Heat (1995)

20180602:
Recently I watched The Godfather: Part II (1974) and Scarface (1983). Adding to this list of movies with Robert De Niro and Al Pacino, today I decided to watch Heat.

Lt. Vincent Hanna (Al Pacino)

Neil McCauley (Robert De Niro)

The movie has a different focus from the other two. The Godfather: Part II and Scarface are focused on the criminals and their organization. In contrast, Heat is focused more on both the cops and criminals.

While Scarface was the most consistent, Heat had the most amazing scene; throughout the film, two lead characters (played by Al Pacino and Robert De Niro) never interact except on two occasions, once in the middle of the film (the scene I'm referring to) and once at the end. The movie is essentially contained in that one scene alone. Unfortunately, it's also true that Heat was the most inconsistent of the three movies and contained side stories that were inessential to the film's plot.

Perhaps those scenes somehow addressed some important themes. If so, they flew over my head, and without them the film's running time could have been cut in half.

I enjoyed the movie as a whole and would recommend the film to fans of modern cop and crime movies, e.g., The Departed (2006).

Chris Shiherlis (Val Kilmer)

Netflix determined the movie for me as a 96% match. I decided to give the movie neither a thumbs up nor a thumbs down. I rated the movie 9 out of 10 on IMDb.com.

[20180602][20181009 Edit]

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Instant Comments:
Is that Val Kilmer? [Yes.]
Huh. How old is Natalie Portman here? How early was this role in her career? [This is third on her IMDb.com filmography, after Leon: The Professional (1994) and Developing (1994).]
"102.7 KIIS FM!" I listened to this station in Orange County!
Why not just take it all? What is the benefit of searching for just the one?
Huh. What if there were public cameras?
Oh, my concern about the cameras is addressed in this scene. "Probably disabled. Check them anyways."

Hanna

This actress looked like Katherine Heigl. [Her name is Ashley Judd]
That's quite a threat:

McCauley tells Van Zant, forget the money.
Roger Van Zant: What are you doing?
Neil McCauley: What am I doing? I'm talking to an empty telephone.
Roger Van Zant: I don't understand.
Neil McCauley: 'Cause there is a dead man on the other end of this fuckin' line

Offscreen. That guy who made the noise is gonna be fired. Lol.

Nate (Jon Voight)

It's interesting, because Pacino and De Niro have that one scene where they meet and then in the cafe, but in the cafe, they're only shown one at a time, so they could just be talking to a stand-in. [apparently there were rumors that they shot it independently, but they did in fact do the scene together; there was a camera that shot the profile (known as a "two shot"), but it was never cut into the film]:

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.

McCauley and Charlene Shiherlis (Ashley Judd)

I feel like the criminals in the middle are so badly positioned, that them not being shot already is surprising. Furthermore, we're talking about a large difference in manpower.
CRT Computer Monitor
Beeper
Wow. That ending. Starting when he spots the girl in the car.

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Watched 20180602 (Netflix, Instant)
Heat (1995) Michael Mann. 170 min

Relevant Links:
Heat (IMDb.com)
Heat (RottenTomatoes.com)
Heat (1995 film) (Wikipedia.org)