The brilliance of Heat

Heat is my favorite movie. Its taut, visceral, character-driven narrative is something I've always wanted to capture in my writing.

There's a scene towards the end of the movie in which master thief Neil, played by Robert DeNiro, and his girlfriend are driving to the airport to flee the country. En route, he receives a phone call from his handler notifying him of the whereabouts of a fellow thief who double-crossed him. After he hangs up the phone, the camera lingers on his face, and you can tell he's thinking, choosing between an act of wrath and vengeance, and getting away clean.

Earlier in the movie, Neil, feeling heat from the police, asks his crew whether they want to go through with one last heist. Michael, played by Tom Sizemore, rationalizes his desire to go through with it, even though for him the reward probably isn't worth the risk since he's financially secure. Neil tells him so, and Michael's true colors show. He says, "For me, the action is the juice. I'm in."

Both scenes are so beautifully straightforward and understated in their gravity. The characters make their choices, their fates in their hands. Forget the perfectly choreographed heists and the best urban gunfight ever put to film. What really propels Heat into the stratosphere is its characters.

The movie has a dense, linear plot that works in the movie's margins, usually in the background, offscreen, and at the ends of scenes. The focus of every scene, rather, is on the characters, and there are a lot of them. Their goals, conflicts, and vulnerabilities are richly exposed. We see them cope with their lives, good guys and bad guys alike.

DeNiro and Al Pacino obviously do much of the heavy lifting, but everyone has a moment to shine. They're not complicated people, but they have depth and the script shows that in a direct, sophisticated way that I haven't seen done so well in any other movie. The brevity of these scenes is key, as drawing them out would have bogged them down in clichés and melodrama.

The rubric of a post-industrial Los Angeles provides the backdrop for these broken people scrabbling for meaning in their lives. These people are flesh and blood products of their environment, yet they are not robbed of agency. Their choices, as explained above, carry mortal weight. And often they lead to suffering, which is a poignant commentary on life.

As always, let me know what you think in the comments. I'll reply to you as soon as I can. I invite you to read the first 4 chapters of my new sci-fi book, Seeds of Calamity, for free. If it piques your interest, get yourself a copy at Amazon. I appreciate the support!