Best Cops and Robbers Movie Ever

Rating: 10/10 (21 June 2002)

This is an amazing piece of film from the creator of Ali, Miami Vice and my favorite, Thief. Michael Mann was able to weave ten or twelve concurring plots into a whole coherent movie that never lets you relax. The heist, the people involved, the families and the relationship between each of the groups, the cops and the robbers, are done seamlessly. You are brought along the entire movie by the actions of the people to the situation rather than the situation dictating the moves of the people.

The choice of actors doesn't hurt the movie either. There is not one part that isn't played well by the likes of Robert De Niro, Al Pacino, Val Kilmer, Natalie Portman, Asley Judd, and on and on. There are no landmark performances here but the whole is greater that the sum of its parts. Each player was a small part going through responses of how the plot of the movie was affecting his or her lives and as a result the movie took form and the puzzle came together. If all of this was not enough this film had two great scenes that were enough to make the picture on its own. It had a head-to-head scene with Pacino and De Niro where the two acting styles also came head-to-head. Pacino with all the expressions and eye movements that were creating a dialog of their own and De Niro's character with a quiet, in control, inwardly thoughtful way of telling you how it is. More is said in the moments between his lines than the lines themselves. You can see two great artists at the height of their craft interacting inside intelligent and confident characters. These were equals in every since of the word having a very meaningful, insightful conversation and the audience was privileged to eavesdrop.
The second scene that makes this movie one of the best was the most realistic shootout ever-devised on film. I won't give away the plot as to how it came about but I will only say that when it is over you will think to yourself `How long was I holding my breath?'.
The plot never lets you down, there are no slow points and this movie has some of the greatest scenes in 20th Century film; did I leave anything out. If I had to look for something wrong I would say that some of the sub-plots did not reach a conclusion but I only noticed this after the third of forth viewing. I recommend this movie to anyone who wants non-stop cops and robbers action with intelligent characters and great individual acting.