Pinnacle Of Mann's career

Rating: 9/10 (3 December 2016)

Plot In A Paragraph: In L.A, a group of professional bank robbers led by a loner called Neil (Robert De Niro) start to feel the heat from the police headed by homicide detective Vince Hanna (Al Pacino) following their latest heist.
The pinnacle of Michael Mann's career so far, Heat is simply superb. It's interesting to note he hits a lot of the same beats from Thief and Manhunter, plenty of shots of the ocean, men sneaking out of bed leaving their woman sleeping, scenes in cafe's at night and again one hell of a score. Boy does this guy know how the chose his composers. So reminiscent of Thief's score, I looked to see if it was Tangerine Dream. But it was Elliot Goldenthall. Brilliant at helping create tension and setting the tone.
People always wax lyrical about Pacino and De Niro in this, and they are worthy of the plaudits, but so is the supporting cast Tom Sizemore, Val Kilmer, Jon Voight, Kevin Cage are all brilliant, as are William Fictcher and Hank Azria in smaller roles too.
Of the women in the movie is Amy Brenneman and Ashley Judd (for years I thought it was Charlize Theron) are more than just scenery, as can often be the case in this type of movies. For her brief time on screen (3 scenes) Natalie Portman is superb and her subplot is heartbreakingly sad. Ignored by her Dad, no fatherly figure support from her step Dad (Pacino) and her mam pretty much ignores her.
I love this movie!! One of the best of the year, if not the decade!!
Heat did not do as well at the box office as I thought, grossing $67 million at the domestic box office to end the year the 25th highest grossing movie of 1995.
To put that in context, Father Of The Bride 2, the Hugh Grant comedy Nine Months and Mortal Kombat all out performed it.
WTF?? Don't get me wrong 1995 was a good year for movies, but I expected to see this higher when I looked.