"It's your job, right? You know, the guy who kills me, I hope he does it 'cause he hates my gut...
"It's your job, right? You know, the guy who kills me, I hope he does it 'cause he hates my guts. Not 'cause it's his job" - Sonny (Al Pacino) in 'Dog Day Afternoon' (1975)
Member since:26.02.2003
Reviews:84
Members who trust:43
Heat sees Robert De Niro and Al Pacino square off, making this movie sizzle with great excitement. Written and directed by Michael Man ("The Insider", "Ali") this film goes into the realms of a modern masterpiece.
Heat is based on a simple concept of cops and robbers. Robert De Niro plays the master thief with a motly crew in the form of Val Kilmer ("Red Planet"), Tom Sizemore ("Saving Private Ryan") and Denis Haysbert ("24 television series"). Al Pacino plays the rough, streetwise L.A cop following the trail from a deadly armed robbery. His trail ends at De Niro and recieves information that De Niro and his crew are going to knock off a bank downtown.
The story is mainly based on the before and after of this spectacular heist (the film is worth watching for that scene alone). But there are sidelines to the story, mainly involving the personal lives of Pacino De Niro and Kilmer's characters and how they are rapidly deteriating becuase of the current circumstances of the robbery.
The performances from the three title names (Pacino, De Niro and Kilmer) are all excellent, especially when people may consider Heat to be a dumb action flick but it honestly isn't, trust me. The surporting cast all have there moments too; Tom Sizemore, Ashly Judd, Jon Voight and Natalie Portman all perform well and do the main cast justice.
Al Pacino is fantastic as awlays being the smart detective who's one step behind the equally smat and impressive De Niro.
Director Michael Man is a genius with the camara giving this world of cops and robbers the urban and gritty feel that it deserves. The script is pretty much top notch with the stroy being basic but sounding intelligent at the same time. It's well worth a look.
The film may be a bit long, but you'll be so tangled up in the build up and aftermath of the heist that you won't notice. The film displays some powerful moments and you get a strange sense of sympathy for both parties as they have their own views and feelings of the matter at hand.
BOTTOM LINE Heat is a cracking film and is one of the best police thrillers I have ever seen. At times its immesely exciting and at other times its immensely compelling. It has the drama, the action and the substance that cinema goers want these days.
Production Year: 2002 - Action/Adventure - Director: Vincenzo Natali - Original Language: English - Classification: 15 years and over - Starring:Lucy Liu, David Hewlett, Anne Marie Scheffler, Joseph Scoren, Matthew Sharp, Jeremy Northam
Production Year: 1977 - Action/Adventure - Director: Clint Eastwood - Original Language: English - Classification: 18 years and over - Starring:Clint Eastwood, Sondra Locke, Pat Hingle, William Prince, Bill McKinney
Production Year: 1964 - Action/Adventure - Director: Cyril Endfield - Original Language: English - Classification: Parental Guidance - Starring:Stanley Baker, Jack Hawkins, Ulla Jacobsson, James Booth, Michael Caine, Nigel Green
My only complaint about this film was it was too damn long, otherwise it was a truly great and entertaining crime saga....Well done with this op!!!! Chris xxx
Paul32 17.05.2004 21:42
Good op, covered all the areas but for me needed a little expansion on the plot and characters. Good film and like you say more intelligent than a simple action flick.
Advantages: Perfect Casting, Story, Action, directing - the list goes on forever! Disadvantages: None what so ever - although at present, there are no DVD extras.
EMOO02 09.09.2004 ·
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Ciao members have rated this review on average: very helpful
Review of Heat
Mar 1st, 2003
(May 9th, 2004)
exceptional by (5%):
very helpful by (85%):
helpful by (10%):
