Heat
Directed by: Michael Mann.
Actors: Al Pacino, Robert De Niro, Val Kilmer, Jon Voight, Tom Sizemore, Natalie Portman.
Released: 1995.
MPAA Rating: R.
Length: 171 min .
Drama, Action.

Brief outline (no spoilers):
Neil McCauley (De Niro) is a criminal; his life philosophy is to never get attached to anything or anybody you can not walk away from if you spot the Heat coming at you. McCauley leads a crew of high-tech robbers, and they plot to a couple of huge scores. On the other side of the law there is Detective Vincent Hanna (Pacino) that leads the investigations and tries to catch McCauley and his crew.

Personal opinions
Both Pacino and De Niro have the strength to carry a movie on their own. Now you get both in one movie, and playing against each other. There are parallels between the two characters McCauley and Hanna. They are both very obsessed with their work. McCauley does intentionally sacrifice the idea of a family life because he has realized that it will never work. Hanna on the other side is trying to juggle both family life and work. He manages this without any particular luck since he is currently on the end of his third marriage.

Good
First the cast of this movie is really spectacular. The movie features a lot of big hitters. The movie is a drama movie about the various problems the characters are having, but aside from the traditional boring drama movies, this movie offers a lot of exciting action. The bank robbery scene is a masterpiece-like orgy in guns and shooting.

Bad
You may get put off by the long running time. There is a lot of redundant scenes and things happening that probably is not essential to the plot. For example everything that happens to Hanna’s girlfriend’s daughter (Natalie Portman), and the murder of the prostitute. But it is probably there to build up around the characters and environment their in. When the movie starts to float out like that it should be considered if it is really essential to have it in.

Bottom Line
It is a truly good movie; a crime masterpiece with some of the big hitters of Hollywood.
Rating: 8/10 (where 10 is the best).