Mann With a Plan

There is a man, a man whose name is Mann -- Michael Mann, who developed an idea, that turned into a movie, that inspired the casting of two of the greatest actors the world has ever seen, and put them face-to-face. The Mann, the idea, the movie: Heat.

We've seen them before, Pacino in such greats as Scarface, Serpico, and Carlito's Way, De Niro in The Deer Hunter, Goodfellas, and Casino. We even saw them in The Godfather: Part 2, their names listed together in the credits but n'ere a scene in the same time period.

Until now...

Heat is the story of two men in Los Angeles, one, Neal McCauley (De Niro), living a life of crime, taking scores and doing bad things, the other, Vincent Hanna (Pacino), an L.A.P.D detective who can't seem to keep a wedding ring on his finger, dedicates his life to catching guys like McCauley.

From start to finish, Mann weaves a web of good and evil, with plenty of gray space in the middle. He allows the realness of his characters to seep onto the screen, showing, little by little, the connections between two seemingly opposite people. He realizes the importance of faults and the blow of personal hardships.

Vincent Hanna is one of the best, but only at his job. He's in a failing marriage, his third, with a stepdaughter who's father is slimier than the mildew of his shower tile. Between coming home late and leaving too early, his wife accuses him of "being only what [he's] after." He holds his angst inside, it keeps him "on the edge, where he needs to be." Hanna tries hard to rid L.A. of it's filth but only lets his own pile up at home.

Neal McCauley is a bad guy, he shoots people, he robs banks, but he doesn't let it get to him. He sees nothing wrong with his lifestyle, fibbing to a girl he meets that he's a "salesman" and carrying on a relationship with her.

The tension of the film mounts as the similarities of the main characters begin to become evident. Neither man wants a normal life, "barbecues and ballgames?" and neither man wants to be alone, but constantly finds himself in that state. McCauley lives by a fairly solid piece of advice once given to him, "Do not have any attachments, do not have anything in your life that you are not willing to walk out on in thirty seconds flat if you spot the heat around the corner." And when Eady, his chance love encounter, asks him if he's lonely, he replies, "I am alone, I'm not lonely."

But as a twisted web of cat and mouse spins, Hanna after McCauley, McCauley after Hanna, the men discover a mutual admiration for each other. They even, by breaking all laws of good guy/bad guy relationships in movies, meet in a coffee shop and have a cup of coffee. They find that they aren't so different but if it came down to it, neither would hesitate taking the other out.

And that, is where the real story begins...who takes who? And who will get caught in the crosshairs? Hanna's wife? A pot-smoking, Prozac-addicted, nagging adulteress? McCauley's innocent, bookstore-working, graphic designer who hates L.A.? McCauley's gang? The wife of one of the gang members who wants to get out but fears her life? One of the officers working under Hanna?

Or will it come down to the ultimate showdown? Two of the best actors in Hollywood: Pacino and De Niro.