I know I'm going to get killed by the Heat Bros for this, but there's way too much kissing/spouse arguing/relationship crap in this movie. I have to fast-forward a lot when I watch it...get past the boring and dated sex stuff...I just skip to every good scene. I think a 2022 re-cut of this, removing about an hour of the unnecessary relationship dynamics, would be awesome. Agree/disagree?
sharelol great point. i get what you mean. yes i am a heat bro and i like the original with all its adornments, but stilll, i understand why you said that
IMO the hannah-justine relationship always got on my fuckin nerves, even way back when the movie was fresh. it just never seemed really genuine, nor viable. came off affected, melodramatic, 'canned' and forced. I blame diane venora for this. she was just miscast. I can think of 25 other actresses who woulda made a better wife for vincent. for some reason mann really loves diane, and i can't stand her. (i mean her work; sure she is a nice lady)
i like the kilmer-judd relationship a lot better. it didn't bore me at all.
another comparison is that the hannah-justine relationship had zero to do with the plot, where the kilmer-judd one directly influences the plot in several places. but that's not why i say i like it better; it just didn't irk me for some reason.
deniro and amy kinda was overdone too. scenes dragged and coulda been cut down. but other than that i found it good and intriguing, as to the insights it offered into Neil, clearly the most fascinating and mysterious character in the film. Plus this one also had a huge influence on the plot, and theme. so i'd keep it too. (but perhaps cut down)
the other relationships were so brief and transitory (lilly and the grill man) s didn't bug me.
not to just be contrary but i do think all these were probably necessary in order to paint the kind of milieu that Mann was going for. the mood of this movie is paramount, and these relationship vibes are a big part of that. (imho)
peace
Interesting... thank you!
shareDon't you think that Mann purposely did that to humanize all of the characters? That's one reason why I think he did that for most of the characters so that viewers developed a more broad opinion of them. I think this was also done to foster the later feeling of legitimacy of the bond between the Pacino and De Niro characters.
For further illustration, if he had not, especially with the Eady/Neil relationship, don't you think that if he had not shown a more humane side to De Niro and others, the ruthlessness of the opening robbery and dealing with Waingro would have caused viewers to feel hardly anything toward the Neil and other characters?
Also, I'm reading Heat 2 and one thing it is doing is providing more background on the characters which may have changed my original opinion of Heat.
OP wanted some crap like John Wick or something.
shareYou sound more like a bro than the movie fans. Too much touchy feelings stuff for ya?
shareThe relationships were pertinent to the main crews' story arcs. They could have been done with more depth imho, but removing them entirely would just dehumanize the main characters.
shareWhile I agree that the relationship scenes are a sorta drag in the moment (whenever they appear in the film I’m like ‘uh, can we get back to Pacino rocking it please’) they actually pay off after the movie is over, when you’re stewing on everything in your mind.
Like, Dennis Haysbert and his bird are amongst the most dull, but after he’s killed in the heist you really feel the tragedy of his last minute ‘fuck it’ decision to fall back into crime for one last job. She was his supporter, he was doing well, but his shitty parole conditions and his addiction to scores got the better of him and now his brains are on a windshield and she’s lost him forever.
Eady losing Neil is similar. Neil isn’t just dead, his blissful future with Eady has been extinguished and she has to live with that gaping void (not her minge, settle down)
Vincent and Justine are a great pairing (and his scenes with Portman are among his best) but his obsession with catching the bad guy means he’s doomed to never build a life with this ideal woman. With Neal dead, he’s totally bereft by the end. Or maybe he’ll give it another shot with Justine now that he's caught his big game?
These are the things I chew on after watching the film. The women help to cement the legacy of what went down.
The movie was always meant to be a "slow burn".
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