Heat

The work of Michael Mann isn't based on innovation. Instead it's based on heightened stylization. Heat has the length and width to make it an epic that recasts the crime genre it sits in. Many even hold it up to such a high place of esteem. Mann distills the action and drama with his usual widescreen focus. The camera doesn't just encircle the characters but takes on the location around them. Few scenes are typical and closer to the action. This camera work makes Mann remiscient of Sergio Leone and others. Mann distinguishes himself from Leone by making a more realistic caper than Leone would have done, but it doesn't mean he makes a sincere caper either. The characters and action look and feel more authentic to some degree, but they are still just composites of the typecast in their respective genre. Mann doesn't add enough flesh out the characters to make them organic. Pacino and De Niro do have emotional turmoil with their characters, but those isses are cast to the side. The true focus of Heat is the actioneer elements that tie it to a million other movies and a million other cliches. Mann makes only makes the case that the film is more realistic by filming it all on real locales, but he doesn't elevate or evolve the story to make it something more. It's still just a grandstanding of cliches and commonalities. When Leone transitioned from The Man With No Name Trilogy to Once Upon a Time in the West, he didn't do it with a better story, but better production and filmmaking. Leone wanted you to see the filmmaking before the story. Mann wants you to believe in character dilemmas being real. It's the wrong focus.