Grim, stylish, sophisticated, well written, photographed & directed, surely among Michael Mann's best work !!

Rating: 9/10 (28 May 2019)

"Heat" was publicized as the first movie featuring Pacino and De Niro in the same time frame (excluding of course "The Godfather - Part II") and was often criticized as not being as memorable as it should have beeen the few scenes they shared in the wide angle shots.
First of all, "Heat" is a brilliantly written film, a modern day tragedy, a crime / thriller epic of great proportions, featuring one of the best heist scenes ever put on camera.
Michael Mann's sense of streets' reality with his stylish visuals was well-known back then, he had already created two of the best TV Shows from the 80's Era: "Miami Vice" and "Crime Story" and directed "Manhunter" ('86), the first ever adaptation of a Thomas Harris' novel featuring the Hannibal Lektor / Lecter character and "L.A. Takedown" ('89), a pilot for a new TV Show that was not acquired by the network and became a TV film. This flm became the basis for "Heat". What Mann could not tell in just hour and a half, he made it again, only this time the way he envisioned with a much larger budget and an all star cast.
De Niro was the first joining the venture and convinced his friend and acting rival, Al Pacino of the possibilities of the well-written screenplay under the sophisticated direction of Mann and with this two Oscar winners on board, every actor performing in the 90's wanted to be part of "Heat", including Val Kilmer, that shot his part on a break of filming "Batman Forever" ('95), and another Oscar Winner, Jon Voight, in his comeback role.
The cinematography is top notch, full of aerial shots, showing nice L.A. locations (some of them were the first time ever captured on film, great job of scouting those locations) and during the action sequences make us, the audience, almost being part of it, due to its extreme realism and the way that was shot.
Los Angeles never looked this good since William Friedkin's lost masterpiece of the same genre, "To Live and Die in L.A." ('85).
The music by Elliot Goldenthal is phenomenal and perfectly adequate to the Michael Mann's visual style and the events on the screen.
The work in the editing proccess, supervisioned by Mann himself with the help of 4 editors, ties the movie all together giving it a frantic pace, time for the characters to develop and turning an almost 3 hours film in an unique experience in this genre, it keeps the viewers on the edge of their sits and never gets boring.
Eventually, some scenes needed to be left in the editing room floor due to its length, including some more background on Tom Sizemore's Michael Cheritto character and the cocaine addiction of Pacino's Lt. Vincent Hanna that explains his over-enthusiastic behavior through the film.
In terms of the supporting cast, it's one of the best ever assembled, amazing work from such charismatic character actors as Amy Brenneman (a few years before her hit TV Show, "Judging Amy"); Ted Levine ("The Silence of the Lambs"); Mykelti Williamson ("Forrest Gump"); Kevin Gage (his villanious Waingro entered straight to the pop culture as one of sleaziest ever); Wes Studi (re-teaming with Mann after "The Last of the Mohicans"); Ashley Judd (in the same year that she starred in "A Time to Kill" playing a very similar role); the beautiful and underrated Diane Venora ("Bird", "The Jackal"); Dennis Haysbert ("Major League", "Navy Seals", "Love Field"); Tom Noonan (re-teaming with Mann after "Manhunter"); William Fichtner ("Black Hawk Down", "Albino Alligator", "Crash"); punk rock star from "Black Flag" & "Rollins Band", Henry Rollins ("The Chase", "Johnny Mnemonic"); ex-convicted turned actor, Danny Trejo ("Runaway Train", "Desperado", "Machete"); Hank Azaria ("The Birdcage"); ex-stuntman & martial arts performer, Jerry Trimble, in his first mainstream role and even a young Natalie Portman (in her only second film after the outstanding debut in "Léon" one year before). Jeremy Piven ("Entourage") & Xander Berkeley (which played Waingro in the original "L.A. Takedown") appear each one in one scene.
The central characters of Pacino and De Niro have many layers and even if playing opposites as the cop and the robber, they are almost similar in attitude and that passion of "get the job done". The two characters (also the two actors) respect each other so much that they even bond on screen.
Pacino owns the show defying even his own Tony Montana's outbursts, with De Niro playing his role more restrained.
Val Kilmer is solid, sporting an acceptable wig; Tom Sizemore is always a joy to watch and Jon Voight is playing the part of another ex-convict turned actor (& writer). Eddie Bunker (Voight's co-star in "Runaway Train", "Reservoir Dogs") .
In short, "Heat" is one of the best films that came out on the 90's Era, a great way to spend an after diner night at the movies. Grab your popcorn and beer and watch or revisit this masterwork of heist films.
I give it a 9 close to 9.5 !!