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Twenty-Five Years Later, ‘Heat’ Is Still the Juice

A meeting of two legends, an iconic ode to L.A., and a perfect heist thriller

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There is a moment in Heat that’s been living rent-free in my head for 25 years. It’s not one of the famous ones, of which there are plenty. Think of the opening glimpse of an urban rail train slowly coming into focus through plumes of smoke, its approaching headlights holding the audience in thrall. Or the closing tableau of Al Pacino’s Vincent Hanna standing victorious (or is he?) over the body of his professional nemesis and spiritual sibling Neil McCauley (Robert De Niro), as the city flickers indifferently in the distance.

But the image I’m thinking of comes in the chaos of the brutal mid-film shoot-out between Vincent’s and Neil’s cops-and-robbers crews—a 10-minute set piece that’s like an entire action movie in miniature, exploding all of Heat ’s simmering tensions in a hail of semiautomatic gunfire. Acting on a tip from one of their quarry’s disgruntled ex-confederates, Vincent and his LAPD robbery/homicide squad members ambush Neil’s team during a daring daylight bank robbery. As the bullets start flying, Vincent’s partner Bosko (Ted Levine) is hit and falls to the ground. Rushing toward the body, Vincent looks down and we get a shot of Levine lying prone and staring, his green eyes wild and frozen in sightless surprise. Vincent moves on, but a question lingers: How did a man who knew exactly what he was signing up for not see it coming?

Like no other Hollywood filmmaker of his vintage, Michael Mann is entrenched as an existentialist. The life-and-death stakes in his films are partially a by-product of the crime movie genre, with its lethal rituals of violence and reprisal. But in lieu of weightless escapism, the Chicago-born director pursues a sense of gravitas that bypasses melodrama for something more ephemeral. At his best—and a case can be made that Heat is Mann at his best—Mann’s movies feel cosmic. If Mann’s great theme is compulsion to live dangerously, he’s hardly shy about contemplating the consequences.

Mann is serious, but he’s also a show-off. One reason that he’s been so canonized by academics and auteurists alike is that his muscular-yet-mystical storytelling technique—relentless forward momentum punctuated by philosophical pauses—almost always calls attention to itself. Ditto the director’s embrace of digital formats, which he has used not in service of seamless illusion, à la the invisible CGI suturing of David Fincher, but to deconstruct and reimagine the visual syntax of multiplex action movies. Heat was shot on crisp 35 mm film, and it’s a beautiful-looking movie, but its follow-ups have been suspended between clarity and murk; think of the neon rainbows of Collateral , or Miami Vice , with its screen-saver skies. That this aesthetic transition from calculated, classical slickness to a blurry immediacy hasn’t really changed the substance of Mann’s work speaks to the consistency of his world view. Whatever lens he’s looking through, he always sees the same things.

What Mann’s movies perceive most acutely is the dilemma of professionalism—a contradiction dating back to his 1981 feature debut, Thief . There, James Caan’s master safecracker tried to extricate himself from a life of crime despite his genius-level proficiency at its dark arts. Instead of imposing or inviting judgment on a character, Mann emphasized the inherent value of a job well done, and exalted his hero’s refusal to let his gifts be subordinated or exploited by gangsters whose brute-force operations are analogous to corporate capitalism. It’s no coincidence that the two most hateful characters in Heat are William Fichtner’s white-collar money launderer Roger Van Zant and Kevin Gage’s perverse serial killer Waingro, nor that they end up forging an unlikely alliance. Waingro’s explanation for wasting two helpless cops and compromising an otherwise precise heist—a mistake that sets the movie’s plot in motion—is “I had to get it on.” If there’s anything that Mann despises more than cynical expediency, it’s sloppiness.

De Niro’s performance in Heat is a model of composure—the title of the book we see him reading, Stress Fractures in Titanium , encapsulates his unflappability. Pacino is more voluble, operating in the same realm of borderline self-parody as The Devil’s Advocate but yoking his flamboyance smartly to the demands of the role. Whenever Vincent flies off the handle, it’s always shown to be purposeful—as the coping mechanism of a put-upon, possibly coked-up cop . Depending on the situation, Vincent is willing to go by the book or to throw it away. It’s no surprise that critics riding Mann’s wavelength, as well as detractors skeptical of his legend, are equally primed to size up his studies of weirdo, alpha-male ascetics—from FBI profilers ( Manhunter ), to boxers ( Ali ), to contract killers ( Collateral ), to freelance hackers ( Blackhat )—as distinct brush strokes in some collective painting of directorial self-portraiture.

The pathos in Mann’s movies—including and especially Heat —comes from the impossibility of reconciling individual excellence with conventional forms of security and fulfillment. This lone-wolf archetype gets effectively doubled in Heat , which was sold as an unprecedented summit of two ranking New Hollywood icons. The coffee date between Neil and Vincent— which, amazingly, was never rehearsed prior to shooting —is exactly as intense and enjoyable as you remember, heightened by Mann’s choice to cut exclusively between over-the-shoulder close-ups, as if the characters were reluctant to share the frame. The point of the scene, of course, is that Vincent and Neil are mirror images of one another, virtuoso workaholics in trades with life-or-death stakes. There’s a comic-book aspect to their rivalry, which may be why Christopher Nolan cribbed so much from Heat in his Batman movies. The difference is that where The Dark Knight strives to give its globally recognized icons a human dimension, Heat makes a couple of guys having a cup of coffee into myth.

Heat ’s pulpy grandeur stems not only from Mann’s characteristic formalism: his serene, lyrical establishing shots and his hyperbolic use of color to delineate psychological states. It’s also a testament to his instincts as a city filmmaker. With respect to Pacino and De Niro, if Heat deserved an acting Oscar, it would be for Los Angeles playing itself. Shooting in and around America’s most widely photographed city, Mann insisted on locations that had only rarely (or never) been used before. The result is a movie that evokes an entire history of L.A.-based procedurals without ever replicating them. If it’s possible for a film to feel simultaneously specific and nondescript, Heat ’s topography of lonely off-ramps, glowing industrial towers, and rusted metal shipping containers is like wasteland vérité. Even the most chic and luxurious spaces are made strange by Mann’s belief in a steely, unvarnished realism. When Vincent catches his wife, Justine (Diane Venora), cheating on him with a stranger named Ralph (Xander Berkeley), he’s seemingly less aggrieved by her infidelity than that he has to come home to her “ex-husband’s dead-tech, postmodernistic bullshit house” in order to deal with it.

“When do you finally want to buy furniture?” cracks Chris Shiherlis (Val Kilmer) upon waking up broke and hungover on the floor in Neil’s spartan beachfront residence—a question that, like so much of the dialogue in Heat , pops the hood on the sequence’s subtexts about literal and figurative emptiness. “Don’t let yourself get attached to anything you are not willing to walk out on in 30 seconds flat if you feel the heat around the corner,” Neil tells his pal, a dictum that apparently extends to couches. (A shot of a gun being placed on a glass table quotes the Canadian painter Alex Colville’s 1967 masterpiece Pacific while indicating the extent of Neil’s material possessions.) The common denominator between Vincent and Neil is their commitment-phobic approach to personal relationships—their need to build themselves escape hatches.

But Chris, who’s played by Kilmer in a wonderfully weird performance that’s almost a parody of broodingly handsome fuck-ups, is defined by his devotion to his wife, Charlene (Ashley Judd). Heat surrounds both of its protagonists with figures who serve as liabilities to their respective enterprises—women and children, mostly, with Vincent growing ever more protective of his stepdaughter Lauren (Natalie Portman). Neil, meanwhile, is threatened not only by his emerging romance with Amy Brenneman’s Eady—a newcomer to L.A. who explains on a first date that graphic design is her passion—but also by Charlene through the proxy of Chris. There is a strange, troubling scene where Neil confronts Charlene about her extramarital affair and basically threatens her to stay with her compulsive-gambler husband until he’s completed one last big score or else. Even though we know De Niro is playing an antihero, there’s something unsettling about the character’s willingness to intimidate and instrumentalize the people around him that complicates his romantic self-conception as a lone wolf. It’s one thing to live by an ascetic, samurai-like code of self-preservation; it’s another to try to impose those standards on everybody else.

Heat ’s sprawling plot is filled with poetic coincidences, like having Waingro revealed as the serial killer Vincent has been trailing since long before the film begins; when Neil kills Waingro in retribution for screwing up his operation (and selling him out to Van Zant), he’s unknowingly doing his pursuer’s work for him (yet another of the script’s doubling motifs). The structure piles on tragedies, like the subplot about a sympathetic ex-con (Dennis Haysbert) whose recidivism gets him killed out of nowhere. By the time Vincent is rushing Lauren to the hospital after a suicide attempt, the three-hour running time feels more like a compressed minseries—which is actually true enough.

Mann originally wrote the script for Heat in 1979, integrating the experiences and anecdotes of a Chicago-based cop named Chuck Adamson. His 16-year odyssey to get the movie made suggests a deeply personal investment in the material. Mann’s 1989 television movie L.A. Takedown was conceived as a TV pilot for NBC following the success of Miami Vice. If you watch it now, you can see the narrative and thematic outlines of Heat: the Vincent-Neil rivalry, the laserlike focus on police procedure, the loose-cannon Waingro subplot (with the character played by Xander Berkeley), a big shoot-out that brings together all the different plot threads. What’s missing, though—besides a $60 million budget and two gigantic movie stars—is the grandiloquent passion of the movie version.

Nobody who loves Heat can deny that it’s pretentious. It’s very pretentious: For the final showdown between Pacino and De Niro, Mann uses Moby’s meditative, synth-driven “God Moving Over the Face of the Waters,” a title that expressly reflects the director’s metaphysical aspirations. The song competes for space on the soundtrack with the thundering of jets overhead as Neil and Vincent stalk each other one last time on the tarmac at LAX, a backdrop symbolizing departure and freedom—the latter paradoxically achieved by Neil going out on his own terms.

“Brother, you are going down,” Vincent had told Neil earlier in the diner. The greatness of Mann’s ending is that it fulfills the lethal part of Pacino’s prophecy while making us feel everything implied in that biblical word “brother.” Just because we can see the finale coming doesn’t make it any less devastating. The inevitability is part of the shock. The pretentiousness is the point. The action is the juice. The movie is the best.

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'Heat' Review: A Crime Epic That Lives up to Its Reputation

Collider's look at classic films continues with a fresh take on Michael Mann's crime epic Heat, and how at its core it's about connection.

In the pantheon of crime films, Michael Mann's Heat is one that comes up often in conversation. And while I'd been a fan of Mann's previous work — most notably Collateral and his adaptation of Miami Vice — I hadn't seen Heat. However, after watching the film, I can say that the praise is well deserved, as Mann not only crafted a sprawling crime epic but also a tale about relationships and how easy they are to form, as well as break. Combined with the magnetic performances of Robert De Niro and Al Pacino , this approach makes Heat a must-watch film.

Heat owes its existence to the exploits of a real-life crimina l, Neil McCauley, the same name as the character De Niro plays. McCauley was an extremely skilled criminal who entered into a game of cat and mouse with a police detective and wound up being shot. While most of Heat is fictional, its events having a basis in real life helps the film stand out from other crime capers of the time, such as Se7en or Pulp Fiction . While those films relied on a flashier visual style and snappy dialogue, Heat has a lot more on its mind.

The film properly begins when McCauley and his crew of criminals pull off the robbery of an armored truck. Things go south when new member Waingro ( Kevin Gage ) shoots one of the truck's guards dead, resulting in a firefight. This also brings the attention of Lieutenant Vincent Hanna (Pacino), who is determined to bring the criminals in. From the jump, Heat draws parallels between Hanna and McCauley. Both are extremely skilled in their line of work, as Hanna is able to piece together the events of the robbery just by looking at the crime scene and McCauley plans out the heist to the most minute details.

Relationships Are What Gives 'Heat' Its Spark

But where the film really draws a line between the two is their relationships with others, and how those relationships are strengthened or weakened. Hanna is in his third marriage, and he and his wife Justine ( Diane Venora ) are slowly drifting apart. Matters aren't helped by the fact that Justine's previous husband is neglecting to spend time with their daughter, Lauren ( Natalie Portman ). McCauley, on the other hand, sticks to a simple code he recites like a mantra: "Don't let yourself get attached to anything you are not willing to walk out on in 30 seconds flat if you feel the heat around the corner." Great for pulling off heists, less so in practice for starting a relationship, which throws McCauley's entire life into whack when he falls for artist Eady ( Amy Brenneman ). As McCauley grows serious about Eady to the point where he breaks his vow to run away with her, Hanna grows separate from his wife — even walking in on her cheating with him.

RELATED: Val Kilmer Would Love to See Michael Mann Make 'Heat 2'

Another pair of relationships that provide a nice contrast to the film is how McCauley treats his fellow thieves VS how Hanna treats his fellow colleagues. McCauley's crew is more like a family; they have each others' backs and even eat at restaurants together, with each member of the crew bringing his family. Keeping in line with that loyalty, McCauley tracks down and brutally executes Waingro after he sells the other members of their gang out to the LAPD. In contrast, Hanna sees his fellow police officers as little more than tools to be used in the pursuit of justice. He also doesn't take too kindly to people getting in his way, and often threatens them with jail time or worse.

That Memorable Diner Scene

Eventually, Hanna and McCauley do come face to face in a diner, in the film's most memorable scene. There, they talk about their obsessive natures and how they can't stop what they were made to do. Mann brings the slowly simmering intensity to a boil here, as De Niro and Pacino stare each other down. "You do what you do, and I do what I gotta do," Hanna tells McCauley. "And now that we've been face to face, if I'm there and I gotta put you away, I won't like it." McCauley responds, "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." This exchange proves to be prophetic, as the two have a final shootout in an airfield and Hanna fatally shoots McCauley. Yet in a sobering moment, Heat closes on Hanna standing over McCauley's dead body, grasping his hand. In the end, the duo found a bond with each other.

Heat is also one of the most tension-filled movies I've ever seen. Mann knows how to build up suspense, as his camera trails McCauley and crew as they walk through a bank with the intention to rob it. From there, the action escalates into a firefight - bullets shatter glass, tearing through flesh and sending blood flying. Mann shot the entire film on location, resulting in a more immersive experience. I was at the edge of my seat watching McCauley and his crew attempt to escape, and leaned back with a sigh of relief after they did. Kudos also go to Elliott Goldenthal , whose score shifts from haunting to harrowing on a dime.

RELATED: Michael Mann's 'Ferrari' Begins Shooting in Italy

A Killer Cast

And keeping in line with his future films, Mann stacked the cast with a murderer's row of talent. In addition to De Niro, Pacino and Portman, there's Val Kilmer as McCauley's right-hand man Chris Shiherlis; Jon Voight as his fence Nate; and Ashley Judd as Chris' wife Charlene. Even Dennis Haysbert and Danny Trejo have brief roles. And each actor makes use of their screen time: Haysbert, for example, plays a character who gets out of jail and is looking to go straight but ends up being the getaway driver for McCauley's crew. Mann also used real-life members of the LAPD in his film, which further adds to the authenticity.

Mann recently penned a sequel to Heat , which covers McCauley and Hanna's lives before the events of the film. It's also inspired other films, most notably The Dark Knight as director Christopher Nolan is a huge fan of Mann's, and William Fichtner has a role in both films.

When all is said and done, Heat is one of the rare films that manages to live up to its reputation years after its debut. If you're looking for a good thriller or have some time on your hands, give it a watch. You won't regret it.

Heat Review

02 Feb 1996

172 minutes

Your eyes are not deceiving you. This slick, highly charged crime thriller is creamed with the first ever on-screen pairing of uberthesps De Niro and Pacino (they never shared the screen in Godfather II). A tantalising prospect in itself. That Michael Mann's film is an extraordinarily intelligent, stylish, violent, realistic study of moral decay and human nature in the City Of Angels, makes it doubly important. Heat proves one thing absolute. If you put great actors in a great script with a great visionary director in control, then you get a great movie. It's as simple as that.

Mann, as writer, has concocted a duel. On one side the cop, Vincent Hannah (Pacino), the dogged hunter prone to bursts of unwieldy emotion, possessing a sixth sense at second guessing his prey. His foe, the robber, is Neil McCauley (De Niro), icy cool, rational, brilliant, psychotic head of a gang of heist-kings equipped with automatic weapons and never-say-die obsessions. The battleground is a LA shorn of glamour. This is a moody, expansive cityscape, shot in earthy pastels, a twilight world of twisted morals, crumbling relationships, and dying dreams. Compared to your average studio movie it could be the surface of the moon. The film's sense of environment is peerless.

As Hannah and his crew of besuited cops close in, McCauley and his crew - an impressively edgy Kilmer, and reliable class from Tom Sizemore - plan the big score, taking a downtown bank under the very eyes of police surveillance. What lifts this beyond being yet another crime thriller, is Mann's dedication to creating inner-life for all the characters. The film flits between a maze of credibly defunct relationships: Pacino in an imploding marriage (to Diane Verona), De Niro falling for the quiet Amy Brenneman, Kilmer's volatile marriage to Ashley Judd... these characters have dimension. There is a genuine sense of loss for those who die, and understanding for those who strive.

Mann, who induced mood aplenty with Manhunter and visceral action with Last Of The Mohicans, here amalgamates his fetishes. Heat spills sobriety of feeling before (enhanced by the sleek synthesised score) erupting in moments of nerve jangling action. The bank job, true to form, goes haywire, resulting in a ferocious, thumpingly loud gun battle more Beruit CNN-style.

Pacino and De Niro are shapeshifters extraordinare, and they strike admirably different courses through the film (De Niro's vulnerable mastermind is the winner by a hand) and although they only meet twice in the film, the scenes are crucial and hair-tinglingly charged. And the huge support cast - including a transformed Jon Voight - fill the overabundance of subplots with shape and colour. There is too much going on, for too long, but by the end everything slots neatly into place, and the parting shot carries a cool poignancy that hovers in the mind for days.

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Heat 2 Brings Michael Mann's Exacting Vision, Improbably, to the Page

By Jason Diamond

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I was close to 50 pages into Michael Mann’s Heat 2 —the novel, co-written with novelist Meg Gardiner, that tells the story of the before and after Mann’s 1995 crime drama—when I realized what was missing.

First, I should say: “missing” might not be the right word. Heat 2 is a mini-doorstopper, at over 450 pages, and it couldn’t be more up my alley. I’ve been a Mann devotee since Miami Vice came out when I was four years old and for whatever reason I was allowed to watch it. I was a Mann boy and now I’m a Mann man, so to speak. I’ve been following his work for such a large chunk of my life that the way he shoots things—the look and the vibe of his work—has influenced many of my own stylistic choices. Mann was my gateway drug into so much: old neo-noir films that influenced his work, as well as films from other masters of highly-stylized crime dramas, from Abel Ferrara to John Woo. It's not unlike following legends of hardboiled fiction Dashiell Hammett and Raymond Chandler to modern contemporaries like Walker Mosley, Megan Abbott, and Laura Lippman. And while Mann has served as a writer on his greatest crime films, I’ve been drawn to his stories because they're as good looking as they are engaging. They are, to put it simply, fun and cool : Mann understands how to balance story with wild shootouts and great looks. Movies like Heat and Miami Vice appeal to me on multiple levels.

Heat 2 necessarily reimagines how a Michael Mann story works, since it’s all on the page. There are rumors that it might become something more, but for now the book feels like it’s filling a void more for the creator of the story than devotees like me. That's to say: I was perfectly happy with the nearly three-hour film on its own, and was curious as much as I was stunned that Mann had more to add. But as soon as I started reading it I started to see why Mann wanted this to exist. The novel explains how the film's heist gang, led by Robert De Niro’s Neil McCauley, came together, in a sort of prequel. But we also get the sequel: the things that happened after the events of Heat . It’s two separate stories linked together with the movie. We get a glimpse into the early days of the gang, but also a deeper look into the life and mind of detective Vincent Hanna, played by Al Pacino in the film.

But by the time I hit page 48 of Heat 2 and read, “Alexander Dalecki—Alex, to the woman snorting lines off the living room table—stands naked at the kitchen counter, pouring Johnnie Walker Black into two glasses,” I knew what felt different. That’s when it truly sunk in that I was reading a Michael Mann story—that I was going to have to change the way I look at his work entirely. I liked the challenge. I loved that even though I couldn’t see the table, I was pretty sure it was made of chrome , maybe with a leather couch nearby. And what sort of glasses were they drinking from? I imagine heavy crystal, some not-quite-Baccarat sort of thing. I didn’t want to know these things to nitpick, though. It’s a book! And a sick book, at that! It wouldn’t be fair to expect Mann and Gardiner to go full laundry-list on the clothing, furniture, cars, and accessories in their novel. It would probably make for a worse book. But the experience reminded me that Mann has always been a director obsessed with aesthetics and atmosphere. And while reading a Mann story is great, seeing and hearing it is a totally different experience.

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Robert De Niro and Val Kilmer in Heat 's iconic bank shootout scene.

Each new Mann project shares a similar quality: it’s almost always simultaneously aesthetically of its time, but also way ahead of things. The whole idea for Miami Vice , for instance, can be summed up as “cop show plus MTV”: a formula tailor-made for its release in the ‘80s, but that, seen from today’s vantage point, seems the epitome of retro. There’s always this long strange gap, between when a Mann movie feels perfect and when it feels perfect again: being very closely tied to a specific time means you run the risk of feeling dated when that time has passed. I recall rewatching Miami Vice 20 years after it came out and thinking it looked so 1980 ; Heat similarly felt extremely ‘90s a decade after its release. And, somewhat tellingly, Mann’s 2006 film version of Miami Vice , starring Colin Farrell and Jamie Foxx, was a box office success—but the critics weren’t as into it. One wrote, “Unlike the TV series, Miami Vice takes itself too seriously to be trashy—and too seriously to be much fun either,” while another felt, “It can look cool. But more often, as we wait for the lightning that never arrives, it frustrates.” At the time, people felt the movie was too post-9/11 gloomy and somber.

But the thing about Mann’s work is that, while it initially ages horribly, over the long run it matures into something spectacular. A decade and a half later years later, critics are writing about how Miami Vice went from “ Misfire to Masterpiece ,” quite possibly the only “ cult favorite ” I can think of that also happened to debut at number one and make $164 million at the box office. He has always had an eye (and an ear; the soundtracks are always top-notch) for details, the things that make scenes pop. All the blue light bouncing off of white marble or glass in Heat , the blinking lights of 1980s Chicago shining off of James Caan as he leans up against a beam in Thief , Don Johnson and Phillip Michael Thomas pulling up a Ferrari Daytona Spyder 365 GTS/4 to a phone booth under a neon sign as Phil Collins sings “In the Air Tonight.” These were all very specific choices and have left a lasting impact for a reason.

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Heat 2 doesn’t have to contend with that. A film version might, but as a book that’s out in 2022 and set in both the late-1980s and mid-1990s, it’s basically Michael Mann historical fiction. That’s not something I ever thought I’d type, but given the opportunity, I wish there was even more of it now. It gave me a better understanding into how the creator of Heat saw an even bigger world, but also made me appreciate a guy whose work I’ve literally grown up on. That sort of thing doesn’t happen very often.

There are plenty of other directors who have great vision, who understand the style of a moment and how a certain song can truly capture the mood. But Mann’s whole thing is a trust in his own vision and an absolute belief that little details are a must. The guy seems to operate on a creative level not dissimilar from the one inhabited by some of the great fashion designers, who know that new seasons require new trends, but that good taste is timeless. Being able to turn that into a great story, whether Heat on the big screen or Heat 2 in a book, is a trick few besides Mann can pull off. There’s sex, violence, cool cars, bright lights, and a whole lot of grit. It all works together. When a character is at the Beverly Hilton—where “everything gleams,” including the “Lamborghini and the Bugatti parked outside the entrance, placed like ornaments,"—I kept thinking, Man, I can see that…in a Michael Mann movie. I want to see that in a Michael Mann movie. And if that doesn’t happen, then I’m happy I read it in a Michael Mann novel.

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Critical essays, histories, and appreciations of great films

Essay by Brian Eggert May 5, 2013

In Heat , all the meticulous authenticity and coolly portrayed characters inherent to a Michael Mann picture fulfill a crime epic of incredible scale and ambition. Over the course of twenty years, Mann developed and accumulated detail for his script, and in 1995 he set out to broaden the limitations of an otherwise formal genre structure. Lending an atypical approach to a basic “cops and robbers” scenario, Mann achieved a film less about crime genre exploits and more about the failing machismo of two uncompromising men. As a professional thief heading an expert crew and the unrelenting detective pursuing them, icons Robert De Niro and Al Pacino make their first onscreen appearance together in the film. Through their magnificent performances and Mann’s operatic script, Heat becomes a crime-infused melodrama beyond compare. More than basic genre thrills, which this film has in abundance, Mann’s moody character piece explores the inner lives of his subjects, how their work affects their relationships, and how their ongoing existential and personal dilemmas derive from their professional lives. Unique to the film is Mann’s daring balance of human tragedy and genre excitement; even while he considers weighty themes of identity and troubled masculinity, his treatment of the action operates in a hyper-real mode that grounds the film’s theatricality into a stirring, convincing drama.

Mann’s career as a feature filmmaker consists of projects infused with a single unchanging contradiction: his are films marked by their realism yet brimming with style. By definition, style is an ornamentation of reality, and this aesthetic conflict has never been ideologically resolved by Mann yet it is the balance of these components that makes many of his films great. Amid Mann’s occasional failures, the normally incongruous pairing of style and realism delivers the kind of motion picture to which the director is best attributed. After growing up in a tough Chicago neighborhood where he filmed some of the Chicago riots as a student, Mann attended the London International Film School in the mid-1960s and studied documentary film-making. His footage of the 1968 Paris riots earned him some notoriety, and after several years he broke into television by writing and producing TV movies and cop shows (such as Starsky and Hutch , Police Story , Vega$ , Miami Vice , and Crime Story ). Strong notices for his ABC movie-of-the-week, The Jericho Mile (1979), about prison life shot entirely within Folsom State Penitentiary, earned Mann and his severe realism attention from Hollywood. Mann’s reputation would be forever solidified by his immersive, stunningly detailed environments that are at once loaded with the capacity for narrative drama, but his work was also inhabited with a remarkable level of pure information. Mann’s authenticity is then counteracted and sometimes balanced by his visual style, which includes a rich use of colors and visual metaphors to enhance his realism with superbly melodramatic flourishes.

Only after Mann earned vast acclaim and box-office success for The Last of the Mohicans was the theatrical feature Heat possible. The basis for Mann’s screenplay, written years earlier, was a true story relayed to him by Adamson in the 1970s. In his Chicago years, Adamson tracked and, in 1964, killed a professional thief and ex-Alcatraz resident named Neil McCauley whom Adamson greatly admired. While hunting McCauley, Adamson met him for coffee and they shared a conversation. The cop found the crook to be as intelligent and as resolute as himself, and he thought that perhaps in another life they might have been friends. Still, when he eventually confronted McCauley at the scene of an armored car robbery, Adamson shot and killed his opponent during a gunfight. Fascinated by the notion of a cop who admires a thief and the duality of that admiration, Mann wrote a script based on Adamson’s story and first produced it as a TV movie in 1989 called L.A. Takedown , although the outcome contained few of Heat ’s many dramatic subplots and almost none of its precision filmmaking. Later, Mann showed the expanded script to producer Art Linson ( The Untouchables ), and they agreed to develop the material into a feature. Linson pursued his frequent collaborator Robert De Niro to star, while Mann sought Al Pacino. Both powerhouse actors at the height of their respective careers, when De Niro and Pacino signed on the film was greenlit with a budget of $60 million, a number that was more than tripled at the box-office.

Throughout the picture, Mann intercuts McCauley’s scenes with those of Lieutenant Vincent Hanna (Pacino) of the LAPD Robbery-Homicide Division. Hanna, a tenacious cop on his third marriage, this time to neglected wife Justine (Diane Venora), arrives on the scene of McCauley’s armored car robbery in Heat ’s opening and immediately recognizes the skill needed for such crime. Persistent detective work puts him onto the scent of McCauley’s ever-cautious crew, and a cat-and-mouse game persists as Hanna’s regard for McCauley’s sharp instincts is matched only by his desire to catch him. At home, Justine announces her frustration by having an affair, while Hanna’s teenaged stepdaughter Lauren (Natalie Portman) shows signs of depression over her inattentive biological father. Unable to catch his prey and frustrated with his crumbling home life, Hanna engages McCauley directly and asks him to sit down for a cup of coffee. The two men talk and relate to one another: Hanna laments how his devotion to the job has made his home life miserable; McCauley describes how his relationship with his woman is fleeting because his self-imposed code means he must always be on the lookout, ready to leave her at a moment’s notice. Despite sharing mutual feelings about their personal and professional lives, and their mutual admiration for one another, both men maintain that should they meet again at the scene of McCauley’s next crime, neither will hesitate to open fire.

Mann’s integrity is also evident in the bank robbery which occurs after the coffee shop meet. Whereas another heist yarn might designate such a bold crime as the climax of the story, Mann places it at the center and follows the bravado sequence with a lengthy aftermath rooted in the dramatic fates of his characters. The focus in Heat is not the fantastical crimes but the lives of the people surrounding them. McCauley’s crew enters the bank in broad daylight and performs the bank heist with practiced efficiency. Upon exiting to the getaway car, McCauley, Shiherlis, and Cherrito are met by Hanna and the virtual army of cops who were tipped off by Van Zant and Waingro. A violent standoff in the city streets erupts between cops and robbers. Cherrito dies, Shiherlis is injured, and McCauley barely escapes, while several cops lose their lives. Desperate to track down McCauley before he can leave town, Hanna finds that McCauley is tying up loose ends, among them Van Zant. With Eady, who has discovered that her lover is a professional thief, McCauley promises to reform if they run away together; hesitant but also lonely, she agrees. Meanwhile, Hanna has lost the trail, distracted by Lauren, who has attempted suicide and in that brought he and Justine closer. McCauley and Eady are all but “home free” to the airport when his compulsive drives send him on a last-minute undertaking to finally eliminate Waingro. After the deed is done, he returns to Eady but sees Hanna, who was tipped off about Waingro’s location, approaching. McCauley does as he promised and turns away from Eady, who looks on with fragile confusion and devastation over her abandonment. After a short chase across an airport tarmac, Hanna too carries out his promise and shoots McCauley down.

Mann’s affinity for tragedy throughout Heat might reach too far if he did not counterbalance his melodrama with astounding realism and subtle style. The director demonstrates efficiency, self-control, and simplicity worthy of comparison to Jean-Pierre Melville’s similarly themed Le cercle rouge (1970), whose penchant for cool style and scrupulous details were clearly an influence on Mann. Note the Melvillian stroke in Mann’s robbers and how they dress; McCauley’s crew does not look like crooks or even very masculine. They look stylish, if not chic in their designer suits; clean cut and organized. As McCauley notes, “Do you see me doin’ thrill-seeker liquor store hold-ups with a ‘Born To Lose’ tattoo on my chest?” Of course not. McCauley’s crew is professional, and therefore not subject to the stupid mistakes made by robbers in Stanley Kubrick’s The Killing (1956) or Quentin Tarantino’s Reservoir Dogs (1992). Mann has elevated these professionals with melodrama and tragedy. Another clear influence is Raoul Walsh’s gangster classic White Heat (1949), an equally tragic tale starring James Cagney as a criminal made insane by his inner conflicts and his chosen line of work. Mann’s film is distinct in that he resolves to conceal his drama within the reality of his setting, the sprawling concrete wasteland of Los Angeles. Shooting at 85 locations around LA, Mann depicts a mythic asphalt jungle where the muted street scenery provides a contrast to his dramatic characters. Cinematographer Dante Spinotti’s lensing is blue-hued and dark, conveying characters that appear pale in their surroundings, yet their lives are filled with hugely dramatic events. The look of Heat is textured and gloriously cinematic, just as much as Mann’s choice of music that alternates between classic orchestral strings to the booming sounds of Moby’s “New Dawn Fades”. Always, the director is juxtaposing realism and style.

The film also establishes disparate sexual politics between men and women, between dedicated professional men uncomfortable with themselves and the women who wait for them to return home. McCauley and Hanna excel at their professions but struggle with their personal lives; they desire a better home life, but their work consumes them. Women characters from Justine to Eady to Charlene represent the “real world” outside of taking scores or tracking criminals; their presence and the emotional veracity that Mann impels into these relationships make both McCauley and Hanna seem insane for taking the risks they do. As a result, McCauley and Hanna both have anxieties about women and work, because for them it’s impossible to find a balance between the two. Hanna feels guilt over always having to rush off to investigate another crime. Watch the way he catches himself after coming home late one night and ruining Justine’s meal: He begins “I’ve got three dead bodies on a sidewalk off Venice boulevard, Justine.” And then he realizes he has no reason to take it out on Justine, trailing off “I’m sorry if the goddamn… chicken got… overcooked.” Later, Hanna looks on with guilt when Justine tells him “You don’t live with me, you live among the remains of dead people. You sift through the detritus, you read the terrain, you search for signs of passing, for the scent of your prey, and then you hunt them down. That’s the only thing you’re committed to. The rest is the mess you leave as you pass through.” McCauley, meanwhile, is temped away from his self-imposed rules about no attachments, as attachments are inevitable in life. McCauley doesn’t help his own cause by being a romantic, tender even as he talks to Eady about how the LA lights look like iridescent algae in Figi, how he’s never been there, and how he’s going there “someday”. He claims “I’m alone, I am not lonely” but both Eady and the audience can see that’s not true.

To label the film merely a crime story, melodrama, heist movie, policier in the French definition, or even a thriller limits the film’s true reaches and downplays its epic stature. Perhaps it’s all of the above, which makes the film something unique and therefore special. Apparent from the outset is Mann’s vast dramatic objectives and his skill behind the camera, but is there a message to his film, or does Heat simply resolve to be another entry in the genre featuring Al Pacino and Robert De Niro as cop and crook? It is much more than that, but defining a picture as complex as this remains a challenge, yet complexity is also sometimes a determining characteristic of great cinema. Much like the characters and formal approach of Heat , both represented with curious incongruities, the film is not easy to dissect or define. There are contradictions abound, such as Mann’s use of both realism and style, or the raw thrill of his robbery sequences versus the emotional significance of the story. If there is a thematic lesson, it may be that it’s dangerous if not impossible to be alone, but to be truly successful, one must be alone, which itself is a paradox. That Mann finds a balance between our concern for his characters’ personal lives and the outcome of their stunningly arranged crimes speaks to the skill of this filmmaker’s finest picture, a sweeping, deeply moving saga.

Bibliography:

James, Nick. Heat (BFI Modern Classics). London: British Film Institute, 2002.

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Heat (1995), common sense media reviewers.

Criminal, police face off in bloody '90s action-adventure.

A Lot or a Little?

What you will—and won't—find in this movie.

Seeking revenge can have bloody consequences.

A criminal is intelligent, thoughtful, and meticul

Masked men rob a bank, yelling obscenities at inno

A naive lonely woman goes home with a stranger and

"F--k," "s--t," "motherf--ker," and "ass."

A woman says she's stoned on marijuana and the ant

Positive Messages

Positive role models.

A criminal is intelligent, thoughtful, and meticulous in his planning, but the same guy also is an unhesitatingly brutal killer. Still, he demonstrates loyalty by not leaving a wounded co-conspirator to die. Two married women have affairs when dissatisfied with their difficult husbands. A cop devotes more of his life to catching criminals than to his wife and stepdaughter. A cop mercifully holds the hand of the killer he tracked down and shot, waiting for him to die rather than arresting him and sending him back to jail. A demented serial killer tells a young, scantily dressed prostitute that he plans to kill her. A young teen tries to kill herself, and her stepfather saves her. Husbands and wives break up for good reasons but still try to support each other in stressful times.

Violence & Scariness

Masked men rob a bank, yelling obscenities at innocent bystanders, threatening to shoot. They shoot police officers who chase them, and we see their bloodied bodies. One robber grabs a child as hostage and is shot in the face by a police officer. A serial killer tells his victim that the Grim Reaper has come for her. She is later seen dead as her mother grieves for her. Armed criminals rob an armored car by crashing into it. Cars are upended and drivers are injured. A robber shoots an unarmed guard to death without provocation. A fatally wounded man begs his friend to kill him rather than let him suffer, and the friend complies, shooting at close range. A man throws things when angry with his wife.

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Sex, Romance & Nudity

A naive lonely woman goes home with a stranger and has sex with him. A clothed couple kisses.

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Drinking, Drugs & Smoking

A woman says she's stoned on marijuana and the antidepressant Prozac. Adults drink alcohol.

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Parents Need to Know

Parents need to know that Heat features numerous bloody shooting deaths; a serial killer who bludgeons a young, scantily clad prostitute; and tense situations during the commission of robberies and revenge killings. Expect multiple instances of "f--k," "s--t," "motherf---ker," and "ass." A naive lonely woman goes home with a stranger and has sex with him. Two married women have affairs when they're dissatisfied with their difficult husbands. To stay in the loop on more movies like this, you can sign up for weekly Family Movie Night emails .

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Community Reviews

Parents say (7)
Kids say (15)

Based on 7 parent reviews

Excellent movie, ignore Barbara's (reviewer) review...

Michael manns best, what's the story.

Police lieutenant Vincent ( Al Pacino ) solves a murderous bank robbery and brings on the HEAT as he lays in wait for the ringleader, Neil ( Robert De Niro ), and his crew to make their next moves. The cop comes to respect the criminal, who is as exacting and professional in his illegal undertakings as the cop is in his detective work. In pursuit of their individual kinds of excellence, both shortchange their personal lives and immerse themselves in violence and loss.

Is It Any Good?

At nearly three violent hours, this movie embodies the term "overkill" on many levels of meaning. Director Michael Mann brings too much of everything -- bodies, blood, plot complications -- to his rumination on the oft-cited observation that cops and criminals are alike, separated only by the law. By the third hour, thoughtfully paralleling the overly complex life of a master criminal with that of a master cop devolves into improbability and a lack of logic. The killer, cold-blooded and smart through the first two hours, turns incredibly sentimental and stupid, allowing himself the luxury of bloody revenge, which seals his own unfortunate fate. Heat takes far too much time to bring De Niro and Pacino together for the first time in their long careers, but their two scenes together do sparkle.

Talk to Your Kids About ...

Families can talk about the relationship between police officers and the criminals they pursue. Do they have to think like criminals to catch them? How is that relationship portrayed in Heat ?

Under what circumstances might a police officer come to respect a criminal he or she is tracking?

Do you think very smart criminals could do well in legal ventures if they attempted to go straight? Why, or why not?

Do you think this movie is still relevant, or does it feel dated? Why?

Movie Details

In theaters : December 8, 1995
On DVD or streaming : September 4, 2007
Cast : Robert De Niro , Al Pacino , Val Kilmer
Director : Michael Mann
Studio : Warner Home Video
Genre : Drama
Run time : 172 minutes
MPAA rating : R
MPAA explanation : For violence and language
Last updated : May 12, 2024

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Review: Slick crime novel ‘Heat 2' revisits a classic movie

This image released by William Morrow shows “Heat 2" by Michael Mann and Meg Gardiner. (William Morrow via AP)

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“Heat 2: A Novel” by Michael Mann and Meg Gardiner (William Morrow)

Hollywood screenwriter and director Michael Mann and veteran thriller writer Meg Gardiner have achieved a rarity with their novel “Heat 2”: a screen-to-page sequel that stands tall on its own.

When the screen goes dark at the end of Mann’s 1995 crime drama “Heat,” professional thief Neil McCauley (played by Robert De Niro) and most of his crew are dead, put in their graves either by police or rivals. The sole survivor, a wounded Chris Shiherlis (Val Kilmer), leaves behind his wife and son to avoid capture.

The Los Angeles Police Department is bloodied, too, by a broad-daylight firefight outside a downtown bank. A robbery-homicide division detective, Vincent Hanna (Al Pacino), has shot and killed McCauley mano-a-mano near the L.A. airport. Hanna had felt an affinity for McCauley, both professionals who sacrifice their personal lives to be true to themselves. They understood and respected each other.

In “Heat 2” Mann and Gardiner return to these complex and compelling characters — McCauley, Shiherlis and Hanna — but watching the movie first isn’t a must to enjoy the book, just a pleasure.

What can happen with one character dead, one on the lam and one emotionally drained? Mann and Gardiner play with time, weaving prequel tales for McCauley and Hanna with a present-day storyline for Shiherlis and Hanna. But such cleverness doesn’t overlook expanding these characters, and each one gets a new facet to a self-destructive trait: McCauley’s cynicism, Shiherlis’ sensation-seeking and Hanna’s anger.

Slick as a Neil McCauley heist and as intense as a Vincent Hanna chase, “Heat 2” is just dynamite.

Douglass K. Daniel is the author of “Anne Bancroft: A Life” (University Press of Kentucky).

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Cannes: Coppola’s Roman candle ‘Megalopolis’ is juicy and weird

A man on the roof of a skyscraper looks through a spyglass as a woman watches from behind him.

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It was here at Cannes, 45 years ago, that Francis Ford Coppola finally emerged from his wilderness of making “Apocalypse Now” with a work in progress, the finish line in sight. That press conference is immortalized in “Hearts of Darkness: A Filmmaker’s Apocalypse,” the massively entertaining 1991 documentary by Coppola’s wife, Eleanor , in which the “Godfather” director is seen to declare, “My film is not a movie about Vietnam — it is Vietnam.”

It’s an almost mythological moment for cinema, one that encompasses vindication (“Apocalypse Now” would go on to win the Palme d’Or) but also the end of Coppola’s grand run during the 1970s and the cementing of a reputation that would hound him, one of grandiloquence, artistic risk, overruns and indulgence.

That’s close to where he finds himself right now with “Megalopolis,” the wildly ambitious, overstuffed city epic funded with $120 million of his own money, that had its world premiere tonight at a festival that’s been good to the filmmaker.

The first film for the 85-year-old Coppola since his 2011 horror bauble “Twixt,” “Megalopolis,” a personal obsession of the director’s since at least the 1980s, invites words like “summation” and “capstone.” But those do it a disservice (as did some leaked reactions from an early distributor’s screening), especially if you’re expecting something burnished and high-toned. It may be more productive — at least through these eyes — to see it as fluky and impressionistic, closer to Tom Wolfe’s “The Bonfire of the Vanities,” a funhouse image of a clashing New York City riven by money, power and race.

But don’t call it New York (nobody does in the film). It’s more a New Rome, one with its own Chrysler Building, Grand Central Terminal and Art Deco flourishes but recast through an ancient lens — and the stentorian narrative tones of Laurence Fishburne — as a variation on a city in decline.

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It will be a point of contention how much insight is actually to be gleaned from Coppola’s faux-Roman refocusing. Decadence in his city still looks similar to what you’d expect elsewhere, not to mention a touch retrograde: young women squirming and doing drugs in dance clubs (the movie does a bit of ogling), smirking journalists who still wear hats with press cards stuffed in the rim.

And if the central showdown is technically Roman history rethought as sci-fi urban drama — I’ll spare you the wormhole of exploring the Catilinarian coup d’état that seems to have fixated the director for years — we’re basically looking at a power triangle between Cesar Catilina (Adam Driver, fuzzy in yet another cryptic visionary role that doesn’t suit him), an imperious inventor in the master-builder mold of Robert Moses; Franklyn Cicero (Giancarlo Esposito), the city’s besieged David Dinkins-like mayor; and Cicero’s daughter, Julia (Nathalie Emmanuel), whose allegiances toggle between the two.

“Megalopolis” doesn’t work like “Succession” or a municipal showdown like James Gray’s expertly rendered “The Yards” did; its details are too divorced from reality for any of its machinations to take hold in a suspenseful way. Coppola’s original screenplay, the product of years of revision and still subjected to much improvisation, swings manically between clunky dialogue and classic quotations. At one point I was watching Driver deliver the entire “to be or not to be” soliloquy from “Hamlet,” a reference never acknowledged by any of the other characters. As they say, it’s a choice.

And while sumptuously costumed in a muted style by Coppola’s longtime genius collaborator Milena Canonero (“The Cotton Club,” “Tucker: The Man and His Dream” ), the movie lacks the confidence of a cinematographer who could organize its ideas into a larger, classier whole, as the director had in Gordon Willis on all three “Godfather” films. (Here the photography is by Mihai Mălaimare Jr., a veteran of Paul Thomas Anderson’s “The Master,” who hangs on for dear life.)

But once you let go of the understandable dream of Coppola returning with another masterpiece, there is much to enjoy in “Megalopolis,” especially its cast members, leaning into their moments with an abandon that was probably a job requirement. Aubrey Plaza not only plays a character named Wow Platinum, a salacious interviewer looking to marry into wealth, but somehow frees herself of any embarrassment while doing so. Peppery notes from Talia Shire and Jon Voight intermingle with athletic overacting by Shia LaBeouf and Dustin Hoffman.

In a larger sense, Coppola has moved from the cynicism of his greatest films like “The Conversation” and “Apocalypse Now” — so much power doing so much corrupting — and into something that could fairly be called utopian. I’m not sure if that’s what I want from him as an artist, but I thrill to his unbowed aspiration. He’s going out not with something tame and manicured but with an overstuffed, vigorous, seething story about the roots of fascism that only an uncharitable viewer would call a catastrophe. Rather, it feels like a city. It may be the most radical film he’s ever done. He dedicates it to his late wife, who would have smiled at the evidence of her husband still doing his thing 45 years later.

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Joshua Rothkopf is film editor of the Los Angeles Times. He most recently served as senior movies editor at Entertainment Weekly. Before then, Rothkopf spent 16 years at Time Out New York, where he was film editor and senior film critic. His writing has appeared in the New York Times, Sight and Sound, Empire, Rolling Stone and In These Times, where he was chief film critic from 1999 to 2003.

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'The Bad Guardian' Review: Melissa Joan Hart delivers fierce performance in Lifetime's thriller drama movie

Contains spoilers for Lifetime's 'The Bad Guardian'

WEST VIRGINIA, USA: Lifetime's latest heart-pounding thriller, ' The Bad Guardian', tackles the complex and timely issue of guardianship abuse. Premiered on May 18, the film stars Melissa Joan Hart and La La Anthony in a gripping narrative that will leave you glued to the screen.

Hart portrays a determined daughter locked in a desperate battle to save her father from the clutches of a corrupt court-appointed guardian, played by Anthony. 'The Bad Guardian' promises to be a suspenseful exploration of power, manipulation, and the lengths we go to protect those we love.

But is the film just another run-of-the-mill Lifetime movie, or does it offer a deeper commentary on the vulnerabilities within the legal system? Let's examine its plot, performances, and its potential to spark conversations about a critical real-world issue.

A gripping fight for justice in Lifetime's 'The Bad Guardian'

'The Bad Guardian' packs the emotional punch and suspense and, it tackles a relevant and unsettling issue: guardian abuse. Melissa Joan Hart shines as Leigh, a daughter fiercely determined to protect her father, Jason (Eric Pierpoint), from the manipulative clutches of court-appointed guardian, Janet (La La Anthony).

The film starts strong, establishing a loving parent-child bond between Leigh and Jason. Janet's initial charm quickly dissolves as her true motives - greed and power - come to light. We witness the devastating consequences of her actions, from stripping Jason of his possessions to denying him crucial medical care.

Hart delivers a powerful performance, portraying a daughter pushed to the brink. We see her transform from helpless to determined as she fights a corrupt system that seems stacked against her. Anthony is equally captivating as the chillingly cold and calculating Janet. The supporting cast adds depth, with characters who become unwilling pawns in Janet's game.

'The Bad Guardian' doesn't shy away from the darkness of its subject matter. Yet, it also celebrates unwavering familial love and the power of resilience. While the film might veer towards the dramatic at times, it succeeds in raising awareness about a critical issue and offers a satisfying conclusion where good prevails over evil.

Melissa Joan Hart shines as a fierce protector in 'The Bad Guardian'

Melissa Joan Hart sheds her lighter comedic persona in Lifetime's 'The Bad Guardian,' taking on a powerful and emotional role as Leigh. This is a far cry from her Nickelodeon days, showcasing her impressive dramatic range.

Hart embodies the fierce protectiveness of a daughter determined to save her father from a dangerous situation. We see her journey from initial confusion to full-blown mama bear mode as she uncovers the sinister intentions of the court-appointed guardian. Her emotional vulnerability shines through when faced with her father's decline, but her determination to fight for him is unwavering.

Hart's performance is a compelling blend of strength and vulnerability. She conveys Leigh's desperation and growing fear with a rawness that pulls viewers into the heart of the story. This is a far cry from the lighthearted characters she's known for, but it's a testament to her talent as an actress.

In 'The Bad Guardian,' Melissa Joan Hart proves she can command the screen in a dramatic role just as effectively as she can in a comedic one.

'The Bad Guardian' is available for streaming on Lifetime.

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'The Bad Guardian' Review: Melissa Joan Hart delivers fierce performance in Lifetime's thriller drama movie

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If they were still making Westerns, the plot of "Heat" would feel right at home. It's a movie about a dude from the East who gets tired of being pushed around and travels out West to take lessons in self-protection from a famous gunslinger. Does the story end with the timid city slicker standing up for his rights? Are there stars in the sky? But they don't make Westerns anymore, so "Heat" is an updated version of that reliable old plot, with a few new twists. The hero uses knives and martial arts, not guns. He lives in Las Vegas, a thoroughly modern Western city, and he is a compulsive gambler. The bad guy is the spoiled son of a Mafia don from Florida.

And the final showdown takes place in a vast warehouse, just like the shoot-outs in at least 65 percent of all the other recent movies that end in shoot-outs. The only new twist is, this time, the soundtrack doesn't use Far-Off Rattles in the silence of the warehouse; it uses Echoing Drops of Water. There's always a basic shot in these scenes where a guy with a gun creeps along in the shadows, the gun held next to his face, the barrel pointing up. I've seen that shot enough for several lifetimes.

The screenplay for "Heat" was written by William Goldman , one of Hollywood's top craftsmen, but he hasn't outdone himself this time.

It's all recycled material from other movies - all except for some nice personal touches added by the actors. They bring style to a movie that needs it.

I especially enjoyed Burt Reynolds' work as the professional tough guy. He's a bodyguard who lists himself in the Yellow Pages under "chaperon," a Vietnam hero who is an expert in violence but cannot contain his own compulsion to gamble. In the movie's best sequence, he has a long winning streak at blackjack but finds that merely winning is never quite enough.

One day an out-of-towner ( Peter MacNicol ) hires him as a bodyguard and asks for lessons in how to act tough. Judging by MacNicol's questions and Reynolds' answers, they're both cases of arrested development. MacNicol essentially wants to know how to keep that bully at the beach from kicking sand in his eyes, and Reynolds suggests pulling off the guy's ear ("It's surprisingly easy to do; it's only held on by a little cartilege, and when you show a guy his ear, it grabs his attention").

Reynolds is good in the movie's more sustained scenes, showing toughness and weariness and a certain wry humor. The movie is a reminder that he can be a very effective movie actor. Unfortunately, he has chosen to dedicate his recent career to predictable genre movies, and "Heat" turns out to be another one, especially after the spoiled Mafia punk from Miami arrives in town. I'm getting tired of movies where the bad guy's personality is the problem, and murdering him is the solution. Isn't there a more interesting way for human beings to interact? There are times when "Heat" feels like a sampler from Goldman's leftovers. The long opening sequence turns out to be a cheat on the audience. Early byplay between Reynolds and his partner ( Howard Hesseman ) suggests a buddy relationship that is short-circuited.

There's a nice moment when MacNicol offers to help Reynolds with his gambling addiction, but that's never followed up. There's a good scene with the Mafia boss of Vegas, but then he disappears, never to be seen again. Diana Scarwid has an effective walk-on as a blackjack dealer, and then she's gone from the movie. And so on.

The movie is filled with promising starts, but then everything dissolves into a violent action climax. There could have been a nice movie here about a coward and a gambler helping each other out. Or a lawyer and a bodyguard trying to make a living in Vegas. Or a gambler and a dealer falling in love. Or a Mafia boss trying to maintain order.

Goldman has written the first scenes for all of those movies, strung them together and thrown in a shoot-out. This movie has everything it needs except for a middle and an end.

Roger Ebert

Roger Ebert was the film critic of the Chicago Sun-Times from 1967 until his death in 2013. In 1975, he won the Pulitzer Prize for distinguished criticism.

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Film credits.

Heat (1987)

110 minutes

Burt Reynolds as Mex

Karen Young as Holly

Peter MacNicol as Cyrus

Howard Hesseman as Pinchus

Diane Scarwid as Cassie

Directed by

R.M. Richards

Produced by

Keith Rotman
George Pappas

Screenplay by

William Goldman

Photographed by

James Contner
Jeffrey Wolf
Michael Gibbs

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3 Reasons Why ‘NEPA’ Take The Light Whenever It Rains

Nigeria’s rainy season brings a welcome respite from the scorching heat, but for many residents, it also signifies a return of another less-desirable tradition. NEPA and whenever it rains.

While the National Electric Power Authority (NEPA) was dissolved years ago, the term remains an unchanged phrase as it concerns the inconsistent electricity in the country.

So why do electricity distribution companies take the light whenever it rains in many parts of the country? Here are three of the reasons there is a fluctuation in the electricity once it rains.

1. Safety first

The rationale behind these rain-related blackouts is rooted in safety concerns. Power distribution companies prioritize public safety by preemptively cutting power during heavy rain and storms.

Damaged power lines or faulty connections pose a serious risk of electrocution and fires. While this approach ensures public safety, it comes at the cost of disrupted routines and economic productivity.

2. Fragile infrastructure

Nigeria’s power grid infrastructure has faced many significant challenges. Since the privatization, of NEPA the grid has collapsed more than 140 times.

Then we also have leaky transformers, weak wires, and outdated equipment that struggle to handle the additional stress of rain, leading to outages that can take hours, or even days, to repair.

The impact of these outages extends far beyond mere inconvenience. Hence why the light would go, once it starts to rain.

READ ALSO: Health Risks Associated With the Rainy Season: How to Stay Safe and Healthy

3. Electric shocks during rain

Students struggle to complete their studies under flickering candlelight, businesses face losses due to hampered productivity, and the already sweltering temperatures become unbearable without fans or air conditioning.

The frustration surrounding these outages is well documented. Nigerians are used to the occurrences when it rains. Below are some of the things you can do.

Preemptive measures

Safety concerns: Power distribution companies like those that succeeded NEPA (National Electric Power Authority) might preemptively cut power to avoid danger. Rain and strong winds can damage power lines and electrical poles, posing a risk of electrocution or fires. Disconnecting the power reduces these risks.

Ageing infrastructure: Nigeria’s power infrastructure faces challenges, and rain can expose weaknesses. Leaky transformers, damaged wires, or loose connections can malfunction during rain, leading to outages.

It’s not a perfect solution Disruption: Even for safety reasons, power cuts disrupt daily life and businesses. Difficulties in restoration: Fixing rain-related damage can take time, further extending power outages.

What can be done by electric discos?

Infrastructure Investment: Upgrading and maintaining power infrastructure is crucial for minimizing rain-related outages.

Alternative power sources: Investing in more reliable power generation and exploring renewable energy sources can lessen dependence on a vulnerable grid.

While NEPA is no longer the official name, the term is still used colloquially in Nigeria. So when it begins to rain in full throttle, be prepared to combat the fluctuation that comes with it.

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The film starts strong, establishing a loving parent-child bond between Leigh and Jason. Janet's initial charm quickly dissolves as her true motives - greed and power - come to light.
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He lives in Las Vegas, a thoroughly modern Western city, and he is a compulsive gambler. The bad guy is the spoiled son of a Mafia don from Florida. And the final showdown takes place in a vast warehouse, just like the shoot-outs in at least 65 percent of all the other recent movies that end in shoot-outs.
3 Reasons Why 'NEPA' Take The Light Whenever It Rains
2. Fragile infrastructure. Nigeria's power grid infrastructure has faced many significant challenges. Since the privatization, of NEPA the grid has collapsed more than 140 times.
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