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| DIRECTED BY |
| Michael Mann
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| STARRING |
| Al Pacino |
| Robert De Niro |
| Tom Sizemore |
| Val Kilmer |
| Jon Voight |
| Diane Venora |
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Michael Mann�s epic crime film efficiently switches perspectives throughout its duration to allow us to develop sentiments for both the good and bad guys. This use of omniscience doesn�t cause the film to fall into ennui or needless confusion like many others that employ this type of style, however, thanks to Mann�s direction � which can be accurately described as clean and senseful.
Both of the male and female moviegoing stereotypes will enjoy �Heat� - despite its familiar storyline, all of the acting is stellar enough to provide dramatic interest, whereas there are a number of great action sequences, particularly memorable is the one that comes directly after the bank robbery. Michael Mann makes this sequence so entertaining by directing the shootout over each area of cinematographer Dante Spinotti�s frame, so we see Al Pacino firing his handgun before us as a raving Tom Sizemore blasts his assault rifle off in the far distance.
Even though Mann wrote excellent dialogue for his characters, there are some aspects of the screenplay to �Heat� that I don�t particularly care for. I understand that Mann was trying to diversify his characters� lives, but I just didn�t really care when Vincent�s daughter (Natalie Portman) tried to kill herself, and it seemed like nothing more than an easy way for Mann to draw the marriage angle together.
Everyone has heard and raved about the Pacino and De Niro�s acting here, but I just couldn�t bring myself to appreciate Pacino�s sporadic paroxysms here, where it seemed like he was trying to be witty and temperamental at the same time. De Niro, on the other hand, appears to handle his character�s emotional reactions with much more precision. However, for me, the standout performance in this film comes from the still relative-unknown Kevin Gage as the monumentally creepy sociopath Waingro.
There is a unique side to the story of �Heat� in that it portrays both the cops and the criminals with equal sympathy, as if they actually need each other for survival because what they do is �all they know how to do.� I was hoping for Mann to deliver something a lot more unpredictable for the ending, but, like most of what precedes it, it�s executed well nonetheless.
