Assume It All (Heat (Special Edition, 2 DVDs))

Member Name: utero

Product:	Heat (Special Edition, 2 DVDs)
Date:	07/12/05 (87 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Great Story, Acting, Direction, Good sound and video, decent extras

Disadvantages: There is nothing wrong

Vincent Hanna: You know, we are sitting here, you and I, like a couple of regular fellas. You do what you do, and I do what I gotta do. And now that we've been face to face, if I'm there and I gotta put you away, I won't like it. But I tell you, if it's between you and some poor bastard whose wife you're gonna turn into a widow, brother, you are going down.
Neil McCauley: There is a flip side to that coin. What if you do got me boxed in and I gotta put you down? Cause no matter what, you will not get in my way. We've been face to face, yeah. But I will not hesitate. Not for a second.

-THE MOVIE-

When it comes to crime on the big screen there is no finer director than Michael Mann and there is no finer crime film in recent memory than Heat.

In 1989 Mann directed a TV-movie called LA Takedown. It was a decent little film and served as the blueprint for an LA crime drama named Heat.

Of course the big draw in the movie is that fact that it pairs screen legends Robert De Niro and Al Pacino against each other for the first time. The result is a sprawling engrossing battle of wits between a criminal mastermind and a man who tries to the mastermind.

Pacino plays Vincent Hanna, a livewire officer in Los Angeles robbery homicide division. As a cop he is cool and calculated but this means that everything else in his life is neglected including his down slope of a marriage. De Niro plays Neil McCauley, a professional criminal who lives for taking down big scores. Like Hanna, his choice of occupation has left the rest of his life cold with his only family being the crew he surrounds himself with.

The film starts with McCauley and crew taking down a security van with meticulous precision. However the new member of their crew invokes some unwanted bloodshed that leads Hanna to take up the case. Soon he is on the trail of McCauley and his crew. Through the film it’s a battle of wits and changes in character for both men, all of which culminates in a classic dialogue scene where both of them state their intentions.

As soon as I saw Heat, it became one of my favourite films. Obviously the draw of two top actors was the initial buzz. But Heat is much more than that. It’s a fantastic character study of two men effectively just doing their jobs and sticking to a code. Mann’s script crackles with some pulsating dialogue of which the Coffee Shop scene is king. But aside from that Mann shows the smart side of crime. A large part of the film shows the planning of a bank score and it’s fascinating stuff. Aside from Pacino and De Niro, there is a strong supporting cast. From the smallest parts such as Jon Voight’s handler to Val Kilmers performance as McCauley’s right hand man. Everyone of them is fascinating and beautifully played out.

Heat is one of those films that pushes close to three hours but all the time you never realize it. That’s because it’s incredibly engrossing and pushes all the right buttons. After ten years it still remains as fresh as ever. If you have never seen it then I implore you to track it down at the next available opportunity.

-“WHO? WHO? WHAT ARE YOU, A F**KING OWL?”-

Heat was originally released a few years back in a movie-only release. This new special edition retains the same audio and video specs. The 2.35:1 Anamorphic widescreen transfer is generally quite good. The movie is quite slick visually and the transfer represents that well. I have to say that in comparison to the original release it doesn’t appear to be as good as I remember. The night scenes aren’t as striking as I remembered. But then I haven’t seen the original release in some time and maybe I was just overawed at the time when comparing to a previous VHS copy.

The Dolby Digital 5.1 soundtrack is very good and certainly earns it points when it comes to one scene in particular. One of the pivotal scenes in the movie is the bank hesit that leads to a shoot-out on the streets of LA. The sound in this instance is amazing.

-WELL YA KNOW, FOR ME, THE EXTRAS ARE THE JUICE.-

I’ve been waiting for a special edition release of this movie for some time. Warner Brothers eventually came through and delivered a nice array of extras to placate any fan of the movie.

The main extra is a ‘making of’ which runs for about an hour. This feature is split into three parts and covers most bases. A lot of is interview based but it asks questions to most of the major players in the movie. What you get is a good account of how the film came to be, how it was cast and what were the real life stories it gleaned it’s ideas from. It’s great stuff.

Ten minutes is spent on ‘that’ scene. There is some good stuff here from Mann on how the coffee ship scene was shot, played out and conceived. For me the scene is one of the most memorable in the last ten years and this brief featurette does it justice.

Finally there is a featurette that returns to some of the locations in the film. It’s a decent little scout of Los Angeles, some people may not find it that interesting but I liked it.

11 Deleted Scenes complete the extras disc, there’s nothing special on view but it’s nice to see what was trimmed.

Skip back to the first disc and aside from the trailers you also get an audio commentary with Michael Mann. The track is decent and covers a lot of production stories. Mann does struggle to fill the entire two hours and fourty-five minutes but that’s understandable. Mann fans will still enjoy it.

-FINALLY-

Heat is one of those DVD’s that is a must for any collection. This special edition is well worth the money just to see two great actors head to head. An online search at Kelkoo comes up with a bargain price of £7.99 and it would rude not to have it at that price.

Summary: De Niro, Pacino - together on screen at last and the result is explosive.