southwest1

I love this movie so much. Originally, Mann had planned 'Heat' to be a TV show. It was to become his new hit series with Miami Vice facing cancellation. The chopped up pilot that turned into a low-budget type flick was loaded with guest star actors playing roles in it. There is still traces of the TV show stuff in the film - the serial killer plot with Waingro where he murders that girl that they tell Hanna that it's the same DNA match of the killer - that is where the TV show was going to be, branched out into several episodes following a plot. 

Heat could have worked as a television series. The characters were entirely fleshed out for it. Even the detectives under Lt. Hanna and Niel's crew all were very interesting characters that could have come had multiple character archs. 

I love the character of Hanna too, cause you get that sense that he's evolved to that point in his life where nothing matters but winning and hunting down the bad guy. The greatest thing about the movie is the ending that is so cynical. Even though he did win in one thing, he has to face the broken marriage, one guy still got away and in the end, nothing is really resolved. Mann was a genius at putting an edge of nihilism into his stories. 

I appreciate your compliments, truly but I think I am more suited at writing and character study than directing. The camera work aspect of it has always interested me but I like to spend my time breaking down story arcs and how characters are crafted. 

All year this year, I watched through Miami Vice, which is where Michael Mann got his name as an executive producer. It's amazing to note that while he did not direct but one episode, he left such an influence on it, that so many episodes have his fingerprints all over it. There's many episodes, that you would believe he wrote himself but he didn't. it says a lot how heavily involved he was with that show to the point, that you can point out where he's been involved in scripts without his name appearing in the credits multiple times.

It's no question at all that Mann was responsible for the realism of the show and the dark vibe that came with it. So many times in the world of Mann's work, nothing is resolved in the end and everything looks bleak. Miami Vice was pushed that envelope to the point you came to accept the brooding nihilism of the show.

I noticed from Miami Vice and watching Heat, that Mann has a couple of things he uses as trademarks with specific scenes, one of which is the driving scenes. Pacino behind the wheel of the Mercedes tracking down Neil on the interstate is a throwback to the many, various scenes of Crockett and Tubbs behind the wheel of the Ferrari, and in the pitch black of night, you see that look of ambition over Don Johnson's face. 

There's a lot of car scenes in Heat that aren't that far off from scenes in Miami Vice and especially the night scenes where it shows the streets and the lights all lit up in the darkness. 

That video also touched on the gun play, and I totally agree with the guy that Hollywood has gotten so lazy relying so heavily on substance of CGI instead of spending the money to train suitable actors to do the stunts required. 

In all of Mann's work, he usually puts his actors through some kind of firearm training - it's documented in Heat that all the actors did police academy training and extensive firearm training, like it's noted in that video that you can tell they know what they're doing. Tom Cruise did the police academy training too for Colalteral and even going all the way back to 1985 with Miami Vice, that entire cast and crew did firearm training with the main 2 guys (Johnson and Thomas) being trained with multiple firearms and police training to properly pull it off. 

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The reason why "Heat" still holds up today is 2 fold: 1. Both cops & criminals finish what they start like an unwritten honor code meaning all double crossers will be dealt with harshly & you don't kill unnecessary civilians who were just at the wrong place at the wrong time & 2. Mutual respect & admiration among rivals at the opposite ends of the spectrum. Too many films wanna convey a thematic message of hero vs villain & they don't honor the intelligence of the bad guy at all. 

 

I just like that both De Niro & Pacino are kind of like 2 nomadic personalities wandering thru a hazy wasteland with instability in their lives & the only thing that matters is the next score or thwarting the attempted robbery attempt because both guys get a kick out of being underestimated & coming out on top once the dust settles. 

I think in the end, Pacino's character of Hanna was realizing that he was no better than the man he was chasing. Apart from the fact that the other guy is a master genius theft, and he's pretty much the equivalent of that in the law with his rank of lieutenant, in the end they were both two sides of the same coin. 

Hanna was hell bent on eventually stopping him, and I loved how this video brought up that during the shoot out, you see the true face of Vincent Hanna - the part where he says that he's went from the point where he's pushing people out of the way who he's sworn to protect, so he can open fire on this guy, he's lost that sense of why he's there to begin with. 

And he's right again too about the situation of the shoot out. That film totally portrays a shoot out in the correct way of how dangerous and terrifying it can be. It completely debunks any idea of someone trying to play John Wayne out there and be hero. When the shoot out moves to the civilian populated area, that is spot on, cause even the cop is putting those people at risk when they're still gunning it out in a heavily populated area. 

So many films do not do this and they make the shoot outs specifically in a black and white situation of good and bad. What don't get accounted for usually is collateral damage, like Heat shows with the people in the parking lot who are getting shoved out of the way in the return of gun fire.