Heat (1995)

The greatest crime thriller of all-time. Heat is more nuanced than what you might expect from the genre, and that’s exactly why it outclasses all else. The acting is famously incredible. Pacino & De Niro are in their prime, plus Kilmer, Voight, Sizemore, Trejo etc. It’s incredible not just due to the big personalities on display, but for the hints of insecurity and loneliness which confident men attempt to conceal. 

Heat delivers the high-tension thrills expected; the dauntless detective versus the master thief, the cat and mouse game, the larger than life shoot-outs…but the true value of Heat is to be found in it’s fleeting intimacies. It’s a movie about the cost of neglect, about men mistreating the women in their lives and the awful misery it causes all around. Despite being hardened cops and robbers, no one here can escape their emotional needs as human beings.

The final shot, set to a beautiful Brian Eno piece, left me in awe of both the brutality and tenderness men are capable of. The endless cycle of meaningless violence will persist, but hopefully you realize what’s really important in your life before it’s over.–