Masters go one on one

Rating: Null/10 (16 August 1999)

Al Pacino and Robert De Niro. I could have ended this comment right here. If any actors have been a guaranty for quality during my career as a moviegoer these are the ones. And I think it is safe to assume that I was not the only one who had been looking forward to seeing then in the same movie again.
On top of that, they are brought together by Mr. Miami Vice  Michael Mann. Some people will argue that he is not an A-list director, and they are right. But if you can create a success with Don Johnson and Philip Michael Thomas, there should be no limit to what you could do with the acting material available in this movie.
The strength of this very good crime story is that Michael Mann gives us time to get to know the main characters. Therefore I felt like I had been watching two separate movies at one time. One of them starring Pacino and the other one starring De Niro. And that is this movie's strength.

The most powerful scene is the one in the coffee shop where the leading characters meet for the first time eye to eye. The only other time we see them together is in the all too obvious final scene. And in container area (if that is Pacino on the ground). Even though Pacino and De Niro are the big-names on the acting side, there are several good performances in supporting roles. Of course big parts like Val Kilmer's and Tom Sisemore's draw some attention I really like Jon Voight  even though it is a very small part.
This is by all means a powerful crime movie and I can warmly recommend it to everyone especially fans of Al Pacino and Robert De Niro  if they haven't already seen it.