Mediocre

Rating: 5/10 (25 September 2008)

The film, much hyped for the first on screen meeting of Al Pacino and Robert De Niro, opens with an only in Hollywood heist of an armored bank truck. The newest member of the gang- Waingro (Kevin Gage)- panics, which results in the murder of the 3 guards. De Niro's character, Neil McCauley, the gang's leader, attempts to kill the screw up, but he escapes. Meanwhile, Vincent Hanna (Pacino), LAPD homicide expert, takes over the case. Needless digressions include Hanna's failing marriage with his faithless wife Justine (Diane Venora) & suicidal stepdaughter (Natalie Portman), Waingroe's revelation as a serial killer of prostitutes, McCauley's contrived and sparkless romance with a lonely bookworm 25 years his junior, Eady (Amy Brenneman), & the backstory of the newest member of the gang. If the long and superfluous digressions are not bad enough, the implausible action scenes & character interactions are worse- this is an absolutely abominable screenplay, folks. Here are just some of the implausibilities: after figuring out that McCauley's thieves have turned the tables on him Hanna stops McCauley, who absurdly agrees to a cup of joe with him. This is the big 'Clash of Titans' the film hypes, but is as realistic as John Ashcroft breaking bread with Osama bin Laden. Instead, we get insipid dick on the table banter as Hanna warns McCauley he just might have to 'take him out'. McCauley counters, 'Oh yeah? I just might have to take you out.' It would have been a hoot had McCauley replied, 'You talking' to me?', but no such luck. In short, Heat is a mediocre movie at best- its visual style accounting for whatever props it deserves. It was only 2 years later that the brilliant L.A. Confidential came along & showed America what a truly great crime film could be. As for the DVD itself? It's no-frills- there's no commentary, 3 trailers, but the actual transfer of the film print is very clean, as is the sound quality. Curiously, the DVD package seems to recapitulate the making of the film: great attention paid to the shine, but a fairly hollow core.
I waited years to see this film because it was so over-hyped, just like I waited years to see the abominable Schindler's List. Heat is not that bad, but post-9/11 this sort of juvenilia all seems kind of unreal.