Heat Blu-ray Movie

Rating summary

Movie		4.5
Video		4.5
Audio		4.0
Extras		4.0
Overall		4.5

Heat Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Jeffrey Kauffman May 9, 2017

Michael Mann has sometimes been accused of favoring style over substance, not only in his famed television outings like Miami Vice: The Complete Series, but also in many of admittedly typically viscerally affecting films like Manhunter and The Last of the Mohicans. That may be an understandable if perhaps unfair assessment, given Mann’s emphasis on flashy visuals and an often breakneck pace, but one really need look no further than Heat to come to the determination that whatever Mann’s stylistic proclivities (and they are legion), his offerings often have something substantial lurking beneath the shiny visuals. Heat actually began life as a Mann television entry (one for a proposed series that never materialized) called L.A. Takedown, documenting the exploits of a notorious criminal based on a real life Chicago gangland member named Neil McCauley, a name which Heat retains for the scheming character played by Robert De Niro. Reuniting with De Niro for the first time since 1974’s The Godfather: Part II is Al Pacino, playing cop Vincent Hanna, like McCauley based on a real life character, though in this case a Chicago policeman named Chuck Adamson, with whom Mann evidently had a long friendship. Despite the built in star wattage of this potential collaboration, Mann plays his casting cards pretty close to the vest, allowing these two titanic thespians only a couple of interchanges where they share the frame, but the ripples both these performers send out together (however briefly) and separately make Heat one of the most astoundingly effective films of Mann’s career.

In some ways at least, Heat can be seen as one of Mann’s more traditional outings, especially with regard to its basic setup of a mastermind crook and a cop out to bring him to justice. But as with many Mann offerings, it’s the presentational aspects as well as the extremely potent subtext that give this film its undeniable power. There are behavioral tethers drawn between Hanna and McCauley—they’re both driven, both undeniably intense, and both are convinced they have the other one figured out. What’s initially kind of interesting about these duellists is that unlike many older cops versus robbers entries, Mann posits McCauley as the cool, collected type, while Hanna is shown to be perilously close to exploding at virtually every turn.

The more traditional aspect of Heat also plays into its caper proclivities, with McCauley’s gang threading the needle in heists that may not approach Mission: Impossible levels, but which Mann offers as anxiety inducing set pieces, especially after an initial job goes seriously haywire and several people end up dead. Once Hanna gets involved, making it clear to McCauley that Hanna’s investigative mojo is going to be relentless, the stakes are obviously raised for a epochal showdown (one which Mann stages with appropriate fire power). But while the film doesn’t shy away from adrenaline pumping incidents, it’s the “backstories” or at least the supporting narrative that really gives Heat its dramatic punch. Mann’s screenplay spends almost as much time giving the large and impressive cast so-called “character beats”, instead of parading out a nonstop array of flashy window dressing (though it’s arguable there’s a bit of that as well). Some of Heat’s most effective moments are therefore interchanges between the characters when there isn’t a set piece on display.

While a couple of the talking heads in some of the archival featurettes ported over to this release go the “different sides of the same coin” route with regard to McCauley and Hanna, Mann evidently doesn’t subscribe to that opinion, or at least not fully. What’s obvious, though, throughout Heat is that these are two characters on various edges for different reasons, and it may not take much to finally push them over. That’s why it’s so fascinating to see such different takes on reactions, with Pacino’s near manic proclivities contrasting brilliantly with De Niro’s stoicism. It’s probably easily discernable that this is largely a testosterone fueled enterprise, with a largely male supporting cast that includes surprisingly strong turns by Val Kilmer as a gang member named Shiherlis and Jon Voight as another tangentially involved criminal. Mann gives a little lip service to the distaff side of the equation with the film’s one arguable flaw, somewhat underwritten and underdeveloped parts for Amy Brenneman as a nascent romance for McCauley, Diane Venora as Hanna’s wife and (probably best written of the bunch) Ashley Judd as Shiherlis’ wife, who plays a key role in what initially looks like a sting.

Heat Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Heat is presented on Blu-ray courtesy of 20th Century Fox Home Entertainment with an AVC encoded 1080p transfer in 2.40:1. Fans of the film know this was released several years ago by Warner Brothers with a transfer my colleague Ken Brown gave four stars while freely discussing the fact that inherent filming styles, palette choices and shadowy ambience meant that it wasn't going to win any reference quality awards. Fox is touting a "new restoration overseen by Michael Mann" without providing any real information (at least in the press packet accompanying this release) as to what elements were used, what resolution they were scanned at, and what exactly the restoration consisted of, though a lot of online data specifically mention a 4K scan, one would assume of the negative. The results here are kind of interesting, for while there are definite upticks in some detail levels from the Warner release, this one is also at least somewhat darker, something that may seem counterintuitive given the film's tamped down palette and often drab, blue ambience (contrast screenshot 6 in Ken's review with screenshot 12 in this one for just one example of the brightness differences). Despite the encroaching dimness of a lot of scenes in this film, fine detail is quite impressive in some close-ups (see screenshot 5), and while never popping in the traditional sense, the palette looks natural when not having been intentionally toyed with. As Ken noted with regard to the Warner release, there are soft moments scattered throughout this presentation that are source related but which do tend to mitigate some fine detail levels. I noticed none of the digital sharpening that Ken mentioned in his review of the Warner release, and I similarly saw no compression issues of any kind.

Heat Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

There's frankly not a whale of a lot of difference between the Warner release's Dolby TrueHD 5.1 track and this new release's DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 track, at least that I personally could hear. The film is kind of an aural roller coaster at times, cartwheeling between some good, boisterous action sequences and much quieter, if equally intense, dialogue scenes. This surround track delivers good immersion in the expected sections where on screen action takes center stage, contrasting nicely with dialogue scenes which tend to be anchored front and center. The low end gets occasional workouts here, though Heat may not completely satisfy audiophiles who want their caper films filled with nonstop effects in overdrive.

Heat Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

Disc One

• Audio Commentary by Director Michael Mann

Disc Two

• Filmmaker Panels

  2016: Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (1080p; 1:03:23) is a nicely in depth conversation with Al Pacino, Robert De Niro and Michael Mann, moderated by Christopher Nolan.

  
  

  2015: Toronto International Film Festival (1080p; 30:27) is an engaging session with Michael Mann, both before and after a screening of the film.

• The Making of Heat (480i; 59:12) is a previously released set of featurettes.


• Pacino and De Niro: The Conversation (480i; 9:58) is an archival piece focusing on the characters' interactions.


• Return to the Scene of the Crime (480i; 12:05) looks at the locations with the locations manager and associate producer.


• Additional Footage - Deleted Scenes (480i; 9:44)


• Theatrical Trailers (480i; 6:48)

Ken Brown provides some more descriptive information on the previously released supplements in his Heat Blu-ray review of the old Warner Brothers release.

Heat Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

A lot of people consider Heat to be at the least one of Michael Mann's masterpieces and perhaps generally a masterpiece in and of itself, divorced from any one person's filmography. I certainly think of it as a modern classic, though I've always wished that at least some of the female parts had been at least slightly more fleshed out, if only to balance the largely impeccable writing supporting most (maybe even all) of the male characters. This new release offers improved video, though some may be disappointed that it's not more of a quantum leap in quality. Fox has commendably ported over all of the previously released supplements (albeit in standard definition), while assembling two interesting new (and more recent) panel discussions. Highly recommended.