Sizzling `Heat' explodes into cop-movie genre
There are those who think Casino was 1995's best crime movie, and there are those who've seen Heat , a stunning, sprawling epic from writer/director Michael Mann.
Mann is typically identified as the executive producer of "Miami Vice," but his film work transcends the ultra-slick formula of that program.
Heat is a magnificent picture which blends multiple genre elements and provides lavishly detailed characterization.
Al Pacino and Robert De Niro star as cop and robber, respectively. It's a powerful pairing; their disparate acting styles mirror the film's central dichotomy between the male-dominated world of crooks and coppers and the family-dominated world of husbands, children and wives.
While the criminal code is centered around fear, vengeance and icy professionalism, the family is focused on love. It's a familiar thematic element of Western films, and Mann broadens it wisely.
Rather than focusing exclusively on the inhuman acts committed in the name of the criminal code, he centers our attention on the shreds of humanity to which these ravaged men cling.
De Niro plays the leader of a tightly knit crew of ex-cons who take down a series of lucrative scores in Los Angeles. The robbery which opens the film with Peckinpah intensity is simple, quick and successful.
This attracts the attention of Pacino, the head of a similar group of tough guys on the other side of the law. Both of these men are driven by the same primitive sensibilities, but only Pacino can embrace the warmth of a family life or deal compassionately with the victims of De Niro's crimes.
A busload of terrific supporting performances bolster the film, with Val Kilmer, Ashley Judd, Tom Sizemore and Jon Voight leading the pack. Tone-Loc and Henry Rollins show up, too, and they don't even get in the way.
There's a tremendous depth to this film which I can't recall seeing in many other movies; Heat serves as definite proof that a film can be as resonant and grand in scale as any novel. Every character is full-bodied and vibrant, without the disembodied simplifications of your average Die Hard clone.
Shot at over 50 Los Angeles locations and costing a well-spent $60 million, this three-hour tour de force never lets you get bored. Mann placed much more emphasis on the drama than he did over the bullets, though there's still enough shooting for a Rambo with a Reservoir Dogs left over.
Mann's best previous works -- Thief , Manhunter , The Last of the Mohicans -- were thoroughly detailed, stylish and thoughtful. These works proved before Heat that he's an auteur awaiting some study. And he manages Heat with considerable skill,weaving people in and out of events seamlessly, probing human nature with deliberate care.
A meticulously crafted cop opera which entertains consistently, Heat raises my expectations for Mann as well as this genre. I've seen this movie three times, and I'll see it again. It's one of the movies which reinforces our faith in cinema's capabilities, and these days that's nothing short of a miracle.
Copyright © 1996 The Rice Thresher. All Rights
Reserved.
This document may be distributed
electronically, provided that it is distributed in its entirety
and includes this notice. However, it cannot be reprinted
without the express written permission of:
The Rice
Thresher, Rice University, 6100 Main, Houston, TX, 77005, USA.
The Thresher Online Project -- ethresh@rice.edu