Its hard not to give Manns 1995 epic the #1 spot on this list: at just over 170 minutes, Heat is Manns longest film by about 13 minutes, narrowly squeezing ahead of Ali and The Insider for the win. Yet despite its long runtime, it somehow, amazingly, feels significantly shorter than either of those films, or any of Manns other movies, for that matter. Thats a testament to just how wholly compelling Heat is: a searing fusion of red-blooded masculinity, Nietzschean philosophy, and mercilessly cold kismet that shrewdly splits your sympathies between the crooks and cops, then runs you through the emotional wringer as you hope, however nonsensically, for all of their safe passage. This is why we go to the movies, people. What is there to say about Heat that hasnt already been said a thousand times? Its a film thats crammed front to end with memorable moments, from the ingeniously executed bank robbery and subsequent shootout at the films midpoint, to the climactic foot chase at LAX, to the oft-discussed diner scene between Pacino and DeNiro, a sequence that for both actors ranks among their very best. Heat is a masterpiece, simply put, and while thats a word that gets bandied about way too often in this age of Internet-based exaggeration and social media-fuelled hyperbole, Heat truly is the real deal, a crime epic thats grand and intimate and dynamic all at once, all in the most completely satisfying of ways. Its Manns best film in a career of iconic films, and for Mann himself, a perfect encapsulation of all that he seeks to convey as a storyteller. You want to know what types of movies Michael Mann makes? Watch Heat. What's your favourite Mann movie? Share it in the comments below.
