Movie Reviews

I'd heard plenty of good things about Michael Mann's Heat over the years, but I was never really all that interested in seeing it. I think what it came down was that I was a little weary about whether a three-hour crime drama could really be all that interesting. Turns out I didn't have anything to worry about, because this is an excellent movie.

I think the "epic-style" three-hour length really added a lot to the movie. The extra length allows the filmmaker to show much more in the way of characterization -- that is, when one of the characters does something drastic, there's plenty of understandable reason as to why the character did what he did. That's not to say that Mann really spells everything out to the audience. It's really more a matter of showing an extra layer of depth that you quite often can't show in under two hours.

Of course, I think everyone who's seen Heat will rave about the shoot-out after the bank-heist-gone-wrong... and for good reason: it's awesome. Another great scene involves a friendly meeting between the criminal mastermind-dude, Robert DeNiro, and the cop who's trying to bring him in, Al Pacino.

Why would these two get together and meet in such a friend, familiar way, you ask? Well, that's the kind of stuff that can more-or-less be explained in a three-hour epic.