How great is this film? Say it with me...

Rating: 10/10 (13 November 1998)

This film is just SO good. No,scrap that, good isn't the word for it. Sublime, flawless, compelling, inspiring, exciting, intelligent and just damn satisfying are all words which must be used when describing this film. Possibly my favourite of all time, Heat takes the viewer on a never less than enthralling trip into the world of the cop and the robber, the hunter and the hunted. I'm not going to go into the storyline suffice to say that Michael Mann has taken a tired and seemingly unoriginal genre and slapped it around until it resembles something altogether different. (But not that different obviously.) By giving as much of the film's focus over to the criminals as the cops trying to catch them, the film achieves an unparalleled level of authenticity with each side reacting to the others best attempts of capture/evasion being one of the films great strengths.
It says a lot when the only criticisms that can be levelled at a film are it's length (a criticism which holds no meaning given how wrapped up the viewer becomes in it all), it's lack of action scenes (of which there are plenty for the mood of the film including one of the 'greatest' shoot outs of all time) and part of the ending (which is, I admit, a little out of character of the meticulous McAuley). But these are of little importance when everything else is so good. The acting is uniformly excellent with even Val Kilmer turning in something resembling a dramatic performance. Then of course there is the meeting of two of the most accomplished screen actors around (YES YES YES, the coffee shop scene IS as great as everyone makes out.) A haunting soundtrack ,which nobody else seems to have mentioned, direction which takes in the 'real' settings of L.A. to their most stark and startling effect, realistic characterisation and a storyline that is as unsinkable as the Titanic was meant to be all add up to make Heat one of the greatest crime flicks ever put onto celluloid. See it. Be amazed. See it again. Be amazed again etc.