Heat

Most sane film goers are fans of Di Niro and Pacino. Their collective body of work boasts some of the best films ever made. It's little wonder then why there was so much hype around the film that finally brought the two actors back together under the direction of Michael Mann. Heat is a gritty, three hour, cops and robbers, cat and mouse epic. Pacino is the cop. Di Niro is the man he's chasing. Game on!

The film's obvious perks are the two leads. Di Niro and Pacino carry the film almost entirely with their flawed but ultimately endearing characters that share similar problems (they're jobs are taking over their lives, their love lives are falling apart) with one major difference. While Pacino has a kind of symbiotic relationship with the job that defines him, Di Niro is looking to walk away from the criminal life. It's this difference from which all the drama really stems. Despite the two actors sharing very little screen time, the scenes that feature them both are gripping, especially the finale.

Unfortunately, the film suffers in places. It's very stuck in the nineties, with an intrusive 'COP DRAMA' score that never lets up. If two people are talking in a bar, you can bet there's some twat playing a blues guitar solo in the background. The direction is hit and miss. While the action shines, the slower moments suffer from too many needless close ups and tracking shots. Less would have been more. The plot is fine, but even with the film's mammoth run time, it couldn't quite get to grips with the vast amount of peripheral characters that Mann is desperate for us to become attached to. As a result, everything that involves something other than the two leads leaves you feeling a little underwhelmed.

Faults aside, A good COP DRAMA, if you have three hours to kill.

7/10