Clash of the Titans

Rating: 6/10 (24 February 2014)

Heat certainly sports an amazing cast: Al Pacino, Robert De Niro, Val Kilmer, Jon Voight Diane Venora, Ashley Judd, Natalie Portman, Dennis Haylsbert, Amy Brenneman, Ted Levine, and Tom Sizemore. Top drawer all the way, and directed by Michael Mann, who knows something about action movies.
Despite this, Heat managed, for this viewer, to be about forty minutes too long (the version I saw was nearly three hours) and slow.
The story concerns two dedicated men: Lt. Vincent Hanna (Pacino) and Neil McCauley (De Niro). One is on the side of the law, and the other is a master criminal who has pulled off some amazing heists.
Neil and his team target banks, vaults, and armored cars. When there's a problem on one of the jobs, the police finally has a clue and the robbers begin to feel the heat. Vincent has to begrudgingly admire McCauley for his cleverness. The two men are similar: both are dedicated to their work at the expense of their private lives. Vincent is married to Justine (Venora), who has a troubled daughter (Portman). The marriage is on the rocks; Neil doesn't want to share his work with Justine, and is away on the job all the time and noncommunicative at home.
Neil has a philosophy, which is, 'Never have anything in your life that you can't walk out on in thirty seconds flat, if you spot the heat coming around the corner.' He disapproves of one of his associates, Shiherlis (Kilmer) because he is married with a child. His wife (Judd) is unhappy because Shiherlis is a compulsive gambler and doesn't act like an adult. But when Neil meets Eady (Brennemen), he falls in love. The men plan one last big score, though the heat is becoming more intense.
I'm sure I will be criticized, but I didn't care for this film. At a length rivaling Gone with the Wind, the story could have been told in two hours. As it is, it's slow going. There are several gun fights, with bullets the size of rocks going through windshields, car bodies, and people on the streets of Los Angeles. After a while it became mind-numbing.
In New York City and I assume most big cities, the police can draw their guns, identify yourselves as officers, and pursue the suspects; I guess in Los Angeles it doesn't matter how many pedestrians and cars are around.
The acting is excellent -- it's hard to miss with a cast like this -- and it is exciting to see Pacino and DeNiro together. I just wish it had been in something else.
There are many positive reviews on this site. I'm curious as to how many of the positive reviews came from men. This is a man's movie all the way, from the behavior of the various women to the automatic weapons and explosions.
If the film had been shorter and tighter, I might have liked it better.