Breathtaking - where are this film's Oscars?

Rating: 10/10 (8 October 2004)

Al Pacino is Vincent Hanna of the LAPD robbery/homicide division. Now in a third failing marriage, Hanna is a man consumed by his occupation, which exposes him to all the sordid crime and violence for which LA is famous. Robert DeNiro is Neil McCauley, the leader of a successful bank robbing team that includes his protégé Chris Shiherlis, played by Val Kilmer. After a fouled-up heist puts Hanna on McCauley's trail, Heat becomes an elaborate cat and mouse chase between a driven police lieutenant and a seasoned criminal. Writer and director Michael Mann (Manhunter, Miami Vice, Last of the Mohicans), uses the chase as an opportunity to examine two interesting personalities who turn out to be more alike than different.
As if Hanna and McCauley didn't already give enough material for three movies, Heat one-ups itself by leaving no supporting characters behind. Chris and his wife, Charlene (Ashley Judd), are given some of the movie's most intense drama, when after the climactic shootout, police use Charlene to lure Chris into captivity. Ashley Judd is given an emotionally restrained moment to reconcile her love for Chris with her desire for a more stable life. From her apartment balcony, she makes a simple hand gesture that signals Chris to turn around and never come back. Chris is forced to accept her decision for fear of being caught. Diane Venora, as Vincent's wife, serves up one of the movie's finest supporting performances. As Justine, she is a woman in an impossible love relationship. Venora balances the anguish with compassion and understanding, making her relationship with Hanna the movie's most engaging.
In Heat, even characters with only ten minutes of screen time (or less) are given full character arcs. Dennis Haysbert plays Donald Breedan, whom we first meet outside the context of the major storyline. He applies for a job at a burger joint, where's the manager knows he's a released convict and treats him with great contempt. He takes all of Breedan's tips and pays him less than minimum wage. Haysbert, portraying Breedan as a character who has made a sincere effort to change his life, has very powerful, though brief, scenes with Kim Staunton, who plays his girlfriend, Lillian. When Breedan, disappointed with his job prospects, asks, "Why are you with me?", she responds, "because I'm proud of you". Haysbert almost cries. With only two short scenes, these characters have already inhabited Heat's world and drawn us into it that much more. When Breedan is propositioned by McCauley to join the big bank heist, we understand why Breedan makes the wrong decision.
And when Lillian learns of Breedan's death on the evening news, it's a genuine emotional moment. In mere minutes, we knew these characters - because Heat takes the precious time to introduce them and let them exist as something other than plot points.
And there are so many more to know, with well-established actors in all variety of supporting roles: Jon Voight, Tom Sizemore, Mykelti Williamson, Wes Studi, Ted Levine, William Fichter, Hank Azaria, Henry Rollins, Tone Loc, and Xander Berkeley. No one is a throw-away. All of them are real in the moments the camera turns to them, giving spice to what is already a remarkable achievement worthy of its tagline - "a Los Angeles crime saga".
Michael Mann gives Heat his signature visual flare. LA has never looked this good, nor have many films. Dante Spinotti's photography and Mann's framings are nothing short of mesmerizing, aided by a hypnotic soundtrack by Elliot Goldenthal, Moby, and other artists. This powerful synthesis hits viewers broadside from the very first shot, one of a railway station at night. Through smoke and fields of blinking city lights, washes of blue and the occasional piercing red, we are drawn into this world in a powerful visual and aural way - matching, if not surpassing, the narrative efforts. Mann, famous for the iconic look of Miami Vice, goes the extra measure in Heat, as evident in scenes at McCauley's home on the ocean, in balcony scenes overlooking the vast city of lights, and in a great number of scenes shot at "magic hour", that ten minutes at dawn or dusk when the skies are at their most beautiful. One lush frame blends into another, and the parade never ends until the movie is over. Heat is, quite simply, one of the most beautiful films I've ever seen. - Scott Schirmer