 Well, I guess the overall plot for this one is pretty simple. A guy by the name of Neil McCauley (Robert De Niro) and his crew are a bunch of heist professionals. Eventually, LAPD Lieutenant Vincent Hanna (Al Pacino) begins investigating after one of McCauley's jobs, and the whole thing essentially turns into a game of Cat & Mouse.
While fully realizing that the "Heat" is well on their tail, the crew wishes to do more. The group is made of professionals, who do their jobs carefully, but when McCauley ends up falling for someone, the desire to see the end of it all becomes more evident. This is another film that carries a sort of atmosphere with it. Most of it seems to take place at night time, and it has a smooth, jazzy soundtrack. I mean, just imagine, if you will, a mysterious stranger wearing a trench coat and a fedora walking slowly under the street lights at night time in the dark area of the city and that's pretty much the mood... okay, maybe that's just me, but anyway, there's atmosphere. I think what really stole the show for me above all was actually Pacino's performance. Here's a little NSFW "best of" video to show you just what I'm talking about. He's so easy to take seriously, yet sometimes he just kind "pops" and makes you laugh, perhaps inappropriately at times. On the other hand, this is also a great De Niro performance. He's pretty much consistent in taking it all seriously, and he gives this performance where you can almost see the wheels turning in his head. You understand that he has difficult decisions to make throughout this movie. And yet, he never stops being a badass at the same time. The best scene in the movie is probably when Vincent pulls Neil over and gets him a cup of coffee. Hero and villain are just sitting there across from each other having the most seemingly casual of conversations about which one of them is gonna come out on top in the end and why. It's just such an interesting scene to watch because you get that they have a certain respect for each other, even though they are on totally opposing sides. While the film does tend to slow down in some areas, it's pretty much always brought back up by some sort of action sequence or something that shows you more of either Pacino's or De Niro's characters. Two perfectly sharp minds working against each other is always entertaining. I had a great time with it, but I think i really do need to watch it through again some time. The only reason is because I can't help but feel it's the type of movie that's better the second time around. One would likely be able to pick up a few more things along the way. Plus, if nothing else, one can relish in Pacino's one-liners. 4/5
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