Mann is the Man

Rating: 10/10 (4 September 2004)

WOW! This movie is quite utterly, AMAZING! One of the most intense films I've ever seen. With three shootouts, a 20 minute shootout, you won't be disappointed. And it's got Al Pacino and Robert De Niro on the screen at the same time, for the first time ever!
Hunters and their prey--Neil and his professional criminal crew hunt to score big money targets (banks, vaults, armored cars) and are, in turn, hunted by Captain Vincent Hanna and his team of cops in the Robbery/Homicide police division.
A botched job puts Hanna onto their trail while they regroup and try to put together one last big 'retirement' score. Neil and Vincent are similar in many ways, including their troubled personal lives.
At a crucial moment in his life, Neil disobeys the dictum taught to him long ago by his criminal mentor--'Never have anything in your life that you can't walk out on in thirty seconds flat, if you spot the heat coming around the corner'--as he falls in love. Thus the stage is set for the suspenseful ending....
Some people may find the film too long. At 172 minutes, it is quite long, but not moment of the film is wasted. At no point did I find that the movie dragged on for any length of time. The acting is some of the best I've seen. And Micheal Mann is the man. He proves that he is among the greatest film directors or out time.