LA Takedown was far better, Mann shouldn't have bothered

Rating: Null/10 (12 January 2000)

The thing I disliked about Heat was it's overblown nature and the over the top performances (particularly from Pacino, almost as bad as in City Hall, FAB in Carlito's Way though so you can't have everything). Pacino bawled away in an only too typical broken marriage alcaholic cop bla de bla role, while De Niro seemed to be sleepwalking in that dull way he perfected in Casino. The action scenes, location, photography etc. was excellent but it just seemed a bloated film, the characterisation just didn't seem to work. I thought at the time that it could have done with being edited down to size. Imagine my surprise then when I saw LA Takedown (Heat's TV movie predecessor), a much tighter script and shorter film with characters who would realistically have more in common (both young talented guys, both obsessed with making some cash, getting ahead etc.) Shorter and more thrilling, LA Takedown was what Heat could have been. Mann made a big mistake re-making it using his earlier script and the big name casting compounded his errors. De Niro and Pacino carry too much baggage in Heat, they are both individually great but together they both sadly sucked. They weren't helped with an overblown boring script and a needlessly sloppy ending. See LA Takedown, avoid Heat (or see them both and wonder why oh why!).