Heat: film review
I confess: the legendary film that is Heat sat dusty and neglected on my shelf for several years before I finally gave in and watched it; the concept didn’t impress me much, that was the first thing I ’held against it—there seemed to be nothing unique or individual about the idea of guys running around shooting guns in a cat and mouse mafia-meets-police-force kind of a way. Obviously that wasn’t the only reason I was convinced it had to be a let down—I was also cocnerned I’d be dissapointed with the two main actors performances, something I was anxious to avoid for as long as I lived. Al Pacino and Robert De Niro, I thought, that’s too good to be true! There’s got to be a catch somewhere–
I was very wrong, the only catch was that I should have watched Heat much sooner.
Something that needs to be said is that Heat isn’t immediately hugely impressive; what it is, though, is a slow but efficient burner that completely re-invents an old and tired concept, grounding it in the kind of mundane human interaction that shouldn’t work but does, allowing the viewer to instanly relate. For at least the first hour nothing of any consequence even really happens, but in the second half of the film things shift up a gear, and everything falls in to place.
What drives Heat is its ability to build rolling, massive impact, without the viewer even registering the change in pace; every single element of the film—unpredictable and fascinating dialogue combined with real-world-logic-over-drama gun-fight scenes—is exactly the opposite of what you’ll be expecting to see next.
Pacino and De Niro, strangely connected by their similarities—of which there are many—make Heat the bench-mark for intelligent action movies for the likes of people who don’t like action movies. The ending will leave you shocked, sympathetic to a cause which you never thought you’d side with.
Right before I go, I have a friend who works for this Enigin company, and there is this silly rumor about a scam right now. Anyways she has put a page up on her blog about it, it would be really cool if you could all support her efforts! Thanks!