Set in Los Angeles, De Niro and co-star Val Kilmer head a group of professional thieves specializing in armored cars and banks. The movie opens with the gang hitting an armored car carrying a million dollars in bonds. The job turns into a blood bath as the thieves are forced to kill the security guards. This is where Pacino's character comes in. Surveying the crime scene he declares the theft a professional job. This is where the true excitement begins, with Pacino trying to bust the gang and its leader, De Niro.
"Heat" rejoins these two superb actors for the first time since their work in "The Godfather, Part II", in which they did not act in any scenes together. It is the raw power of these two actors that makes "Heat" work. The audience can watch the two of them for three plus hours without tiring because the actors prevent the film from drifting into complacency.
There are other endearing aspects to "Heat" than just the excellent acting performances. Written, produced and directed by Michael Mann, "Heat" has captivating cinematography and contains action sequences that are staged intelligently and as realistically as possible. "Heat" manages to marry the action with the acting, something that can not be said of recent bombs, such as "Speed". The film also, with varied success, tries not to fall into the trap of predictability, unlike the majority of action/adventure movies these days which are perfectly happy reusing the same old formula.
Of course, "Heat" does have its drawbacks, the main one being that it is riddled with tedious subplots. Many of them involve the marital relationships of the characters and are chiefly responsible for the movie dragging on for three hours. The audience is given very little reason to care about these relationships or the secondary characters involved in them. These subplots do little more than take away from the main conflict of the movie which, put simply, is Pacino vs. De Niro. And that is what the movie comes down to, as it should be. This match-up helps "Heat" avoid being just another cops'n'robbers flic. Not to give the actors all the credit, the script is well written and does not cater to the usual clichˇs, but it is the performance of these two actors that ultimately wins the audience over. The showdown between the two characters is highlighted by a mutual respect that is forged between them throughout the movie. As the plot twists and turns to its denouement there is only one thing that the audience can take for granted, and that is that Pacino and De Niro will meet in the end, mano a mano. Knowledge of the battle, however, does not necessarily mean a predictable ending. There are many different ways that Michael Mann could have gone to finish the film. I would have probably chosen a different one, but that opinion is left up to each individual viewer.
The title "Heat" is appropriate for the movie, it runs hot more than it does cold, and is unpredictable more than it is predictable. Out of three hours running time, two and a half of them are excellent. So if you can handle a half an hour of overextension scattered throughout the movie it's a must see for both De Niro or Pacino fans and action buffs alike. If you don't fit in either of these two categories, "Heat" might not be worth the time.