“Heat? I saw that six years ago!”
“Yeah, I want to talk about it now.”
“No, Loser!”
-Jim Gaffigan
I’ve seen Heat about four times since it was released in 2005, and remain a bit torn on it to this day, sometimes finding myself in love with it and other times falling closer to the spectrum of bored.
On the one hand, Heat is a sprawling, dramatic crime saga directed by Michael Mann, pitting two legendary actors – Al Pacino and Robert De Niro – against one another in a sophisticated tale of cops and robbers that unfolds in the streets of Los Angeles, with inspired presentation of the action and an intimate look at the behind-the-scenes tolls it takes on both sides of the law. On the other hand, it is painfully slow-paced and long by the standards of both today and 14 year ago.
De Niro stars as criminal mastermind Neil McCauley, who lives by the creed that he has to be ready to leave everything behind the moment he hears the heat coming around the corner. Along with Chris Shiherlis (Val Kilmer) and Michael Cheritto (Tom Sizemore), McCauley runs a crew that elaborately knocks off an armored truck at the beginning of the film, only to have a new recruit take things off the hinges. The botched job sets a number of things in motion that come back to haunt the criminals later in the film, but the most notable is that the police, led by Pacino’s Lt. Vince Hanna, begin an investigation into the crew.
Mann’s presentation of the action most recently compares to the opening bank robbery sequence in The Dark Knight. It is face-paced, smash mouth-style violence and highlights an incredibly efficient and professional crew. But just as important as the action in Heat are the stories of the people, as Mann examines the effects of the world of crime on both the cops and the robbers, painting men like McCauley and Hanna as the same under the surface, despite very different motivations. Their personal lives are falling apart due to the dedication they each have to their respective jobs, and there is a collision course set between the two of them. This is reinforced by an absolutely incredible secondary cast, including the likes of Dennis Haysbert (24, The Unit), Jon Voight, Ashley Judd and Natalie Portman.
Warner Bros. updates the visuals and audio of Heat for the second time (the first being on the ill-fated HD-DVD), this time on Blu-ray. The 1080p resolution of Heat doesn’t provide the most defined clarity to be found on the medium, with Mann’s lighting likely playing a part in the lack of vibrancy, but it definitely looks like a fair upgrade of the visuals. What really impresses with Heat is the sound, most notably in the roughly 10-minute shootout between McCauley’s crew and the cops in broad daylight outside of a bank on the streets of L.A. The gunshots are deafening, and come from everywhere in the dynamic surround sound presentation, making it one of those fun scenes to show out of context as a display of the power of Dolby True HD audio. The mix otherwise does a great job, though the voices can be a bit subdued compared to the action at times.
There is a wealthy amount of special features – including an insightful commentary by Mann, additional scenes and five documentaries – but they are all simply ported in standard definition, so fans shouldn’t expect anything new here. This leaves the Heat update a formidable one, but not necessarily a requirement for owners of the DVD. And no amount of high-definition can make Heat any shorter, which is a shame, because for all of Mann’s incredible work, it still feels tedious at times.
Special Features:
- The Heat Blu-ray disc is presented in 1080p high-definition 16×9 2.4:1 aspect ratio video; Dolby True HD English 5.1, Dolby Digital English 5.1, French 5.1, Spanish 5.1 German 5.1 and Portuguese 1.0 audio; with English SDH, French, Spanish, Danish, Dutch, Finnish, German SDH, Norwegian, Portuguese and Swedish subtitles
- The special features are presented in 480i or 480p standard definition; stereo audio; with English, French, Spanish, Dutch, German SDH and Portuguese subtitles (on select bonus material)
- New content changes supervised by director Michael Mann
- Commentary by writer/producer/director Michael Mann
- 11 Additional Scenes
Five documentaries:
- True Crime: Recalling the real-life Chicago cop and criminal whose exploits inspired the movie
- Crime Stories: The screenplay’s 20-year history and how the movie finally got greenlit
- Info the Fire: Filming in L.A., cast training, shooting the climactic downtown heist and post-production
- Pacino and De Niro: The Conversation: Anatomy of this historic on-screen showdown
- Return to the Scene of the Crime: Revisiting the film’s real-life L.A. locations years later
Title: Heat [Blu-ray]Starring: Al Pacino, Robert De Niro, Tom Sizemore, Diane Venora, Amy Brenneman, Ashley Judd, Mykelti Williamson, Wes Studi, Ted Levine, Jon Voight, Val Kilmer
Directed by: Michael Mann
Studio: Warner Bros
Release Date: Nov. 10, 2009
Rating: 7.5 / 10
About the Writer:
Bill Jones is the editor-in-chief of padsandpanels.com, a site dedicated to the coverage of comics and games.
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