Heat Chad'z rating: **1/2 (out of 4 = OK) 1995, R, 171 minutes [2 hours, 51 minutes] [crime/thriller] Starring: Al Pacino (Detective Vincent Hanna), Robert De Niro (Neil McCauley), Val Kilmer (Chris Shiherlis), Jon Voight (Nate), produced by Art Linson, Michael Mann, written and directed by Michael Mann.
It's a shame "Heat" is not the fantastic crime movie you'd expect it to be. It has so much potential to be an epic and exciting film, especially considering the all-star cast and the basic plot. But this is where the problem lies: the film is a bit too epic for its own good as it makes the common mistake of trying to do too many things at the same time.
The setting is present-day Los Angeles and the story starts off on in an interesting way as we see a group of well organized criminals rob an armored van, not for cash, but for stocks and bonds. But things never go according to plan in crime films and when one of the thieves slips up, the result is three unnecessary deaths.
Quick on the scene is Detective Vincent Hanna (Pacino), your typical movie 'tect who is able to piece together the scene and figure out what happened. Meanwhile, the criminals, as lead by Neil McCauley (De Niro) and Chris Shiherlis (Kilmer), are not happy with the situation which continues to go sour for them when the one who slipped up escapes. At this time the film delves deeper into the technical aspects of McCauley's mob and Hanna's investigation, but here is where the major flaws start to occur as the storytelling becomes much too technical (even a lover of the crime genre like me could not follow it entirely), and sub-plots involving the main characters' personal lives are emphasized much more than necessary.
Filmmakers often use confusion as a cop-out to make a story seem epic and more intelligent than it actually is. Mann's screenplay does this to some extent as we continue to follow Hanna and McCauley and learn about their plans, but it doesn't seem like anything is leading to anything else. And this is symbolic of the film overall - even though details abound, they don't seem to have much relevance because of a lack of a backstory. Everything always seems to be one step ahead of comprehension, and when you do catch up it doesn't seem to pay off.
Humanism is really the center of all crime movies, because without well-developed and interesting characters, it's hard to sympathize with them and become involved in the suspense. Pacino and De Niro both give good performances but their characters seem like they're just going through the motions. For example, Hanna and his wife and stepdaughter are experiencing a painful time in their relationship because he's so obsessed with his job he can't concentrate on anything else (almost the exact same situation occurs with Shiherlis and his family). Also, McCauley meets a woman whom he falls for immediately, but there isn't much chemistry nor much definition to their relationship. Do I have to tell you all of these sub-plots will become crucial elements at one time or another?
The central plot of the film has something to do with McCauley's efforts to steal bonds and find the man whose information might be used against him. However, this is really just a means of setting up a game of cat-and-mouse between Hanna and McCauley on a grand scale. In retrospect, it's interesting how common Hollywood elements like melodrama and action sequences come into play as they do.
Although the story often seems to be missing something, it still manages to be at least interesting throughout. Many individual scenes themselves are quite suspenseful and intelligent, especially one involving a conversation between Hanna and McCauley which works as a violent brawl of words and diction. The two know they are enemies but there is a subtle understanding that each finds the other to be the most challenging opponent they've ever faced. Yet each believes he is superior and warns the other not to get in his way.
Even if "Heat" fails in some ways as a realistic, detailed crime story (the ending proves this), it still works in other ways as a Hollywood thriller (the ending proves this). At times I was excited, other times I was bored, but throughout it all I could see a much better film hidden behind the collage that is this film.
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e-mail: ChadPolenz@aol.com (C) 1997 ChadPolenz
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