Heat

Variety Todd McCarthy

Stunningly made and incisively acted by a large and terrific cast, Michael Mann's ambitious study of the relativity of good and evil stands apart from other films of its type by virtue of its extraordinarily rich characterizations and its thoughtful, deeply melancholy take on modern life.

Austin Chronicle Simon Cote

One of the most intelligent crime-thrillers to come along in years.

Los Angeles Times Kenneth Turan

A sleek, accomplished piece of work, meticulously controlled and completely involving. The dark end of the street doesn't get much more inviting than this.

USA Today Mike Clark

Heat is in the cop-movie pantheon with Akira Kurosawa's "High and Low," and that's as "right" as the genre gets.

Newsweek David Ansen

A stunning crime drama that shares its protagonists' rabid attention to detail—and love of adrenalin.

Washington Post Desson Thomson

As with his other works, [Mann] binds sound, music and pictures into one hypnotic triaxial cable and plugs it right into your brain. He makes this almost-three-hour experience practically glide by.

The Globe and Mail (Toronto) Rick Groen

No, the film may not be quite as luminous as the cast, but it's good - very good, in fact.

Chicago Sun-Times Roger Ebert

Above all, the dialogue is complex enough to allow the characters to say what they're thinking: They are eloquent, insightful, fanciful, poetic when necessary. They're not trapped with cliches.

Chicago Tribune Michael Wilmington

A love-hate poem to L.A., and when Mann takes in the streets, the freeways and LAX, he doesn't give us shiny "Lethal Weapon"-style travelogues. He shows us an L.A. that's grim, bare, a bit smoggy and ruled by street smarts. [15 Dec 1995]

TV Guide Staff (Not Credited)

It didn't sound like fun to us, either, but we were wrong; Heat scores on many fronts...The plot, though it seems to ramble, builds suspense with deft precision, and the action set pieces are triumphs.

Time Richard Schickel

A lot of very good actors...do honest, probing work in a context where, typically, less will do.

Chicago Reader Jonathan Rosenbaum

There's nothing really new...but it has craft, pacing, and an overall sense of proportion, three pretty rare classic virtues nowadays.

San Francisco Chronicle Edward Guthmann

It's a monster of a movie, and it gets unwieldy.

Film.com Andy Speltzer

Someone should confiscate Mann's synthesizer. Just when a scene starts rolling along, this synth beat fades in and destroys the mood.

Entertainment Weekly Owen Gleiberman

We're not watching McCauley and Hanna anymore; we're watching De Niro and Pacino trying to out-insinuate each other. For a few moments, Heat truly has some.

Film.com Sean Means

A cool and rather detached movie...Heat generates lots of energy but gives off little light.

Washington Post Hal Hinson

Ultimately, though, the movie never transcends the limitations of its Hemingwayesque, men-with-men attitudes.

ReelViews James Berardinelli

I lost track of how many times I checked my watch during the nearly three interminable hours it took Heat to play itself to a predictable conclusion of a chase scene and a shoot-out.

Christian Science Monitor David Sterritt

The performances are persuasive but the plot rattles on much too long.

The New York Times Elvis Mitchell

Its sensational looks pale beside storytelling weaknesses that expose the more soulless aspects of this cat-and-mouse crime tale. [15 Dec 1995]

San Francisco Examiner Barbara Shulgasser

There isn't much to recommend this movie until Pacino and De Niro finally share the first of their two scenes together.

Salon.com Andrew Ross

A 3 hour fusillade of cliches.