"If high-level thief Neil McCauley (Robert De Niro) has steeled himself to sever relationships to anyone or anything at a moment's notice, the man pursuing him, police detective Vincent Hanna (Al Pacino), is defined by a refusal to let go. He holds on to his angst, he tells his wife (Diane Venora), refusing to engage in cathartic conversation with her so that the raw emotion of a crime scene can keep him "sharp, on the edge.""
"For all its sprawling scope, one of the film's most indelible visuals is of intimacy. Vincent and Neil sit across from each other at a coffee shop, where, , "Both men recognize that their next encounter will mean certain death for one of them. Gaining an edge is why they've chosen to meet." Neil is stiff, his posture reserved, his mouth pursed as if in a subconscious attempt to not let anything slip."
Released 30 years ago, Michael Mann's Heat is an almost-three-hour odyssey through Los Angeles and the minds of two ideologically opposed men. High-level thief Neil McCauley keeps relationships intentionally severed, while detective Vincent Hanna clings to emotional residue to stay 'sharp, on the edge.' Both men achieve consummate professionalism at the cost of personal fulfillment. An indelible intimate scene finds them sharing confidences over coffee, acknowledging that their next encounter may be mortal. Neil reveals a woman; Vincent reveals failed marriages. A sequel script has been greenlit, and television shows have borrowed the film's visuals and themes.
Read at Filmmaker Magazine
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