Excellent

Rating: 9/10 (27 June 2005)

Los Angeles at night is a strange sight. From a distance it looks almost ethereal, but at the same time it's all just streetlights and buildings. This city is the landscape of Heat, Michael Mann's well-crafted 1995 film about cops and robbers. The fact that Al Pacino and Robert De Niro are both included in the cast has been much-ballyhooed, and for good reason. This isn't the first time they've both appeared in the same movie (that distinction goes to The Godfather Part II), it is the first time they've acted together on screen. Even if just for Pacino and De Niro's inclusion, Heat would still probably be worth seeing once. But Michael Mann has made a film here that is both tight and truly tense.
One of the more interesting aspects of Heat is how it seems to suggest that cops and robbers need each other more than they may let on. The restaurant scene works so well because you get the sense that other than their job descriptions, cop Vincent Hannah (Pacino) and criminal McCauley (De Niro) have a lot in common. They're both middle-aged, completely devoted to their work, and as both concede, don't know how to do anything else than what they do. Now is it unorthodox for a cop to offer to buy a criminal a cup of coffee? Maybe, but it works. Over time, something of an uneasy attachment grows between the two. I'll admit that it feels a little forced at the ending, but otherwise I thought it was really well done.
The other topic that Michael Mann explores at length is the women in their lives. Vincent's wife (Diane Verona) is concerned about his obsession with his job. Vincent doesn't really live with her, in her mind, but "among the remains of the dead". And their daughter (played by Natalie Portman before she became a star) is troubled by her other father's failure to show up. McCauley on the other hand falls in love with a woman who he initially is aloof to (Amy Brenneman). Actually, falling in love probably isn't the right phrase, as he too is committed to his work above her. Thrown into the mix are McCauley's accomplice (played by Val Kilmer) and his wife (Ashley Judd, also before she became famous). These relationships could easily be clichéd, but Michael Mann manages to make it something more insightful.
Some of the technical aspects are worth mentioning as well. The glossy cinematography in particular complements the slick narrative, even if Mann's own Collateral looks static in comparison. The heist scenes are also well edited. Instead of lingering on the carnage like someone like John Woo might, it's chaotic like an actual heist would probably feel. The film does admittedly lose some momentum after the bank heist.
All in all, Michael Mann's Heat is more intelligent than many films of the same genre aspire to. Come for Pacino and De Niro, stay for the film.