Please don't hurt me: What's the big deal about HEAT?

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[ARCHIVED THREAD] - Please don't hurt me: What's the big deal about HEAT?

Posted: 4/17/2006 4:58:26 AM EDT

I just watched this for the first time, and...what's the big deal?

So it's got some cool guns in it (FNC, Galil, some SBR EBRs). The guys actually reload thier guns. They check the chamber to see if it's loaded instead of doing the "movie rack". But this stuff doesn't make a movie good by default. I've seen great movies that had piss poor gun handling.

Is it because it's got Pacino and DeNiro in the same movie, facing off against each other?

I mean, really...it was okay. But I was expecting something astounding, and all I got was a slightly above average movie. The kind of movie that isn't at the top of the directors list, and ends up being used as an "example" of the directors technique in a film class somewhere.

It wasn't bad. But...well, I felt like I should have been more impressed.

Let the whipping commence.

(BTW: what kind of gun was Pacino using?

)

Posted: 4/17/2006 5:00:42 AM EDT

[#1]

It gets talked up an awful lot around here, which may lead to higher-than-normal expectations, but I happen to think it is a terrific, tightly wound, realistic thriller.

Good acting, good gunfights, good plot, good characters.

Posted: 4/17/2006 5:02:15 AM EDT

[#2]

One of the best street gunfights in a movie. Only reason I watch it.

Posted: 4/17/2006 5:04:12 AM EDT

[#3]

Quoted:
One of the best street gunfights in a movie. Only reason I watch it.

Hard to argue with that.

The Way of the Gun is a great flick too.

Posted: 4/17/2006 5:12:45 AM EDT

[#4]

Burn the Witch!

Posted: 4/17/2006 5:13:26 AM EDT

[#5]

Quoted:
Burn the Witch!

Just send in Chuck Norris.

Posted: 4/17/2006 5:13:53 AM EDT

[#6]

Quoted:
Burn the Witch!

+1

Posted: 4/17/2006 5:17:29 AM EDT

[#7]

Quoted:
Burn the Witch!

with canned "Heat" non the less

Posted: 4/17/2006 5:21:09 AM EDT

[#8]

One of the only movies to show proper use and carriage of the AR in a firefight.

Posted: 4/17/2006 5:23:55 AM EDT

[#9]

http://www.moviereporter.net/fotos/heat/Heat%20(4).jpg

Posted: 4/17/2006 5:24:36 AM EDT

[#10]

Michael Mann is very much like Tarrentino to me (for different reasons). IMO both have cinematic genius in that they approach the film in ways that others in hollywood don't/can't, which is refreshing and commendable. However both usually fail IMO as overall movie makers.

I won't open the can of worms as to why (maybe a sep topic) but the topic at hand:

Heat had some GREAT elements to it, but I think it illustrates why movies never equal books... you have to edit and edit properly to capture the audience. Heat was waaaaaay too ambitious.

Story one: Deniro... Professional (the bad) with a chance to redeem self and leaf it all behind
Story two: Pacino... The professional (the good) who struggles to reconcile with his human side
Story three: Kilmer... Love story flip side to Deniro's character, bittersweet, but tragic. Justifies his survial
Story four:Black dude... Con tries to make it in an unforgiving world. Free from the pen but Prisoner to the system

As you can see the movie was ambitious. Mann is a visionary, but you just can't execute this effectively in 3 hours

Should have edited the black dude story out completely along a few other selections. Thus it's reduced to a movie with some amazing gun play

Posted: 4/17/2006 5:41:56 AM EDT

[#11]

Quoted:
Should have edited the black dude story out completely along a few other selections. Thus it's reduced to a movie with some amazing gun play

-1

I think that this and all movies should have extended DVD versions where they fully flesh out the minor characters and sub plots. Like Titanic should have been edited to have a 25 minute drawing scene.

Posted: 4/17/2006 5:46:05 AM EDT

[#12]

There are a few good gun fights in the movie and the rest of it is shit.

Posted: 4/17/2006 5:46:25 AM EDT

[#13]

Question #53 from the ARFCOM FINAL EXAM -

Finish the equation and you'll be eligible for a free bronze membership courtesy of The Beekeeper1:

+

=?

Posted: 4/17/2006 5:55:56 AM EDT

[#14]

The big reason that HEAT is a big deal here, is that the subject was posted to death, repeatedly, for many months.
There was much discussion over "What gun did Pacino use in Heat" The question was posted over and over, sometimes legitmately, but more often as a joke topic, just to stir the membership up.

All this led to a ban on the topic which was enforced quite well, but seems to have slipped in the last year or two.

Heat is good movie, but still a touchy subject here. It has become sort of an inside joke to the older members when someone brings it up again.

Don in Ohio

Posted: 4/17/2006 6:00:09 AM EDT

[#15]

Quoted:
Question #53 from the ARFCOM FINAL EXAM -

Finish the equation and you'll be eligible for a free bronze membership courtesy of The Beekeeper1:

img.photobucket.com/albums/v734/Hokie1850/06_gg_02.jpg + img.photobucket.com/albums/v734/Hokie1850/250px-Compound_Bow_full.jpg =?

Have anything to do w/ "Prince of Egypt"?

Anyway, the movie, yes was sufficiently entertaining, and I did enjoy the street gun fight scene....it's one that the more I think about it, the better it gets. That said, I was still totally prepared for something that didn't happen.

Oh, and pulpsmack, this isn't a comment about your character or anything, but I think that Tarantino is an absolute no talent hack who only wishes he could do something like HEAT.

Actually, now that it's already been done, I'm sure he could do it.

Thanks guys for not decimating me too much and posting the "Kill it with Fire" image.

Posted: 4/17/2006 6:11:18 AM EDT

[#16]

Quoted:
Question #53 from the ARFCOM FINAL EXAM -

Finish the equation and you'll be eligible for a free bronze membership courtesy of The Beekeeper1:

img.photobucket.com/albums/v734/Hokie1850/06_gg_02.jpg + img.photobucket.com/albums/v734/Hokie1850/250px-Compound_Bow_full.jpg =?

Valbow!!! Val Kilmer's elbow has bursitis.

Val Kilmer broke his arm badly when he performed a jump from the stage into the crowd and the stuntman failed to catch him, leaving Kilmer with an abnormal growth on his right elbow.

ETA - Looking for picture...

ETAA - Man you found that picture fast.

Posted: 4/17/2006 6:15:07 AM EDT

[#17]

Posted: 4/17/2006 6:19:33 AM EDT

[#18]

One of AR15s ten commandment. Never talk shit about heat!

Posted: 4/17/2006 6:19:54 AM EDT

[#19]

Awww...you guys already have memberships.

I think you should give it to me because I had the balls to question the acclaimed greatness of HEAT.

Posted: 4/17/2006 6:25:04 AM EDT

[#20]

Quoted:
Awww...you guys already have memberships.

I think you should give it to me because I had the balls to question the acclaimed greatness of HEAT.

You should be banned because you have been a member sence 2004 and only seen HEAT one time sence it was released in1995

j/k

Posted: 4/17/2006 6:28:00 AM EDT

[#21]

Heat is the first DVD I ever purchased, back in like '99 I guess.

Posted: 4/17/2006 6:30:19 AM EDT

[#22]

Quoted:
Quoted:
Awww...you guys already have memberships.

I think you should give it to me because I had the balls to question the acclaimed greatness of HEAT.

You should be banned because you have been a member sence 2004 and only seen HEAT one time sence it was released in1995

j/k

Hey, at least I've gotten to shoot an FNC, and it did indeed have the full range of ammo consumption selections - none, 1, 3 and all.

Posted: 4/17/2006 6:34:01 AM EDT

[#23]

Yes, I only give the movie a "B".

Great gunplay but I was bored by the Pacino story line. I did like the DeNiro code in the movie.

Posted: 4/17/2006 7:14:12 AM EDT

[#24]

Pacino and DeNiro stink as actors, can't stand the loosers.

Posted: 4/17/2006 7:23:27 AM EDT

[#25]

I thought that Pacino's character's excentricity was amusing. How he'd just randomly start yelling stuff.

"Because she's got A GREAT ASS!"

Posted: 4/17/2006 7:25:32 AM EDT

[#26]

Excellent movie. Well done, well written, well directed and well acted.

More for mature movie goers IMO who will appreciate something like that a little better.

It is one of my favorites.
The shoot out at the end was pretty good but I really liked the armored car job at the start. I still want to knock over an armored car thanks to that movie and I first saw it about 12 years ago.

Deniro's crew made several mistakes.
1st, bringing on Waynegro.
2nd, letting him live.
3rd, with all the Heat they should've laid low for a while or went elsewhere to pull off a few jobs, coming back to LA later.

I found Pacino's family situation a little tedious but I liked it. Very well done. If you are looking for just a lot of bang, bang, shoot 'em up it may not be the movie for you.

Posted: 4/17/2006 7:28:39 AM EDT

[#27]

It's a good cop drama/thriller for one.

Mostly, at the time, (if you didn't see it in the theatre when it came out you won't really get it) it had THE most realistic gun battle ever seen in a film.

That bar has been raised since then, but at the time, the bank robbery scene was tops--since then, younger people have become jaded.

Lots of films are mostly important and build a legend because of what they represented at the time.

Posted: 4/17/2006 7:37:19 AM EDT

[#28]

Quoted:
One of the best street gunfights in a movie. Only reason I watch it.

Yup. That's why it's a hit with the arfcommers.
But I agree totally with you, mrOw1. It's not my cup of tea. Although well cast and acted, I think it's a pretty depressing movie on the whole.

Posted: 4/17/2006 7:43:07 AM EDT

[#29]

In digital surround, with the proper THX equipment, the sound during the heist was amazing, probably better than BHD...

sorry, just

ing

Posted: 4/17/2006 7:55:47 AM EDT

[#30]

Other then the gunfights should have called it "SLEEP".

Posted: 4/17/2006 8:17:17 AM EDT

[#31]

This seems like as good a place as any to confess that I saw HEAT in the theater and by the end of it, I was sound asleep.

Posted: 4/17/2006 8:49:17 AM EDT

[#32]

I hated the ending. Deniro's a badass until the end, then he magically forgets everything and acts the fool. I watch it up till the end of the bank robbery, then I shut it off all happy....

Posted: 4/17/2006 2:17:04 PM EDT

[#33]

Quoted:
Other then the gunfights should have called it "SLEEP".

Haha! I agree. Michael Mann isn't a very good director. The guy can't edit at all - the movie could have been cut down to an hour and a half and been much better. Who cares about Deniro's love interest? Who cares about Al P's kid and wife problems. And Al P and Deniro finally in a movie together and that was the best scene they could come up with? What a let down. And of course the boring ending. I love the firefights, but as a movie its hard to take.

Posted: 4/17/2006 2:25:16 PM EDT

[#34]

Quoted:
It gets talked up an awful lot around here, which may lead to higher-than-normal expectations, but I happen to think it is a terrific, tightly wound, realistic thriller.

Good acting, good gunfights, good plot, good characters.

Too much love-story content for the female demographic in my opinion. About 45 minutes could be cut with no noticeable drop in quality.