Warner Bros. | 1995 | 170 mins. | Rated R
I loved Heat when I saw it in theaters back in 1995, and I love it even more in high definition. When a film reaches the 170 minute mark, there’s always the chance audience members could get bored and drift off. However, when you Put Al Pacino and Robert De Niro in a film together, the chances are better than even that something special is going to happen. Both Pacino and De Niro deliver masterful performances in director Michael Mann’s masterful crime drama, the supporting cast, amazing sense of realism and Mann’s impeccably crafted screenplay, all deserve their own share of the credit for Heat’s success and the contention by many fans and critics that it stands as one of the finest crime dramas of all time.
Lieutenant Vincent Hanna (Pacino), an accomplished LAPD Robbery-Homicide Division detective, is on the trail of career thief Neil McCauley (Robert De Niro). McCauley and his crew—gunman Chris Shiherlis (Val Kilmer), muscle Michael Cheritto (Tom Sizemore), and driver Trejo (Danny Trejo). As the film opens, he and his team knock over (literally), an armored car, for $6 million in bearer bonds.
We are introduced to Lieutenant Hanna first; while it’s clear he’s a good cop, his personal life is in shambles. His third marriage to wife Justine (Diane Venora) is on the verge of collapse, largely because of the demands of his job. Hanna’s relationship with his wife can be described as cool at best, while he manages to virtually ignore his disaffected step-daughter Lauren (Natalie Portman). Hanna is one uptight guy; he spends almost the entire film yelling and/or fidgeting.
By contrast, McCauley is cool as a cucumber; meticulous as he is calculating, the master crook plans every aspect of his heists. McCauley is so dedicated to his work that he lives a solitary life, shunning personal relationships. As he often says, “Allow nothing in your life that you cannot walk out on in thirty seconds flat if you spot the heat around the corner.” However, he finds his motto put to the test when he meets Eady (Amy Brenneman), a kind graphic designer who believes him to be a metal salesman.
The third major character in the film is Chris Shiherlis (Val Kilmer), an accomplice, and protégé of McCauley. In many ways, Shiherlis is more like Lieutenant Hanna than his boss. Though his wife (Ashley Judd), does her best to understand and support him, their marriage is in trouble because of his increasing gambling problem. At the end of the day though, like all the men involved, Shiherlis is more dedicated to his work then the preservation of his marriage.
On the surface, Heat appears to be just another story of good vs. evil. Dig a little deeper though, and you realize Michael Mann has crafted a story that’s more concerned exploring the complexities of Hanna and McCauley’s inner turmoil. In that process, comes the realization that the two men really aren’t that different. As a result, you may find yourself in the awkward position of rooting for both men to succeed.
Their confrontations are as unexpected as they are inevitable. The most talked about scene—Hanna invites McCauley to dinner for coffee and the two have an intense, but surprisingly personal conversation, making their later clash both wrenching and mesmerizing. The thing that makes Heat really exciting though, is the action sequences. The bank holdup is great. The scene feels endless; the camera never stops moving and the intensity never lets up.
It goes without saying that the performances of Pacino and De Niro are excellent. However, the exemplary supporting cast all does a great job too. It doesn’t get much better than this lineup: Jon Voight, William Fitchner, Wes Studi, Ted Levine, Tom Noonan, Hank Azaria, Jeremy Piven, and Bud Cort. Heat is truly an action packed, mesmerizing film from start to finish, that all Blu-ray fans should add to their collections.
Using a 1080p, VC-1 encode, WB’s video engineers, under director Michael Mann’s supervision, produced a solid transfer. The picture is remarkably vibrant, considering Mann used a color palette heavy with shades of gray.
The picture occasionally looks somewhat soft. Overall though, the film looks crisp and sharp. Blacks are deep, and inky. Nighttime shots show good inner detail, and daylight shots are bright and clear. The screen, retaining the movie’s original 2.40:1 aspect ratio, displays an inherent film grain yet remains generally free of noise or age markings.
The audio, available in either lossless Dolby TrueHD 5.1 or regular lossy Dolby Digital 5.1, is better than ever in the lossless mode. Right from the opening scene, we hear the sounds of a locomotive rumbling into a station, showing off the audio’s frequency response, deep bass, and impact. The soundtrack uses the surround channels especially well during the action sequences.The TrueHD adds a solidity, and a smoothness missing in the Dolby Digital.
The Blu-ray includes: English, French, Spanish, German, and Portuguese spoken languages; French, Spanish, Danish, Dutch, Finnish, Norwegian, Portuguese, and Swedish subtitles; and English and German captions for the hearing impaired.
WB has carried over the extras from their previous special-edition DVD set, and they are in standard definition.
• Audio Commentary: Director Michael Mann discusses the production, the time he spent with his cast, the men who inspired the story, and his decisions on set, and in the editing room.
• The Making of Heat (SD, 59 minutes): This engrossing three-part documentary features interviews with key members of the cast and crew, and gives Mann further opportunities to discuss the people, criminals, and police work that inspired his film. This is a must-see for fans of the film.
• Pacino and De Niro: The Conversation (SD, 10 minutes): A look at Pacino and De Niro’s diner encounter.
• Return to the Scene of the Crime (SD, 12 minutes): Location manager Janice Polley and associate producer Gusmano Cesaretti helm this featurette in which they discuss the photography and locales Mann utilized in the film.
• Additional Footage (SD, 10 minutes): Eleven scenes that were cut from the film.
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