All the squealing tires, flying bullets and falling bodies cannot save Heat from drowning in its own banalities ...
Heat (1995)
Tomatometer
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Reviews Counted:55
Fresh:48
Rotten:7
Average Rating:7.7/10
Runtime: 4 hrs 17 mins
Genre: Dramas
Synopsis: "Never have anything in your life you can't walk out on in thirty seconds..." is the motto of expert thief Neil McCauley (De Niro). After his next break-in, McCauley plans to retire from his outlaw... "Never have anything in your life you can't walk out on in thirty seconds..." is the motto of expert thief Neil McCauley (De Niro). After his next break-in, McCauley plans to retire from his outlaw life and move to New Zealand. However, Vincent Hanna (Pacino), a Los Angeles police detective, obsessively tracks McCauley's gang of thieves, who have left three security guards dead in an armored truck robbery. As the detective gets closer to tracking them down, the crooks plan another big heist, this time at a bank. Hanna soon gets a lead that helps him determine the identity of the criminal mastermind who engineered the thefts, and discovers McCauley is a man as driven and relentless as the detective himself. Although he doesn't have enough evidence against the thief to make an arrest, Hanna convinces McCauley to join him for coffee, at which point the two engage in casual conversation and discover that their lives are remarkably similar. However, each man makes it clear he'll kill the other if necessary. Though they know the police are closing in on them, McCauley and his men risk going through with the bank job. A violent shoot-out and car chase result, but the criminals escape. Hanna continues to pursue them unceasingly, at the expense of his already-crumbling marriage. Eventually Hanna and McCauley face each other for the last time in a thrilling showdown at the Los Angeles airport. With HEAT, director Michael Mann achieves the nearly impossible task of making three hours go by in a flash with his use of the hand-held camera for action scenes and a moody score that echoes the characters' emotions. Val Kilmer, Ashley Judd, and others play characters that are also crucial to the plot, but never distract from the central conflict between McCauley and Hanna. The acting is outstanding, the story is riveting and the action scenes are breathtaking. Both De Niro and Pacino are perfect as two men driven to sacrifice nearly everything for their respective professions. With edge-of-your-seat action and insightful drama, HEAT is a crime film at its most intense and personal. [More]
Starring: Robert De Niro, Al Pacino, Val Kilmer, Tom Sizemore
Starring: Robert De Niro, Al Pacino, Val Kilmer, Tom Sizemore, Jon Voight, Diane Venora, Amy Brenneman, Ashley Judd, Mykelti Williamson, Wes Studi, Ted Levine, Natalie Portman
Director: Michael Mann
Director: Michael Mann
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Reviews for Heat
There isn't much to recommend this movie until Pacino and De Niro finally share the first of their two scenes together.
As Heat progresses, its sensational looks pale beside storytelling weaknesses that expose the more soulless aspects of this cat-and-mouse crime tale.
As the credits finally rolled, someone behind me muttered, "That was so long, DeNiro could have gone to prison in the first scene and finished his sentence before the movie was over."
You can't tell what's important and what isn't, and some may mistake the movie's incoherence for profundity.
Heat runs (sometime crawls) 2:51, but there is really only enough material for two hours.
It's a gorgeous valentine to its three leads -- neither Pacino, De Niro nor Los Angeles has ever looked better -- that backs up its style with real substance.
Quite rightly, this confirmed Mann as one of Hollywood's smartest, most stylish and emotionally articulate directors.
The cop/ crime stuff that makes up the bulk of the movie is well thought out and well directed.
As notable as the cinematography is De Niro's performance, which helps you remember why he became a legend in the first place.
... while the sometimes hard-to-follow script often demands too much of the viewer, this film is one that's truly worth seeing.
It is a remarkably powerful, entertaining and invigorating piece of cinema that hits on more levels than seemingly possible.
As with his other works, [Mann] binds sound, music and pictures into one hypnotic triaxial cable and plugs it right into your brain. He makes this almost-three-hour experience practically glide by.
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September 04, 2007:
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May 18, 2007:
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Fans of "The Godfather Part 2" and "Heat" may want to read this: Looks like Al Pacino and Robert De Niro are about to reunite to make another crime thriller.... More...
| Tomatometer Percentage | Movie |
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