Heat An Entertaining Crime Action Thriller With Some Flaws

Rating: 8/10 (7 June 2009)

Heat is an entertaining action crime thriller with some flaws by director Michael Mann the man behind films like Collateral, Miami Vice, and the upcoming Public Enemies who does an admirable job of bringing this movie to the big screen. The star studded cast are terrific in their roles including Al Pacino, Robert De Niro, Val Kilmer, Tom Sizemore, Ashley Judd, and Jon Voight. The rest of supporting cast are good in their small roles but aren't given much to do. The movie is a bit long with a running time of almost three hours and it could've been much shorter. The pacing was kind of slow at times too but everything else more than made up for it's few flaws. The opening heist sequence is well done and the same can go for the intense shoot out in the streets of Los Angeles. Pacino makes for an effective hero on the side of good and De Niro is equally impressive as the villain. They both prove to be worth adversaries but unfortunately they're not given much screen time together or confrontations for that matter. With it's flaws aide however Heat overall is still an enjoyable movie to watch because of the story, the action, suspense, and most of all the exceptional performances by it's lead actors.