"just as every cop is criminal"--Stones, "Sympathy for the Devil"

Rating: Null/10 (23 October 2001)

One thing's for sure: Michael Mann knows how to write satisfying dialogue. Taking a cue from older movies that featured great words and sentences, that were of course unlikely to be spoken extemporaneously, he treats the audience to diction that is smart yet unpretentious. Not that all the dialogue is unrealistic, there is plenty of middle brow conversation, he just knows that audiences don't always want to hear what they do everyday on the screen. Case in point: the great exchange between Pacino and Venora after he comes home 3 hours late for dinner and doesn't want to discuss his day.

Of course that's not the only instance of brilliance in this film. The clever juxtapositions (relationships--both between men and women and friends-the separate dining out scenes; one with the cops one with the crooks and even a subtle touch such as Pacino and Deniro gouging the eyes of a combatant in different fight scenes), the enthralling scenes (the diner meeting between the tow main characters and the bank robbery-a rare demonstration of violence that is overt yet not gratuitous) and the simple intrigue that is police work all add to a spectacular work of film. Oh and did I mention that there is not one weak actor? Great stuff here.