Cast: Al Pacino, Robert De Niro, Val Kilmer 

Imagine this scenario.  Two men so obsessed with their professional life, that they have time for nothing else.  Nothing else matters except what they do.  There personal lives are a disaster usually on account of their passions for their work.  This is the basic setup of Heat, the 1995 masterpiece starring two of the best actors living today, Al Pacino and Robert De Niro.  Their acting skills coupled with an original premise makes this one of my personal favourites.

This isn't your standard shoot-em-up, kill the bad guy film.  Quite the contrary, actually.  Pacino stars as Vincent Hanna a crime detective who works the streets of Los Angeles.  His first priority is hunting down various gangs and crews, and he said to usually succeed.  His life overall "is a disaster zone" as he proclaims in one scene.  Because of his job, he has doesn't have much time for anything else.  Relationships are out of the question, as he trying to keep his third marriage alive.  His step-daughter is a basket case to say the least and his wife Justine (Diane Venora) is depressed and hooked on drugs.

Enter Neil McCauley (De Niro).  A criminal mastermind who has recently entered on Vincent's turf.  Him and his crew, which includes Chris (Kilmer), have recently been listed as suspects by the LAPD for being involved in an armored car heist.  It has them stumped and they know they are not dealing with an average gang.  These are professionals who are very exprienced in their fields.  They are headed by Neil himself.  But the sad truth is, is that McCauley himself is also obsessed with his "profession".  Like, Vincent, he has little time for anything else and is very lonely himself.  He's never had a serious relationship till one night he ends up meeting Eady(Amy Brenneman) in a bookstore that Neil visits quite often.  Although Neil live by the theology "do not let yourself get attached to anything you are not willing to walk out on in thirty seconds flat, if you feel the heat around the corner".  It is this line, that causes him to live his life lonesome.  But Eady enters his life, and like Neil in some ways she is also a tortured soul.  Neil and Eady meet and instantly form a bond between each other while at the same time Neil also plans a heist on a bank.

The main reason why I enjoy this film so much is that I've never seen another film which takes you into the minds of either charactors as deep as this.  Also, there isn't a clear cut bad guy or good guy in this film.  So what if Neil's a theif?  You feel for both the charactors and there's even a scene in the the middle of the film which has Vincent and Neil talking to each other, realizing how much they have in common.  Just how much they are into their profession.  You end up liking both charactors in their own ways at the end and you want both to succeed with their lives and come out on top of each other. I've never seen another movie where you want both the so-called bad guy and good-guy to win.  They both realize how they're eventually going to have to fight against each other and they even discuss that as well in a masterful coffee shop sequence, that features both of the charactors talking to each other.

I can go on forever about this film.  Running at nearly 2hrs and 52mins, you end up wanting the film to go even longer.  Time goes by fast surprisingly because there's never a dull moment.  I feel this film was generally underrated at the Oscers.  Nonetheless, Heat is a film which will eventually come out as one this century's greatest films.

RATING: *****