of the solid character actors at their prime.
One summary of the plot that briefly lays out the story follows: Neil McCauley is a thief... an expert thief... one of the best. His philosophy in life - become attached to nothing in life that you can't walk away from in 30 seconds if you spot the "Heat" around the corner. His crew of criminals is a high-tech outfit pulling off professional jobs that impress even the likes of Detective Vincent Hanna. But Hanna, a man driven through life only by his work, becomes obsessed, at the expense of his private life, with bringing McCauley down. As McCauley's crew prepare for the score of a lifetime, and Hanna's team tries to bring him in, the two find that they are challenged by the greatest minds on the opposite side of the law that either one has ever encountered.
The superb cast includes Robert DeNiro as McCauley and Al Pacino as Hanna and the multiple supporting roles are filled by the likes of Val Kilmer, Jon Voight, Tom Sizemore, Diane Venora, Amy Brenneman, Ashley Judd, Mykelti Williamson, Dennis Haysbert, William Fichtner, Natalie Portman, Kevin Gage, Hank Azaria and Jeremy Piven. The cinematography and special effects are ahead of their time and the movie plunges the viewer into the underbelly of Los Angeles like few other films have been able to match. It is still a viable contender for one of the 'famous cops and robbers' films.
Grady Harp