Heat [DVD]

Two timeless Hollywood icons facing off. Pretty good acting and a decent plot / script.

Exceptional.

HEAT [1995 / 2017] [Director’s Definitive Edition] [2 Blu-ray Discs] Michael Mann Made His Coolest Film Ever! Michael Mann Shows Two Hollywood Heavyweights Burns As Brightly As Ever!Oscar winners Al Pacino and Robert De Niro both drive one of the most powerful and complex crime dramas of all time and four-time Oscar nominees Michael Mann's classic ‘HEAT’ [1995], and arriving in an all-new Director's Definitive Edition from Twentieth Century Fox Home Entertainment.In the wake of a precision heist of an armoured van, the crew of a fierce, professional thief [Robert De Niro] and an obsessively driven LAPD detective [Al Pacino] are locked in deadly opposition as they vector towards each other in Mann's dazzling, twilight vision of Los Angeles. As the stakes escalate and their lives begin to unravel, the crew initiates it’s most dangerous and complex heist.Taking inspiration from the late Chicago police detective Chuck Adamson, who killed the actual Neil McCauley in a shootout in 1963. ‘HEAT’ was the culmination of years of research by Michael Mann, resulting in its depth and range of characters and choreography of action. With its epic scale and stunning performances from Al Pacino, Robert De Niro, Val Kilmer, Tom Sizemore, Ashley Judd, Amy Brenneman, Diane Venora, Natalie Portman and Jon Voight. ‘HEAT’ is as incendiary as it was 20 years ago. ‘HEAT’ sizzles with hard-hitting action and gripping suspense! The Blu-ray release has been sourced from a NEW 4K Re-mastered negative of the film, supervised by director Michael Mann.FILM FACT: To make the long shootout more realistic they hired British ex-Special Air Service Special Forces sergeant Andy McNab as a technical weapons trainer and adviser. Andy McNab designed a weapons training curriculum to train the actors for three months using live ammunition before shooting with blanks for the actual take and worked with training them for the bank robbery. Principal photography for ‘HEAT’ lasted 107 days. All of the shooting was done on location, Michael Mann deciding not to use a soundstage.Cast: Al Pacino, Robert De Niro, Val Kilmer, Jon Voight, Tom Sizemore, Diane Venora, Amy Brenneman, Ashley Judd, Mykelti Williamson, Wes Studi, Ted Levine, Dennis Haysbert, William Fichtner, Natalie Portman, Tom Noonan, Kevin Gage, Hank Azaria, Susan Traylor, Kim Staunton, Danny Trejo, Henry Rollins, Jerry Trimble, Martin Ferrero, Ricky Harris, Tone-Lõc, Begonya Plaza, Hazelle Goodman, Ray Buktenica, Jeremy Piven, Xander Berkeley, Rick Avery, Brad Baldridge, Andrew Camuccio, Brian Camuccio, Max Daniels, Vince Deadrick Jr., Charles Duke, Thomas Elfmont, Kenny Endoso, Kimberly Flynn, Steven Ford, Farrah Forke, Hannes Fritsch, Amanda Graves, Emily Graves, Niki Harris, Ted Harvey, Patricia Healy, Paul Herman, Cindy Katz, Brian Libby, Bill McIntosh, Dan Martin, Rick Marzan, Terry Miller, Paul Moyer, Daniel O'Haco, Mario Roberts, Phillip Robinson, Thomas Rosales Jr., Rainell Saunders, Kai Soremekun, Rey Verdugo, Wendy L. Walsh, Yvonne Zima, Monica Lee Bellais (uncredited), Peter Blackwell (uncredited), Trevor Coppola (uncredited), Bud Cort (uncredited), Michele Edison (uncredited), Mick Gould (uncredited), Mary Kircher (uncredited), David Koseruba (uncredited), Darin Mangan (uncredited), Melissa S. Markess (uncredited), Darren Melton (uncredited), Robert Miranda (uncredited), Manny Perry (uncredited), Iva Franks Singer (uncredited), Jimmy Star (uncredited), Gloria Koehn Straube (uncredited), Viviane Vives (uncredited) and Tim Werner (uncredited)Director: Michael MannProducers: Arnon Milchan, Art Linson, Gusmano Cesaretti, Kathleen M. Shea, Michael Mann and Pieter Jan BruggeScreenplay: Michael MannComposer: Elliot GoldenthalCinematography: Dante Spinotti, A.I.C. (Director of Photography)Image Resolution: 1080p [Technicolor]Aspect Ratio: 2.39:1 [Anamorphic]Audio: English: 5.1 DTS-HD Master Audio, French: 5.1 DTS-HD, Spanish [Castilian], German: 5.1 DTS-HD, Português: 5.1 DTS-HD, English: 2.0 Dolby Digital Stereo, Spanish: 2.0 Audio Commentary, French: 2.0 Audio Commentary and German: 2.0 Audio CommentarySubtitles: English SDH, Spanish, French, Spanish [Castilian], Danish, Dutch, Finnish, German, Norwegian, Português [Brazilian], Swedish, Russian, Chinese, Korean, Mandarin, Português, Romanian and HindiRunning Time: 170 minutesRegion: All RegionsNumber of discs: 2Studio: 20th Century Fox Home Entertainment / Regency Enterprises / Warner Bros. / Forward PassAndrew’s Blu-ray Review: ‘HEAT’ [1995] is perhaps the ultimate guy bonding type film. Directed by Michael Mann, the film tells the story of two not-so-very-different men. One, an LAPD homicide detective named Lt. Vincent Hanna [Al Pacino], is so consumed by his work that he is failing his third marriage and prowls the streets of Los Angeles like a wolf, stalking those who would do wrong, while his personal life falls into ruin. The other, a professional criminal named Neil McCauley [Robert De Niro] who is simply doing what he knows best, armed robbery and he also lives a lonely existence, making no personal connections that he couldn’t walk out on at a moment’s notice. Neil McCauley and his crew are after one last score a bank heist that could land them more than $12 million. As these two hardened pros go about their business, they gradually become aware of one another predator and prey and each begins to gain a certain respect for the other. But both also know that they’re on a collision course: In the end, only one will be left standing.There are the questions posed by Heat, which uses the predator-versus-prey narrative of expert thief Neil McCauley [Robert De Niro] outrunning dogged Lt. Vincent Hanna [Al Pacino] to explore these remarkably similar archetypes of lone wolf masculinity. Neil McCauley is introspective, self-contained in his “alone but not lonely” universe, a career criminal with a talent for big money scores. He has an allegiance and understanding with his crew, but no room in his life for any lasting connection. As he says repeatedly, he refuses attachment to anything he’s unwilling to walk out on if he feels the heat around the corner.Vincent Hanna, on the other hand, is explosive and spontaneous. His interrogation of a suspect involves him bursting into song, then musing whether the suspect fell in love last night, then shrieking, “Gimme all you got! Gimme all you got!” He’s hungry for the chase and working all hours of day and night while his third wife Justine [Diane Venora] passes him “on the downward slope of a marriage.” Robert De Niro may have the better role, a tragic protagonist whose moral values get pushed to their limit, whereas Al Pacino gets all the best dialogue. But these characters don’t know how to do anything else, and don’t much want to either. It’s a sentiment that lies in the tradition of American individualists. There’s something comforting about applying knowledge to the point where it becomes instinct, and if these guys weren’t cops or robbers we could admire them the way we admire the mechanic who fixes our car when it’s broken down. As Lt. Vincent Hanna and Neil McCauley prove time and again, unless you happen to be working with them and speaking their language.Michael Mann's masterpiece is a 170 minutes crime epic, a love/hate letter the city of Los Angeles, a scathing Balzacian and literary adjective view of a society corrupt from top to bottom, and a vision of the universe as a space contested over by the fractious armies of crime and the law. Opening with a spectacular armoured-car robbery that degenerates into mass murder, and the film ‘HEAT’ follows the consequences of the raid, the plans for its successor, the response of the police, led by detective Vincent Hanna and the consequences of it all for wives, families, girlfriends and innocent bystanders.The cops and the crooks are both constituted like armies, with generals, ranks and special skills assigned and doppelgangers in the opposing team. Michael Mann is less interested in moral questions than in professionalism as a code worth adhering to, no matter which side of the law one finds oneself on. Michael Mann's equal sympathies for both sides are always evident and say he also loves Los Angeles at night, and rarely has it been evoked as beautifully as it is here, as does the film respect the same genre scenario to great effect.HEAT MUSIC TRACK LISTINGALWAYS FOREVER NOW (Music by Passengers) [Performed by Passengers]LATE EVENING IN JERSEY (Written by Brian Eno) [Performed by Brian Eno]LAST NITE (Written by Terje Rypdal) [Performed by Terje Rypdal and The Chasers]FORCE MARKER (Written by Brian Eno) [Performed by Brian Eno]MYSTERY MAN (Written by Terje Rypdal) [Performed by Terje Rypdal]NEW DAWN FADES (Written by Ian Curtis, Peter Hook, Bernard Sumner and Stephen Morris) [Performed by Moby]GOD MOVING OVER THE FACE OF THE WATERS (Written by Moby) [Performed by Moby]THE MONKEY KING (Written by William Orbit) [Performed by William Orbit]THE LAST LAGOON (Written by William Orbit) [Performed by William Orbit]GRINGATCHO DEMENTO (Written by William Orbit and Cleo Torez) [Performed by William Orbit]THE MIGHTY LIMPOPO Written by William Orbit) [Performed by William Orbit]ULTRAMARINE (Written by Michael Brook) [Performed by Michael Brook]ARAB AGONY (Written by Timothy Booth), Lawrence Gott, James Glennie and Brian Eno) [Performed by James]LA BAS: SONG OF THE DROWNED (Written by Lisa Gerrard) [Performed by Lisa Gerrard]CELON (Written by Lisa Gerrard) [Performed by Lisa Gerrard]GLORADIN (Written by Lisa Gerrard) [Performed by Lisa Gerrard]IN NOVEMBER (Written by David Darling) [Performed by David Darling]BLACK CLOUD (Written by Steve Roach and Elmar Schulte) [Performed by Solitaire]ARMENIA (Written by Blixa Bargeld, Mark Chung, Alexander Hacke, Jon Caffery, Frank Strauss and Andrew Chudy) [Performed by Einstürzende Neubauten]THE THRILL IS GONE (Written by Roy Hawkins and Rick Darnell) [Performed by B.B. King]WILL GAINES (Written by Eric Clapton) [Performed by Eric Clapton]BY THE TIME I GET TO PHOENIX (Written by Jimmy Webb)TOP O’ THE MORNING TO YA (Written by Eric Schrod, Leon Demant and Willie Dixon) [Performed by House of Pain]CONCERTO FOR VIOLONCELLO AND ORCHESTRA (Written by György Ligeti) [Performed by Jean-Guihen Queyras and The Ensemble InterContemporain] [Conducted by Pierre Boulez]GET UP TO THIS (Written by Derrick Gumbus and Loren Chaney) [Performed by New World Beat]STEEL CELLO LAMENT (Written by Elliot Goldenthal) [Performed by Elliot Goldenthal]Blu-ray Image Quality – 20th Century Fox’s new Blu-ray disc gives us the ultimate and brilliant 1080p image presentation and especially combined with a spectacular 2.39:1 aspect ratio, and has been remastered from a brand new 4K scan and restoration supervised by Michael Mann himself, and definitely improves over the upon Warner Bros. 2009 Blu-ray image in virtually every bit as good. Something that is obvious right from the start is that the colour timing is much improved and is much more richly saturated now and much more natural also, yet still have that just slightly desaturated look that is true to this films image quality. The night sky and shadows are more truly black in some scenes now. Overall image detail exhibits greater refinement, crisp yet clean looking even given the occasional optical softness and the film was shot with anamorphic lenses, and the grain texture is more subtle and refined. This is a very film-like image, with not a hint of digital filtering. I’d love to see how an actual 4K Ultra HD release could improve upon this and it’s too bad there isn’t one. Nevertheless, this is a significant step up visual upgrade.Blu-ray Audio Quality – 20th Century Fox’s new Blu-ray disc, previously offered us a 5.1 Dolby TrueHD mix, but this new edition has instead presented us with a 5.1 DTS-HD Master Audio presentations. The new mix retains the smooth and natural staging of the previous mix, which turns very lively and dramatic in the action and atmospheric scenes, and adds a bit more oomph and sounds much fuller and even more engrossing, which gives the dramatic staging a bit more ambience sound experience. But when it comes to the dialogue scenes when they talk face to face, slightly annoyed me as they talked so quiet I had to crank the sound up a great deal. But when it comes to the surround sound activity it is very satisfying, with a nice mix, and very good all round speaker activity, especially near the end of the film when Al Pacino and Robert De Niro have the cat and mouse shoot out at the airport was totally awesome when the planes come into land, all the speakers are in full swing and you feel the planes are landing in your lounge, it is that realistic and the result is a highly immersive audio presentation and definitely gets a five star rating.Blu-ray Special Features and Extras:Audio Commentary by director Michael Mann: Here Michael man goes straight into talking about the film, and informs us about the first scene we view, which was the Blue line of the Los Angeles MTA [Los Angeles Metro Rail system] and was not open to the public when they shot that scene, and what we witness is actually the end of the line and it was shot two weeks before the official opening of the line. Michael Mann also says that when we start to see the main characters, we get to see an interacting of each character as the film builds up and of course how eventually we see how it all comes together by the end of the film. When we start to see all the criminals coming together at the start of the film, Michael explains that it is all based on real life criminals and their activities. When we first see Jon Voight, Michael mentions why he is called Nate, which relates to a character in the film ‘THIEF’ who was called Nate Grossman and the character of Sam Grossman was based on Nathan Grossman, the grandfather of a friend of Michael Mann, and is homage to someone who passed away a very long time ago. Michael Mann goes into great detail about all the main characters we get to view as the film progresses and also mentions that his daughter got to interview all the real wives of the criminals that have been portrayed in this film and again Michael Mann slowly reveals a much more in-depth histrionics towards all the main characters in the film to make them sound more realistic, even though they are portraying the real people who the film is based on. Michael also goes into great detail about the scene with local police informer and Michael says they never in real life tell the truth, and the scene with Al Pacino being very intimidating, does it to throw the police informer off balance, so it keeps them in check and hopefully will not have the police come back to interrogate them again, to take the heat off. When you see Al Pacino in the helicopter flying over nigh time in Los Angeles seeking out Robert De Niro on the highway, well Michael Mann states that shots of all the lights looks beautiful, well with one shot of inside the helicopter you see a small TV screen Al Pacino is looking at, well Michael informs us that this technology was perfected for the Vietnam War and is called a “FLIR” and means Forward Looking Infrared cameras for night time viewing and is typically used on military and civilian aircraft, use a thermographic camera that senses infrared radiation. I personally found Michael Mann’s audio commentary slightly monotonous and boring, especially half way through the film and near the end of the film with the final shootout with Al Pacino and Robert Di Nero where Michael Mann just states the obvious what we are viewing, in thinking we cannot work out for ourselves what is going on in certain scenes we are viewing. I just wish Michael Mann would stop talking for a while and gather his thoughts and speak again when something more interesting appears in the film that he can divulge some more interesting information about the film and the reason he shot a particular scene or the concept of what his audiences wanted to view. Personally I would have to only give a two star rating for this Michael Mann audio commentary.Special Feature: Filmmaker Panels: Here we get to view two very interesting individual special features and they are as follows:01. 2016 Academy of Motion Pictures and Sciences Panel [2016] [1080p] [1.78:1] [63:00] The Academy’s Samuel Goldwyn Theater was rocked with the sounds of applause and high-octane action on 7th September, 2016 when the cast and crew of the epic crime film ‘HEAT’ were reunited for a look at the making of this Los Angeles film milestone and they had just all viewed the film ‘HEAT’ and thirteen people are welcomed onto the stage who were all involved with the film and is moderated by Christopher Nolan [Director] who was greeted by a very enthusiastic sold-out crowd. I have no idea why they invited Robert De Niro, as he is the most boring person in the world and most the time he just sits there looking like he wished he had not been invited as he is useless. Unfortunately Val Kilmer had an infected swollen tongue and he had a terrible job trying to speak or to be understood and he sounded like the cartoon character Donald Duck. All in all this was a fascinating watch and very informative, especially from the guests on the stage, but sadly out of the twelve guests on the stage, sadly there were one or two of them did not get asked any questions, which is a shame. But despite this, it was a really interesting and fascinating session. Contributors include: Al Pacino [Actor], Robert De Niro [Actor], Michael Mann [Writer/Director/Producer], Amy Brenneman [Actress], Pieter Jan Brugge [Dutch Film Producer], William Goldenberg [Editor], Val Kilmer [Actor], Art Linson [Producer], Andy Nelson [Re-recording Mixer], Dante Spinotti, A.I.C. [Italian Cinematographer], Diane Venora [Actress] and Mykelti Williamson [Actor].02. 2015 Toronto International Film Festival [2015] [1080p] [1.78:1] [30:27]. One of the most ground-breaking crime dramas of its time, the film ‘HEAT’ celebrated its 20th anniversary at the Toronto International Film Festival with a screening of the film in a new 35mm print followed by a Q&A session with the director Michael Mann [Writer/Director/Producer], and was moderated by Jesse Wente. Michael Mann talks about how the film came about, which related to a real life crime incident in 1963 via one of Michael Mann’s friend Chuck Adamson [Former Chicago Police Officer] about the story of the notorious Neil McCauley criminal. In 1963, detective Chuck Adamson sat down in a Chicago coffee shop with a convicted bank robber. Rail thin and with careworn features, career criminal Neil McCauley had spent some 25 of his 49 years in and out of prison for a string of crimes ranging from theft to murder. But in spite of his repeated brushes with the law, Neil McCauley had no intention of going straight and with meeting with Michael Mann and Chuck Adamson, started the ball rolling that helped to bring us the awesome film ‘HEAT.’ Although this special feature is just over 30 minutes, it sure packs a lot fascinating information about the making of the film and interesting anecdotes from Michael Mann and is well worth viewing.Special Feature: The Making of ‘HEAT’ [2005] [1080i] [1.37:1] [59:12] Here we have the original documentary which is from the original inferior DVD, and it is split into three separate small documentaries on their own merit and they are TRUE CRIME; CRIME STORIES and INTO THE FIRE. A lot of ground is covered in this thorough and fascinating documentary about the making of the film ‘HEAT.’ The origin and fruition of the story and film is explained in great detail, as well as the overall love shared for this project by everyone involved through the many interviews with cast and crew members and we also get to view a plethora of film clips from the film ‘HEAT.’ I really enjoy these kinds of making-of features, so this was right up my alley. Contributors include: Michael Mann [Writer/Director/Producer], Chuck Adamson [Former Chicago Police Officer], Richard Lindberg [Author/Chicago Historian], Dennis Farina [Actor/Former Chicago Police Officer], Al Pacino [Actor/Vincent Hanna], Tom Elfmont [Technical Advisor/L.A.P.D.], Rey Verdugo [Technical Advisor/L.A. Sheriff’s Dept.], Jon Voight [Actor/Nate], Robert De Niro [Actor/Neil McCauley] (archive footage), Val Kilmer [Actor/Chris Shiherlis], Edward Bunker [Author: No Beast So Fierce], Dennis Haysbert [Actor/Breedan], Tom Sizemore [Actor/Michael Cheritto], Michael Waxman [First Assistant Director], Art Linson [Producer], Amy Brenneman [Actress/Eady], Mykelti Williamson [Actor/Drucker], Ami Canaan Mann [Second Unit Director], Bonnie Timmermann [Casting Director], Tom Noonan [Actor/Kelso], Pieter Jan Brugge [Dutch Film Producer], Dante Spinotti, A.I.C. [Italian Cinematographer], Ashley Judd [Actress/Charlene Shiherlis], Diane Venora [Actress/Justine Hanna], Tom Elfmont [Technical Advisor/L.A.P.D.], Andy McNab [Technical Weapons Trainer], Danny Trejo [Actor/Trejo], Michael "Mick" Gould [Technical Weapons Trainer], Neil Spisak [Film Production Designer], Chris Jenkins [Sound Mixer Engineer], Elliot Goldenthal [American Composer] and Moby [American Musician].Special Feature: Pacino and De Niro: The Conversation [2005] [1080i] [1.37:1] [9:59] Here we take a closer look at the diner scene that features the two leading male actors. The ghastly pan-and-scan released version of the film ‘HEAT’ that was originally released on VHS back in the 1990s led some people to think the actors were filmed separately and did not appear together onscreen in this restaurant scene, but thankfully those days of visually butchered films are long gone and this time Michael Mann explains how they filmed that very intense scene and both actors their performance without a rehearsal, as they felt it would be much more natural performance and it is definitely a tour de force performance. Contributors include: Jon Voight [Actor/Nate], Pieter Jan Brugge [Dutch Film Producer], Michael Mann [Writer/Director/Producer], Robert De Niro [Actor/Neil McCauley] (archive footage), Art Linson [Producer], James Wolcott [American Film Critic/Journalist], Al Pacino [Actor/Vincent Hanna], Ashley Judd [Actress/Charlene Shiherlis], Tom Sizemore [Actor/Michael Cheritto] and Dante Spinotti, A.I.C. [Italian Cinematographer].Special Feature: HEAT: Return to the Scene of the Crime [2005] [1080p] [1.78:1] [12:05] Here we take a visit to the Los Angeles locations used in the film ‘HEAT.’ Location manager Janice Polley and associate producer Gusmano Cesaretti helm this absorbing feature in which they discuss the photography and locales that Michael Mann utilised in the film. The pair gushes over Michael Mann's talent, but they also touch on plenty of topics that aren't explored elsewhere on this Blu-ray disc. What was interesting is that they go back to certain locations that were pivotal to the film and why they were used, which got the green light from Michael Mann and with each location we get clips from the film that relates to the modern day locations, but of course a lot of the locations in Los Angeles have changed dramatically since 1995. One aspect of a certain location that I found interesting, where they filmed the final showdown shoot out at the airport, which had to be filmed at midnight and they say what they did could not be filmed today, as there are too many safety issues, especially where Robert De Niro had to run in front of a Jumbo jet that had just landed. Contributors include: Janice Polley [Location Manager/Scout], Gusmano Cesaretti [Associate Producer], Jayne Mazzochi [Resident] and Lisa Glucksmann [Restaurant Worker].Special Feature: Additional Footage: Deleted Scenes [2005] [480p] [1.37:1] [9:44] Here we get to view a total of 11 deleted scenes, and they are as follows: SCENE 5: SEASON’S STARTING EARLY; SCENE 42: NICEST GUY ON THE BLOCK; SCENE 55: ALBERT AND HANNA [ALTERNATE TAKE]; SCENE 62: SHAKEDOWN; SCENE 76: MURDER IN C-BLOCK; SCENE 96A: LET’S DAMCE; SCENE 125: LATE ARIVAL; SCENE 148/147: WHERE’S ANNA; SCENE 177B: DOUBLE THE WORST TROUBLE; SCENE 191: NATE DELIVERS and SCENE 204A: NO RESPONSE. When viewed in the context of the finished product, they offer a nice lesson into how editing shapes a film of this calibre and how little things can have a big impact. Note that the temporary music was used, so they don’t reflect the final score for those scenes, had they been included. As usual, you can either watch each one individually or Play All.Theatrical Trailers [2005 [1080i] [1.37:1] [6:48] Here you get to view three excellent and dramatic Original Theatrical Trailers, that were entitled as follows: SURPRISE OF A LIFETIME; TWO ACTORS COLLIDE and CLOSING IN. As usual, you can either watch each trailer separately or Play All.Finally, if you haven’t picked up ‘HEAT’ before, or you feel you want to upgrade your inferior DVD, this is a totally worthwhile purchase, especially since you can find it very cheap now in lots of outlets. I’ve said it before and it bears repeating: Heat is just a great film that I can’t speak of more highly. I wish this new edition was available in 4K Ultra HD, but even so the restoration is impressive and the hour of added bonus content is a nice treat. If you’ve never seen Heat before, this is absolutely the version you want to buy on Blu-ray. If you’re already a fan and you have the previous edition, my advice is to sell it and upgrade immediately, as it is even more worthwhile upgrading this brilliant action packed film, even for those who have the earlier Blu-ray release. Very Highly Recommended!Andrew C. Miller – Your Ultimate No.1 Film AficionadoLe Cinema ParadisoUnited Kingdom

As we all know, the film Righteous Kill wasn't the first time we have had two godlike actors together. True, Al Pacino and Robert De Niro were both in The Godfather Part II, but they never appeared together onscreen. But here, we have them together onscreen for the first time, even though it's only ten minutes total. But this isn't the only thing that makes Heat so special.This is certainly one of Michael Mann's most extraordinary films, along with Last Of The Mohicans and Collateral. It's more of a psychological experience (with some operatic touches in the story) when you think about it. Vincent Hanna (Pacino) is a hot-headed Detective who is primarily obssessed with his career, which makes his personal life even more of a living hell. Neil McCauley (De Niro), on the other hand, is a calm professional thief who strictly believes in one rule: "Don't let yourself get attached to anything you are not willing to walk out on in 30 seconds flat if you feel the heat around the corner." That is, until a young woman comes into his life. These two figures of undeniable differences collide into what becomes an official operatic tragedy.This is a complete work of art. It's just as epic as the Godfather saga (excluding the length). I love how all the sub-plots are connected with each other, and how we get to understand many of the supporting characters. I especially love the shots of Los Angeles: the scenes in where the skyscrapers are in the background blend in almost perfectly. I especially love Pacino's sarcastic dialogue ("'Cause she got . . . a GREAT A**!"). I even love Dennis Haysbert's own little storyline, and how it relates to an even harsher reality. And don't think that I'll leave out the famous shootout sequence in the middle of the film, because I'm smarter than that. This sequence has got to be one of the finest action sequences ever put on film. The lack of background music makes it all much more realistic, the assault rifles and their echoed sounds are truly authentic, the bullet holes are spot-on, and even the fear and panic of the L.A. citizens become a welcome addition. By the way, Kilmer's reloading should be something worth watching. Why? Because it's bad@**!We've probably all seen Mann, Pacino, and De Niro's films more than once. This one I'll always rewatch until my DVD wears out. This is a classic film of the 90's. I can safely recommend this film to fans of Pacino, De Niro, Kilmer, Mann, action, suspense, drama, and even Moby.Grade: A

Heat is one of the greatest movies of all time, bringing in two legendary actors playing characters who are two sides of the same coin - one a professional who takes down high-level scores and the other a homicide detective whose life is defined by the hunt for those types of criminals, but both suffering flaws and breakdowns due to their personal codes and the paths they've chosen. The rest of the cast is excellent, and the way the story plays out, with ebbs and flows and highs and lows, quiet contemplative scenes and ear-shattering gunfights, it just mesmerizes you.*I can only give 4-stars for the newer blu-ray release though, because personally I found it to be a bit of a let down. Much like other redone releases, the clarity and sharpness are excellent, and there are some nice new features like a cast/crew interview by Christopher Nolan (no inclusion of the original tv movie "LA Takedown" though, which would have been nice). The problem is that Mann, like others, has re-color timed the movie, so a lot of it has a light blue hue and just looks weird. This is something that plagues a lot of releases (Terminator 2, Batman, Blade Runner, etc) and takes away from the experience. I'm also annoyed at the removal of the line "viscous, aren't I?", as now you just see Hank Azaria's face frozen for a few seconds and again, it feels out of place.*Slight detractions in the cast include Diane Venora as Hanna's ex wife (pretentious to a fault) and Kevin Gage as Waingro, who just doesn't fit with any of Neil's crew or the rest of the characters.