Michael Mann’s beautifully hard-edged direction – not unlike a sports car that masks its brawn underneath a beautifully elegant exterior – was never more muscular or sleek than with Heat, his near-masterpiece about the cat-and-mouse competition between ruthless thief Neil McCauley (Robert De Niro) and cagey lieutenant Vincent Hanna (Al Pacino). Mann strives for epic grandeur in every ice-blue widescreen composition and tightly edited conversation (which boast the director’s firm grasp of shot-reverse shot technique), and though his film has its minor deficiencies – there’s still too much overacting on Pacino’s part, and a few too many deadweight scenes (like every one featuring Hank Azaria) – the filmmaker nonetheless breaths vibrant life into his somewhat clichéd story about kindred warriors on different sides of the law. Hanna and McCauley are alienated outsiders, victims of a masculine code of honor that places duty, perfection, and a dedication to method – whether it be catching criminals or eluding the powers-that-be – above personal concerns. In his last great screen role, De Niro delivers a frightening vision of frosty criminal efficiency that nonetheless conceals a longing for comforting human contact. Yet the film’s steely force is mainly attributable to Mann, who both subtly evokes how these urban predators (who resemble cowboys in an L.A.-set Western) use emotional isolation as a means of protecting themselves from the harsher realities of their work (and the world), while also depicting, in noir-like fashion, how repudiating one’s true nature can only lead to catastrophe.
I like the ending..."how repudiating one’s true nature can only lead to catastrophe." Its so true.
Posted by: Chrisb | July 15, 2009 at 04:13 AM
Very good review. It's spot on. Although, I think Mann deserves an A+ for this movie as an unchartered style of a cops and robbers genre. In the same sense that "Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid" was an unchartered style of the western.
Mann began to explore this type of genre with his movie "Thief" and mastered his vision with Heat. It's a true original vision of a movie and it was the last great acting role for Robert DeNiro. His portrayel of a professional theif could not have been done better and will never be duplicated.
Michael Mann created a masterpiece that largely went unsung.
Posted by: Corey | January 16, 2011 at 03:23 AM