The best film by the best director in Hollywood.

Rating: Null/10 (25 July 2002)

In you haven't yet seen this film, then you're in for a treat. As you know it stars two of the best method actors of their generation, as two men on opposite sides of the law, both completely obsessed with their work, with personal rules that are more constricting than society's. This obviously leads to problems in their personal lives; De Niro's character McCaulley simply hasn't wasted time on one, his only relationships are those with his fellow thieves. Pacino's character Hanna is going through a patchy end to his third marriage, as he spends too much interest in his career. Such a synopsis barely scratches the surface of Director Michael Mann's masterful crime epic. I'm sure you'll have read many reviews about how fantastic the action sequences are in this film, and they are, but they aren't what makes this film a classic. What makes this film so memorable is the depth of characterisation Mann achieves with not only the two leads but also the supporting roles. Emotions are implied with such natural method-style acting reinforced with perfectly stylised imagery. This is what Mann is most known for - and he delivers, reminding us of the new-age, colourful cinematagraphy in Manhunter (which is far superior to Silence Of The Lambs, I don't care what any Academy geek thinks). The music too is inspiring, the soundtrack is definately worth buying. Generally speaking, the film is about finding your path in life, and testing how far you will be willing to go to stick to it. When these two hard personalities find some commonalities they open up to one another in what is favourite scene of the movie. And toward the end when they hold hands and De Niro dies (sorry if I spoilt it for you) is very touching, I just found it quite poetic that two men who made their livings out of being tough nuts letting their guard down despite their duties. I've read reviews saying these scenes relied on the two lead performances being as powerful as they were - well I think every good screenplay requires good acting, any script which attempts to allow for poor performances is just laughable in my book, this isn't one of them. I'll cut this short as I'm sure you'll like to go off and rent the movie (so you should). I think anyone who says any one film is the best is simply naive and arrogant. I'll simply say that this film is my favourite, and that anyone who doesn't enjoy it is simply a victim of commercial style no-brainer blockbusters, and so have not developed an attention span, or simply a traditionalist character drama enthusiast who gets dizzy at the sight of fast-paced stylish editing. I hope you are neither, just lay back, let go of your expectations and enjoy perhaps one of the best films of our generation. Please email me with any interesting comments, thanks for reading. Dale Ransberger