Intense action with underlying commitment theme.

Rating: 8/10 (21 June 2010)

Heat is about a crew of professional criminals who target big money items like bank vaults and armored cars. The crew is run by Neil, played by Robert Deniro, and his character is the planning, disciplined sophisticated type. His main crew members are Chris (Val Kilmer), Michael (Tom Sizemore), and later added Donald (Dennis Haysbert). Lt. Vincent Hanna (Al Pacino) plays opposite of the character Neil and with the help of his crew are out to capture Neil and his crew. The movie is mainly focused on these high dollar robberies but also centers around the personal lives of Neil and Vincent and how much alike they are. The main theme of Heat is the underlying fear of commitment which is evident in many of the characters. This give the movie moments of drama and time to build story between the high impact action scenes. This relevance can be seen in the movie Hancock (produced by Mann), in which the character Hancock cannot commit to Mary. There are several examples of this throughout the movie with the most notable being Neil's rule, "Never have anything in your life that you can't walk out on in 30 seconds flat if you spot the heat around the corner." Even though in the end he violates his own policy by falling in love with Eady, and this ends with his demise. Another example is the constant fighting between Chris and his wife Charlene (Ashley Judd). They both have problems fully committing to each other but their love for each other keeps them coming back to each other. A third example is the relationship between Vincent and Justine (Diane Venora). This relationship is riddled with Vincent's commitment to his work being first in his life before anything else. Interesting techniques used in the film include the lighting and colors. Heat takes advantage of a lot of scenes using grays and blues. This enhances the mood in the romantic scenes, including times when Neil is with Eady. A technique used with the lighting is during the climatic ending scenes with the use of the high beams from the airplanes to illuminate Neil and Vincent in the darkness. This low-key lighting builds suspense in the final scenes. Overall this movie has what it takes to make a film. The intense action scenes are great and provide distraction from the overall theme of the movie, commitment.