Heat

Introduction

 
Robert De Niro and Al Pacino are essentially the top actors of their generation but for most of their careers had never shared screentime.   Despite both appearing in Godfather 2 and both lighting up the screen with their acting ability, the two were never in the same scene during the entire film (as De Niro only appeared in flashback as the younger version of Brando's Godfather character).  Many believed that this wouldn't happen, whilst some prayed it wouldn't lest we end up with a Tango & Cash kinda film…
 
So anyway, one day Michael Mann decided it would be a good idea to re-make his TV film LA Takedown the way it should have been made and managed to persuade both De Niro and Pacino to star in said film.  De Niro would play the understated serious role of the bad guy and Pacino would play the chaotic serious role of the good guy - although the lines would blur during the film.
 


Neil McCauley (De Niro) leads an experienced crew who pull heists, and quite spectacular ones at that.  Forming the rest of his crew are Chris Shiherlis (Val Kilmer), Michael Cherrito (Tom Sizemore) and Trejo (Danny Trejo).  The crew are one short for a armoured truck robbery and so draft in Nazi ex-con Waingro (Kevin Gage).  McCauley's crew are expert in their chosen fields and are not usually vicious but the elephant in the room is Waingro, who can't resist shooting a dazed guard just because he was looking at the shooter blankly.  McCauley is horrified but doesn't hesitate to order the crew to kill all the other guards, leaving no survivors.
 
This action brings the crew to the attention of hyperactive MCU policeman Vincent Hanna (Pacino), who has his own crew of expert policemen.  Hanna recognises instantly the quality of the operation and dedicates his time to bringing McCauley down.  That'll be hard as McCauley abides by the motto that he won't allow anything into his life that he won't walk away from in 30 seconds if he sees the heat coming around the corner.
 


Life is complicated for both men.  McCauley finds himself attracted to artist Eady (Amy Brenneman) and falls in love, despite his insistence in living his life alone but not lonely.  Hanna is unhappily married to depressed pill-popper Justine (Diane Venora) with a young step-daughter Lauren (Natalie Portman), who worries about her real father shutting her out of his life.  Hanna isn't that fussed about his marriage either, living only for the scent of his prey and the hunt.
 
The chase is on as McCauley and crew plan a huge bank heist whilst under surveillance from Hanna's team…
 

Picture

 
Picture is superb, with the bank job scene in particular really benefiting from the higher resolution picture.  Mann uses a dark blue/gray palette which just enhances the mood of the overall picture.
 
*note* screenshots included here are for illustrative purposes only and are not indicative of picture quality
 

Extras

 
Commentary with director Michael Mann
 
Deleted scenes - 11 scenes included here, none of which are missed from the already long running time.
 
Return To The Scene Of The Crime - an 11 minute look at some of the locations used in the film.
 
Pacino & De Niro: The Conversation - an examination of this historic on-screen show down between the major actors of their generation.
 


Making Of - broken down into three chapters:
 
True Crime - a look at the real-life policeman and criminal who inspired the film
 
Crime Stories - a look at the 20 year history of the screenplay and how the film finally got the green light
 
Into The Fire - behind the scenes on the actual film itself.
 
Theatrical trailers - 3 different trailers
 
All of these extras are taken from the SE DVD from a few years back and all are in SD rather than be converted to HD, which is a bit of a waste of the format to be honest.  I realise it may be cheaper but how on earth are you going to persuade people to convert to Blu-ray if the only thing you're going to put the effort into is the main feature?
 

Overall

 
If I ever made a top ten of favourite films, Heat would make it in there effortlessly.  It's a long film (170 minutes on this version) but doesn't drag, full of moody atmosphere.  Michael Mann was better known for his work on the Miami Vice TV series, which again was renowned for the mood rather than the clichéd cops and robbers plot lines of its peers.
 
What really sets this film apart from its contemporaries is the amount of space given to character development, even with some of the minor characters such as getaway driver Donald Breedan (Dennis Haybert) - a role that is in the film for less than ten minutes but you feel for him regardless, such is the power of the writing.  The writing is also what allows for the great cat and mouse acting of De Niro and Pacino, with the rather splendid restaurant scene allowing the two to be onscreen together for the first time - and this scene was shot with numerous camera angles to enable the same take to be used for both actors.  Such is the power of the performances that you really want bad guy De Niro to prevail at the end, a sociopath for sure but a rather sympathetic one at that.  Pacino's Hanna on the other hand is a largely unsympathetic and loud character who despite being great at his job doesn't care about his family and therefore you don't actually mind if he snuffs it, although he redeems himself at the end with the rescue of step-daughter Lauren, who attempts suicide.
 


Anyway, what's the BD version of the film like?  The picture is superb and a big improvement over the SD version, the bank heist in particular looking pretty spectacular with a fantastic soundtrack to match.  It's just a shame that all the ported extras from the previous version of the DVD haven't been upgraded to BD standards as this would have made just that little bit more attractive.  As it is, this is a good release but suffers from laziness on the part of the studio.
 
Still I've now watched the bank heist about five times since this version arrived, and I may just have another viewing of this later on…