Well acted, well crafted and clearly influential

Rating: 9/10 (16 July 2018)

Don't mind the running time, Heat will keep you on its ride for the whole movie. De Niro and Pacino sharing the screen for the first time does not disappoint one bit, and the story is smart, engaging and high octane.
As of fan of The Dark Knight, I immediately realized why many have pointed to Michael Mann as one of the main influences for Christopher Nolan's masterpiece. Many of the heist scenes are echoed in TDK, which goes to show how effective the scenes are.
It is these scenes as well as the investigative scenes from Pacino's character Lt. Hanna that carry the film. The personal life backstories of the main characters are necessary in moving the plot forward and creating an ideological struggle in each person's mind, but they are not what make the film memorable, particularly the angle on Neil, De Niro's character.
Yet I will remember Heat mainly by the way it is carried by De Niro and Pacino, two world-class actors who balance and complement each other perfectly throughout the film, even when they don't share screen time. I shouldn't have put off watching this film for as long as I did. If you have Netflix and three hours to spare, do yourself a favor and watch Heat!