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Finally got to watch this Pierce Brosnan movie. Really enjoyed it and boy they should have got him to show this side of him when he was Bond!
I don't know a film which holds up better than this one. It literally could have been filmed yesterday, it feels like.
I think it has something to do with being alone, as the two main characters are isolated. But there are also some plot points which you don't know why they are doing there. For instance something happens to natellie Portman character, but it's never really explained what the purpose or meaning is, except that he can have a conversation with his wife finally. I guess that's all it is?
This movie reminds me of Grand Theft Auto Vice City, but you can also tell Chris Nolan took a lot of inspiration for the dark Knight. They are very similar feeling movies.
Dinero is kinda playing understated and does well, but Pacino just has a few lines which he shouts and wildly overacts with. I know he has a reputation for this, but why he does it still confuses me.
I kinda wish Val Kilmer had a big role, as he was very interesting, but after a certain point just drives off almost like they forgot to film at ending for him.
Also I really thought John Voight would be the rat. He was acting dodgey the whole movie, it was a nice bit of misdirection. But if only he hadn't told Deniros character where "slick" was staying he would have gotten away with his lady friend and they would have a happy life together now.
He's supposed to be on coke. Pacino explained it in an interview.
I liked Voight's character.
Great film. Love it!
I agree he was very good. It was just a few moments were I felt like I was missing something.
I guess that could be it. Explains how he is able to stay up so late and keep working after hours. I think at one point he has a line like "I'm going home to sleep for a month."
Must have been weird noises coming from a bathroom, but I was really upset.
I think it is because the film is vague and subtle about some things. The message is left to kind of wash over you, especially as that music kicks in with the last line of the film. I think maybe because it's not so explicit, there's less you can point to, perhaps. I kinda got it, and the feeling it leaves you with is quite profound.
Prepare yourselves, as its my favourite film, I indulged myself. It's lengthy.
In a Chicago coffee shop in 1963, detective Chuck Adamson sat down with a convicted bank robber. Cool as ice, Neil McCauley wore his careworn features with a calm attitude perfectly suited to his career criminal lifestyle. The conversation that followed would not only remain part of their lives forever, but it would also become the groundwork for one of the most intense cinematic rivalries in crime-thriller history.
The impact that Michael Mann's Heat has had on modern crime cinema cannot be underestimated or overstated. Greeted with strong reviews and profitable box-office returns, the film was the end result of several years of obsessive research from the director, who sought to bring the greatest crime saga since The Godfather to the big screen. Since its release in 1995, the film has been a source of inspiration for filmmakers who have sought to replicate its character driven drama, stylish visuals, and hard hitting action sequences; the biggest examples of which include The Dark Knight by Christopher Nolan, Ben Affleck's The Town, and Den Of Thieves, directed by Christian Gudegast in his debut feature film. Even the Grant Theft Auto series has nicked or paid direct homage to Heat across its numerous installments. Many of these films have been successful in their own right, while others have tried and utterly failed to understand what made Mann’s magnum opus so involving.
So, with such strong influences still being felt almost 25 years on, what is it that makes Mann's film so bloody good, even after two decades?
The film has a relatively straightforward setup; the seasoned detective, at the top of his game, goes on the trail of a master thief who also happens to be at his career peak. We've seen this particular plot many times before and many times since, so it's not a big deal. What is a big deal, however, is that here, the seasoned detective and the master thief are played by Al Pacino and Robert De Niro, respectively. Two actors who, like their characters, are at their best and are finally sharing the screen together after they both appeared in separate eras in Francis Ford Coppola's The Godfather Part 2.
Not only that, but the leading heavyweights are supported by a large Altman-style ensemble cast that includes Val Kilmer, Jon Voight, Ashley Judd, Diane Venora, Tom Sizemore, Denis Haysbert, Amy Brenneman, Natalie Portman, and William Fichtner.
On a technical level, the film is outstanding – featuring blindingly beautiful visuals from the lenses of cinematographer Dante Spinotti, and a great soundtrack with some stunning work from Elliot Goldenthal. Heat also features several iconic gun-play sequences that are deservedly held up as the standard for which gun-play sequences have since been measured against – including what is still the finest heistus-interruptus in a Hollywood motion picture. Mann opted to use live-location sound for these shootouts rather than dub them in post-production – and it makes a big difference.
But, while all of these aspects are important to the film's success and absolutely deserving of days upon days worth of hyperbolic praise - it's the level of detail and depth that Mann affords the screenplay and its characters that ensures that the film stands the test of time.
While Heat is certainly a long film (its run-time comes within a breath of 160 minutes), Mann uses every second of that run-time to create a fully-functioning universe. Using his large ensemble cast, Mann creates a wonderful delicatessen of characters, almost none of whom are wasted in his exploration of cops, criminals and the effects of their chosen lifestyles on those around them. What we end up with is something very far from a typical 90s action film – a three hour opera, with a poetic insight into the conflicting themes of duality, loneliness, stubbornness, habit and obsession.
The inspiration for Heat was given to Mann by Chuck Adamson, who worked as an advisor on many of Mann's early films. Adamson, who had pursued McCauley for nearly a year after their Chicago coffee shop conversation, inadvertently caught up with his target while responding to an armed-robbery call. He discovered it was McCauley behind the incident and in the altercation that followed was forced to shoot him dead.
Mann first attempted to bring the tale to life in LA Takedown, a project that was intended as a pilot for a NBC TV Series. It was turned into a TV Film after the network passed on the idea, and the story was unfortunately restricted by budget limitations and TV production values. Thankfully, Mann got the opportunity to remake his film in 1995, with Takedown now mostly remembered as the dry-run for what he would eventually produce six years later; the increased budget and expansive run-time allowing Mann to develop his characters in line with the inspiration given to him by Adamson.
In Heat, Mann lays out the some fundamental differences between the two main characters during the opening scenes. In the first moments of the film, we meet Neil McCauley as he covertly steals an ambulance to be used in the film's opening heist. Focused and determined, yet always cool and calm, De Niro infuses a strong sense of professionalism to McCauley, even just by his movement and stoic expression. Jumping forward to when we first meet Vincent Hanna - who was loosely based off Adamson and an unnamed FBI agent, and here played by Pacino - Mann decides to open on him showing his more passionate and intimate side as he makes love to his wife Justine, an aspect to his character that would be a point of contention in the plot later on.
After McCauley and his crew messily pull off a daring daylight robbery – a sequence that affirms Mann's expertise at crafting a suspenseful action scene, Hanna is thrown on to their scent. The sudden brutal violence of the opening heist paints a black and white picture of the characters – McCauley is the bad guy, and Hanna is the hero; McCauley is calm, cool and professional, while Hanna has a larger than life personality that he uses to intimidate and/or confuse people he's pursuing.
But it is from here, despite this simplistic set-up, that Mann begins to fully explore the duality of these two characters as they move about their daily business. He explores the shades of grey that overlap between the two – McCauley is not just an evil bank robber who is okay with executing security guards when he has to; nor is Hanna the straightforward, halo-lit detective with a heart of gold.
Mann uses contrasting visual and verbal motifs to explore Hanna and McCauley's lifestyles throughout the film. McCauley lives in what can only be described a shell - a house for a man not planning to stay there for too much longer; while Hanna's home is shown as cluttered and crowded, similar to a typical family home, though he only cares about one possession - his television set. Hanna has a strained relationship with Justine, his third wife, which is no accident – because he dedicates himself to and obsesses over the criminals that he hunts almost 24/7. Hanna shows warmth, affection and concern for his stepdaughter, Lauren; sometimes even more love than he shows to his wife as the story progresses. It's this relationship that strikes Vincent the most as his step-daughter's behavior veers into the suicidal in the film’s final third thanks to her neglectful biological parents.
McCauley, by comparison, is a man who lives by his own set of rules and initially does not seem to seek that type of love in his life. He maintains emotional distance to most people he meets, and is a rather distrustful and paranoid person when it comes to women. As he becomes aware of the malfunctioning relationship of his only real friend, Chris, McCauley explains his logic.
However, McCauley begins to break his own rules as the film progresses. During a dinner scene early on in the film, Mann allows the camera to linger on McCauley's crew – all of whom have spouses and/or families. De Niro's expressions during this scene suggest a hidden longing for some form of companionship, something he neither wanted nor understood the need for previously. That need is provided for thanks to the ray of sunshine that is Eady, played by Amy Brenneman.
Here, Mann uses a very simple but effective technique to show Neil's transition from paranoid and suspicious of people to more sociable and warm in the scene where McCauley first meets Eady. By shooting the first half of the scene from behind, with only rear portions of the characters visible, Mann heightens a sense of disconnect between them. Then, as McCauley realises his misjudgement, the camera moves around to the front, timed perfectly as he introduces himself and attempts to make amends for his bad manners, opening himself up to her.
Despite being billed as the ultimate showdown between De Niro and Pacino, Heat only has two major scenes where the two actors are actually together. On paper, in a 160 minute film, that would seem like a waste. However, the relationship between the two characters is built throughout the film without them needing to share the screen together. Mann spends nearly half the film playing cat and mouse with his two characters – with one of the best moments being the attempted robbery of a precious metals depository; a scene which is also based on a real life event featuring Adamson and the real Neil McCauley.
After so many close shaves between the two, it all builds to a satisfying payoff; Mann's re-enactment of Adamson's encounter with McCauley in the Chicago coffee shop. At this stage of the film, Mann has already set-up everything we need to know about these men's methods, motives and attitudes. By opting to be patient in his build-up, Mann gives the scene a massive sense of importance as these two behemoths size each other up and lay their cards out on the table. One of the key things that Mann takes from the real life conversation between Adamson and McCauley is that they spent a long time not talking about the fact that one was chasing the other. For a few brief moments, though they were enemies, they were just two guys having coffee and talking about life.
One of the most impressive things about the coffee shop scene is that it completely encapsulates the character work done thus far and then sets up the stakes for the rest of the film. Hanna and McCauley admit to each other that if they ever cross paths again, one of them will likely die. The adds even more suspense and tension to the inevitable clash between the two. What's also interesting here is that Hanna and McCauley are both very open about the sacrifices that they make in order to do what they do. Neither are open to change, and are at peace with the fact that they must continue on their paths until one of them manages to best the other. There's a strong sense of respect among the pair, despite the fact that they are enemies meeting each other for the first time.
“I don’t know how to do anything else.”
“Neither do I.”
“I don’t much want to either.”
“Neither do I.”
And of course, they eventually come close to killing each other during the film's big shootout sequence, which occurs only ten minutes later. McCauley and his crew, sold out by a tip to Hanna and his team, are forced to shoot their way through an ambush set by police outside of the bank they've just robbed. While both sides take casualties, their promise to ensure that only one man is left standing is left unfulfilled.
While many films would continue to ramp up the pace, putting their foot on the accelerator towards a big finish, Mann allows his film to breathe by showing the fallout that the catastrophic shootout has on the lives of the perpetrators, as well as Hanna – whose marriage at this point would be best compared to his television set. The guts of half an hour is well spent on tying up loose character threads in a satisfying manner before switching the focus back on to the relationship between the two leads.
McCauley hunts for the man who sold out his crew, exacting his revenge on everyone but former crew member Waingro. Before that, in a moment of character defining blissful ignorance, McCauley arrives to Eady's apartment still in criminal mode, acting as if everything is normal – completely oblivious to the fact that this is not a normal thing for an innocent and sweet person like her to experience. Despite her initial attempts to get away from him, McCauley manages to convince Eady - now obviously aware of his true profession - to stay with him and they continue with their plan to run away together. Hanna, meanwhile, continues his hunt for McCauley - a hunt that leads him to Waingro, too. In the space of a few scenes, Mann shows how oblivious Hanna has been to the effects of his job on those around him, while on the flipside, McCauley seems happy to try something new.
McCauley, on the home run to freedom with Eady but now aware of Waingro's location, gives in to temptation and chooses to go after him. Hanna’s marriage suffers complete destruction when he finds out that Justine has cheated on him. Later, following Lauren's suicide attempt, Hanna and Justine both realise that their marriage is doomed, and they mutually decide to part ways. Vincent then literally runs back into action when he hears of trouble at Waingro's airport hotel, caused by McCauley. Now, after a brief moment of growth, both men are back to their old habits again, their behavior so fixed that they are incapable of escaping from the collision course that they’ve both been set on since the first moments of the film.
Following McCauley's successful assassination of Waingro, the coffee shop prophecy becomes a reality. Hanna arrives just as McCauley walks out the service entrance of the hotel. Spotting each other in the distance almost instantly, McCauley is forced to choose between Eady and his previously proudly spoken 30 seconds flat rule. McCauley reluctantly leaves her, opting to flee and save himself. I feel like here is the appropriate time to mention that Amy Brenneman was absolutely superb in this film and here in particular, sells the confused heartbreak of her character incredibly well, without any need dialogue. Her love for McCauley is at conflict with the reality that he's done some horrible things in his life - even since she first met him, in fact.
Hanna pursues like a rabid-dog, chasing McCauley across the airport landscape and forcing one final game of cat and mouse between the two. McCauley, on the back foot once again, attempts to ambush Hanna by lying in wait at the end of the main LAX runway with his pistol ready and waiting to fire. The game finally comes to an end as McCauley, giving himself away under the runway lights, is shot multiple times by his adversary.
Heat closes with a remarkably sombre but powerful moment. McCauley outstretches his hand to Hanna, who takes it and holds it as his adversary finally succumbs to his wounds. Hanna is, however, clearly very far from happy. He still holds immense respect for McCauley - if only for the things his pursuit of the master thief has revealed about himself. As such, the look upon his face does not suggest a victory. Instead, it merely suggests acceptance. This is how it is. This is how it was always going to be. They said it themselves. And both, unfortunately, were too stubborn to have it go any other way.
Heat, on a technical level, has a library of strengths that on their own make it a powerful piece of cinema. As mentioned already, it has beautiful visuals, a great soundtrack, some iconic set-piece sequences, and a fantastic cast. But what really ties it all together is the level of detail and research that Michael Mann put into the screenplay and his leading characters. His obsession with the real-life material supplied to him by Chuck Adamson is evident, and compliments Mann’s affinity for murky and conflicted personality traits in his characters perfectly. With Vincent Hanna and Neil McCauley, Mann crafted opposing creatures of habit; two men so good at what they do, they were terrible at everything else.
You have made my day, sir.
Always a pleasure to make someone's day better, @DarthDimi :)
The film is a masterpiece and I can't separate Pacino from De Niro in the performance stakes, they are both as good as each other and I get tired of hearing Al just shouts and Bobby is better from some.
Total BS they both knock it out the park, the confession that Hanna chips cocaine makes total sense, it's such an intense reading and you totally believe Pacino is a cop, the authenticity is commendable.
De Niro just plays McCauley quieter and more subtle but it's no better than Al.
That Coffee shop scene always makes the hairs on the back of my neck rise. I saw it at Leeds Film Festival 2016 in the restored version and it was incredible.
I'm lucky I saw this on original release on the big screen, so getting a chance to see it again on the big screen with my Wife who hadn't seen it before in a theatrical presentation was amazing.
Agreed @DarthDimi it is Mann's best film, closely followed by The Insider, another Mann masterpiece.
I much preferred to think that Hanna was that way naturally; his flaws a by-product of his sheer nature as opposed to self-affliction.
Now, it doesn't change my outlook on the film all that much, but I tend to ignore Pacino's recent statements on the character as best as I can.
I can't say it bothers me, I personally found it an interesting quirk of Hanna but to each his own I guess.
Sometimes it's better that actors don't reveal things like this but that is what comes of looking back over a film and the motivation of the character.
Maybe Al had heard about people saying that Hanna is OTT (I never though this but some feel this way) and wanted to set the record straight on why he was like that.
Some of us accept it but I remember when the film came out, I had friends just dismissing him as shouty and they thought he ruined a great film.
I remember arguing this was the case but it wasn't an isolated view, reviews through the years have taken Pacino to task over this.
Agree with you both. HEAT is a masterpiece, and yes, yes, yes @Shardlake , THE INSIDER too (I am also partial to MANHUNTER -- Brian Cox as Lecktor (or is that Lecter?) was chilling).
I would personally say those 3, I've not seen Thief in years though, so need to give that another watch.
Of The Lector films or Lektor in MH's case I'd still go for SOTL. Although Mann's film is infinitely superior to Ratner' s hack job.
A group of mountaineers in the Scottish Highland's discover a hidden Serbian girl and as a result are targeted by her kidnappers.
Good little British adventure thriller that features some incredible scenery and stunt work. It goes into horror territory by the end and is quite effective.
Good performance from Melissa George and Sean Harris is reliably evil.
Worth a look.
It’s a bit messy though, and sometimes the humor felt strangely executed and awkward but I really had a great time with it. Give it a shot if you’re in the mood for a black comedy thriller that subverts your typical Liam Neeson film.
Nothing remarkable, especially in comparison with some of Clint Eastwood's other films, but it is nonetheless a solidly-acted thinkpiece on one of the enduring motifs of the 88 year-old's time both as an actor and a director: masculinity.
The film is tonally awkward and suffers from an anti-climactic resolution that showed the story was slightly hampered by its real-life inspirations rather than enhanced by it. However, it's also a reasonably decent two hours that gives you a jolt of hopeful warmth to walk out of the cinema with - even if it doesn't leave a lasting impression beyond that.
Given that yesterday was my birthday, that I had an appointment with my doctor in the afternoon, and that I was not scheduled to work this morning, I decided to see the latest Godzilla movie, which has still not received a general release in France, but had one airing at the Cinémathèque as part of a "100 years of Japanese Movies" festival. Some people might think that there's too much meetings and political going-ons and not enough Godzilla, but that's precisely the point. The aim of the movie is to see how political red tape and incompetence can hinder what's necessary. Still, for once, the Japanese Self Defence Forces were not alone in their fight against the big G. In my ranking, the movie comes very close to third (the 1954 original still being the best, and the 2014 american movie is a close second).
I highly enjoyed it.
The Matrix 4K this film looks incredible, one of the best 4K films I have bought.
Up next who knows possibly Quantum of Solace
Films I saw in 2019
1. Casino Royale
2. Across the Universe
3. Licence to Kill
4. Beverly Hills Cop 2
5. Casino Royale 1954
6. Oliver Stone The Doors
7. Highlander
8. Moonstruck
9. Hitman agent 47
10. Highlander 3 The Final Dimension
11. Walk the line
12. Highlander 2
Highlander series
1. Highlander
2. Highlander the final Dimension
3. Highlander 2
Bond series
1. Casino Royale
2. Licence to Kill
3. Casino Royale 1954
Jukebox
1. Across the Universe
2. Oliver Stone The Doors
3. Walk the line
With this landmark British film that challenged the law on homosexuality, Dirk Bogarde changed his screen image. Melville Farr (Bogarde) is seemingly happily married, and a highly respected Barrister who will surely be made a QC and likely a judge one day. That all changes when Farr is contacted by Jack "Boy" Barrett, a past lover of Farrs. Barrett is being blackmailed, and has stolen money to pay of his blackmailers. But with the police on his trail, Barrett tries to reach out to Farr for help to flee the country. Farr gets the wrong end of the stick, and refuses to hear Barrett out. When the police finally capture Barrett, he hangs himself to protect Farr. It is then than Farr risks his marriage and his career to put an end to the blackmailers scheme.