Monday, April 27, 2009

Review: Michael Mann's Heat


Today, I finally got a chance to watch another of my movie annuals: 1995's Heat by director Michael Mann. It may be cheating to recycle (see below) an old customer review I wrote in 2002 for Amazon of the previous barebones DVD, but let's say I'm going more green. I don't know why I watch it during the Spring, but there it is. As I write this post, I even have Heat's closing musical piece, Moby's God Moving Over the Face of the Waters, playing on the computer. Okay... I'm obsessing.

Perhaps, Mann's Best

Writer-Director Michael Mann's 1995 Los Angeles crime saga, Heat, is perhaps his best film work. Without having to worry about niggling facts and real timelines to get in the way (and cause critics to point them out) like in later films (Ali or The Insider), this creative character-driven piece of moviemaking mesmerizes through great lead and ensemble performances, direction, and storytelling. All three aspects work wonderfully in this tale of two opposing "crews" who go up against each other on the streets of L.A.: a professional group of criminals led by master thief Neil MacCauley (Robert DeNiro) and LAPD's elite Metro Robbery/Homicide lead by Lt. Vincent Hanna (Al Pacino).

This post has been updated and relocated to my current blog, found here.

4 comments:

  1. And saying it's Mann's best is saying something. He's one of my favorite filmmakers, has been since 'Manhunter' - the first and best version. Good going, Michael, now I'm jonesing for a Mann film.

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  2. Well, then you're like me. And, I can't wait until July 1st for Public Enemies.

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  3. That should be a dandy all right. Interesting casting.

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  4. Going green by resurrecting old writing, huh? :-) I do it too.

    Heat is in my movie collection. I haven't watched it in more than a year. Maybe it's time to pull it out.

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