Heat

Heat (1995) is a movie that is in my DVD collection that I recently rewatched on Tubi. The storyline follows an underground high end burglary team looking for one big last mission and a parallel story about a successful police officer who is struggling at home. As the buildup to the big heist unfolds the two worlds come closer and closer together until the ultimate collision happens.

This movie is directed by Michael Mann (Ali) and stars Robert De Niro (Goodfellas), Al Pacino (Scarface), Val Kilmer (Willow), Jon Voight (Anaconda), Mykelti Williamson (Forest Gump), Ashley Judd (Kiss the Girls), Tom Sizemore (Black Hawk Down), Wes Studi (Deep Rising), Natalie Portman (Leon: The Professional), Ted Levine (Silence of the Lambs) and Dennis Haysbert (Far from Heaven).

This cast is absolutely amazing top to bottom. The writing is also excellent and delivers the backstories to each character to perfection and the dialogue is out of this world. The chemistry of the cast throughout the film worked perfectly and the action scenes are intense and very well done. You find yourself rooting for both sides the entire film. The conclusion to such a huge movie is excellent and fits the film perfectly.

This is an all time classic that is an absolute must see and an easy 10/10. I would strongly recommend seeing this.

This is a brilliant film. While clocking in at a nearly three-hour running time, there isn't a single wasted scene, it is always entertaining and I think it is very rewatchable too. The cinematography, locations and scenery are superb, and the film's atmosphere and pace are also terrific. The story is plausible and beautifully structured with a breathtaking sequence towards the middle of the film, and there are a lot of memorable quotes. Heat is also brilliantly directed by Michael Mann and the acting of Robert DeNiro and Al Pacino is exemplary. So all in all, brilliant and absolutely worth it. 10/10 Bethany Cox

One of the most amazing things about Heat is the scale of the film; it is nearly three hours long and packed to bursting with mind-blowing visuals. It seems one of Michael Mann's main priorities was to make a film with a dreamlike feel to it, to portray LA as a dusty oil-painting on which complex characters could play out their lives. One of the main themes is the similarity of the career criminal and the street-wise cop. It is fascinating to find yourself really feeling for DeNiro's tragic bank-robber, a man of philosophical merit who realises he's stuck in a life of crime he doesn't want to lead. Pacino's cop is less easy to sympathise with, but he too leads an in-escapable life of guns and crime. What really stands out is the climax. On the whole, Heat has to be the best cops n' robbers film ever made, indeed, one of the best films. An epic, wonderful, sad, adrenaline-fuelled exercise in scale and grandeur.

Sound like a bold statement? Devotees of classic cops and robbers flicks of old will no doubt take exception, but I believe that Michael Mann achieved some measure of perfection with Heat. To break this three-hour gem of a film down to its core, this is a film about men - strong men - and the supporting role that he women of the film have on them for better or worse. Take Pacino as good cop Vincent Hanna: one of the most intense characterizations of the tragic hero that I have ever witnessed, as he laments the demise of his third marriage to a pill-junkie wife. A fact which he discusses with his archnemesis (De Niro) in what history will regard as one of the most frenetic scenes in the history of film. The dialogue in this scene (at the very end of the first tape, if you own the VHS version) sets up the last half of the film beautifully, as our two rivals come to the joint realization that they have no hand in choosing the paths that will lead them to their ultimate confrontation: their very natures so define their respective actions that any attempt to do otherwise would simply be a waste of time. While I have heard others (who I am ashamed at times to call close friends) say that Heat drags in places, I will concede that there are moments in the film that require more than the cursory attention that they give to the movie they happen to be watching at any given time (I'm sorry not every director is Jerry Bruckheimer), there are poignant developments of character in Heat that many would casually disregard. I am thinking of the interaction between the ex-con who finds conditional employment in a diner with an opportunistic scum of a boss, and whose girlfriend is so proud of him for swallowing his pride and not simply giving the sonofabitch a good pummeling. But there is a catharsis that I felt for that same ex-con when De Niro's character presents him with the opportunity to take just one more score, for old time's sake. Who doesn't feel for this guy - this minor character in a film with big-time heavyweights who gets to shine for a few brief moments. That's what Heat is really: a series of brief moments, some touching, others traumatic, and still others incredibly horrifying in the feelings that they inspire in the romantic who, like me sees not black or white portrayals of protagonist and villain, but a montage of grays that combine to create a vivid spectrum of film characterization that could not be found in hundreds of films combined. One of my five favorite films of all time, Heat is a cinematic banquet of intense imagery and pulse-pounding action. Come hungry.

I really believe this is one the great crime movies of all time. It has some drawbacks that wouldn't make me recommend this for family viewing - tons of f- words by Al Pacino and a few bloody scenes, but as far as a fascinating crime story: wow!

This movie made modern-day history because it was the first time two of the great actors of this generation - Pacino and Robert De Niro - finally acted together in the same film. Those two didn't disappoint, either. They were great to watch and one of the huge highlights of the film, to me, was when they faced each other in a simple conversation over a cup of coffee. That conversation has always fascinated me, no matter how many times I've heard it. It was such a "landmark" scene that It's even the subject of a short documentary on the special-edition DVD.

As with the conversation scene, the shootout segment in the streets of Los Angeles still astounds me no matter how many times I see it. The other action scenes are intense and memorable, too, and the cast in here is deep. This isn't just Pacino and De Niro. It's Val Kilmer, Ashley Judd, Jon Voight, Diana Venora, Natlie Portman, Tom Sizemore, Amy Brenamann, Wes Studi, Ted Levine, Mykelti Williamson, on and on.

Put that fabulous cast under Michael Mann, one of the best directors in business, add a great soundtrack and interesting camera-work and you have a great film. At three hours long, it never bores one and at same time, doesn't overdo the action, either. I read one critic criticize this film because of the time taken to examine the personal lives of the main characters, but you can't have three hours of nothing but action. The only scene I felt went on a bit too long was the ending chase at the airport, but that's nitpicking considering the film as a whole.

This is just one of those movies where a great cast and director live up to their billing.