An okay movie. Would have been better 60 minutes shorter with half the characters

Rating: 6/10 (30 May 2012)

Having seen almost every classic and influential crime drama of the past 30 years, I finally got around to seeing Heat. Having heard about how influential it has been in other movies and video games, I couldn't believe that I had waited so long to see this movie. Boy, was I disappointed. This movie is far from the masterpiece that I was led to believe. Other than a couple of great crime scenes (and a little bit of great action), I can't think of much that this film had that would make me want to see it again.
While I wouldn't characterize the acting as bad, I can't think of anyone in this movie who gave a performance that is among their better ones. Al Pacino is practically a caricature of himself the entire time. He overacts in every scene and he yells about half of his lines. Robert Deniro has the same scowl on his face and speaks in pretty much the same voice for the whole movie. Pacino and Deniro fans looking for some "tough guy" porn will find plenty of it here.
Ultimately, Heat is a movie that could have been made better by cutting about half the content. It is loaded with characters that are poorly developed, but are dramatically presented as if you are supposed to give a crap about any of them. One of them gets killed after about four minutes of screen time, and after that, we see his grieving wife. Rather than cry with her, I just kind of rolled my eyes. Another gang members death is presented with the drama akin to a squad mate getting killed in a war movie. I could have cared less. Val Kilmer's subplot centers around the tenuous relationship that he has with his wife. Al Pacino has a lousy third marriage and Robert Deniro somehow manages to have a romance side plot that is neither relevant nor believable.
There is even a suicide attempt scene that has nothing whatsoever to do with the story – a diversion that will have you scratching your head, wondering why so much celluloid was wasted on it. Without exception, every single scene with a female in it could have been left on the cutting room floor, and not one shred of value would have been lost. None of the characters are sympathetic or well developed enough for you to want to see their romances work or to be able to share their pain. It would have worked well maybe in a television series where you would have more time to develop the characters, but here, all of the side plot material is really boring.
One of the draws of this movie seems to be that it is a "realistic" and non ideal take on human behavior. Okay, I get that, but if you are going to go with the "realistic" approach, then don't ruin it with the occasional unbelievable scene or plot hole. The biggest offender is the famous bank robbery scene in the middle of the movie. It would have been spectacular in an action movie that didn't take itself seriously. But in Heat, I couldn't stop thinking about how absurd it was that a few guys with automatic weapons were able to cut through the entire LAPD like a hot knife through butter, escaping clean in the process. I still greatly enjoyed that scene, largely because it's just a great action scene that is well choreographed and shot. However, it's sort of out of place in this film.
I'll give Heat some credit for not being a by-the-numbers cops and robbers movie. Maybe it is this uniqueness and the time of its release that made it so popular. Upon reflection though, there have been many crime and caper movies over the past few decades that are more entertaining than this one. Scarface, Reservoir Dogs, The Usual Suspects, to name but a few. While I didn't hate this movie, I certainly don't think that it deserves a place in the Top 10 greatest crime dramas.