Terrific, classic

Rating: 10/10 (22 January 2016)

I used to love this film for the action sequences and that beautiful blue-tinted cinematography, Los Angeles looking as clear and smooth as the ocean Neil looks out on in reflection. De Niro and Pacino fully inhabit characters that are two sides of a coin, Neil (De Niro) an introverted loner and a professional thief in charge of a crew, and Vincent (Pacino) a disillusioned cop who finds a connection with Neil, who he likes and considers a star, reflecting his own professional, no- nonsense approach, a glimmer of hope in an otherwise dreary career in which he must expose himself to all kinds of horror and sickness which he goes into great detail describing in order to stop his partner from complaining about relationship problems. Pacino has some of the best and funniest line in the whole film. It was a stroke of brilliance to have both De Niro and Pacino play characters perfectly suited for them. Pacino is often accused of hamming it up, and although he does chew scenery in this film, that's the character he plays and I always found him a very subtle actor whose expressions speak volumes. De Niro of course is brilliant, that goes without say, and plays a likable crook who has found his niche on the other side of the law and does what he does best. Any attachments they have don't seem to work, and the only real bond they find is with each other through their mutual cat-and-mouse interest in one another. The film isn't just about those two characters though, and while it is a crime film, that's just a foundation for a sprawling, meticulously detailed yet effortless, interwoven narrative involving many people. The way it all comes together as the film progresses feels almost cosmic. Waingro (Kevin Kage) is sort of a spanner in the works throughout the film, a sort of devil of chaos with no awareness of what he's doing (?) who shoots cops in the opening heist and gets Vincent involved in the case and on the trail of Neil. He vanishes almost supernaturally when Neil tried to kill him and pops up in multiple uncanny ways to botch things up for his old crew and his new employer Van Sant (William Fichtner). He even manages to bring Neil and Vincent together in the end by being the chief motivator for Neil's detour from his escape to a new haven after the disastrous heist. Neil kills Waingro in a sort of cathartic cleansing, before being hunted down by Vincent and shot in the final hunt. They both kind of save each other in the end and it turns out the way Neil wanted it. It was his wish all along to die at the hands of this cop who knows him as well as he does, and it gives him a sort of release for the afterlife. I guess that makes Vincent, his hunter, his Shepherd. It's a moving ending to a great film, and the final scenes of Vincent holding Neil by the hand in his last moments as they stand in the night against the airport lights, the plane to a life Neil was never allowed departed and his downfall as it illuminates his shadow giving Vincent his cue to take Neil down, are all just perfect. It all feels very fatalistic in a profound way. The film is a great noir because it's all about purpose and the search for it. The supporting cast is also great, after all it's an ensemble film and there's a whole host of interesting, well played characters I haven't even mentioned because I can't be bothered now.