by Josh Sewell
Writer-director Michael Mann’s 1995 epic crime thriller Heat was a solid critical and commercial hit, grossing $187 million worldwide, but its stature has only improved in the nearly three decades since its release. These days, the film – featuring an all-star cast including Al Pacino, Robert De Niro, Val Kilmer, Jon Voight, Ashley Judd and a host of others – is widely considered a masterpiece.
Not only that, but it also marks the first time Al Pacino and Robert De Niro shared the screen together – a single, riveting scene in which foes briefly set aside their cat-and-mouse game to have a cup of coffee. The movie went on to influence the next generation of filmmakers – particularly Christopher Nolan, whose The Dark Knight borrowed liberally from the film’s tone, score, cinematography and practical stunt sequences.
I’m not sure anyone was clamoring for a sequel, especially considering the finale is nothing short of perfect. Besides, most of the characters don’t make it out alive and the ones left are played by actors whose action movie days are well behind them.
Leave it to Mann to find a creative, surprisingly effective solution to that problem: Heat 2 came out last week, but you can find it in bookstores rather than the multiplex. Mann and veteran crime novelist Meg Gardiner team up to make the exhilarating story of relentless LAPD detective Vincent Hanna (played in the film by Pacino) and bank robbers Neil McCauley (De Niro) and Chris Shiherlis (Kilmer) even more epic by giving it The Godfather, Part II treatment.
Serving as both sequel and prequel, Heat 2 fills viewers in on what happens in the moments, days and years after that thrilling final scene, as well as what these characters’ lives were like before fate brought them together.
In the hours after Hanna killed McCauley in a showdown at LAX, the criminal’s friend and partner Shiherlis (Val Kilmer) is hiding out after getting shot during a heist gone awry, looking to flee the country before he’s caught. In the years to come, the former hothead finds a new, far more lucrative criminal enterprise while hiding out in South America.
While that story is playing out, Heat 2 also flashes back to 1988, when McCauley, Shiherlis, and the rest of their crew are pulling off high-stakes robberies in Chicago and along the Mexican border. Also in Chicago: Hanna, a homicide detective trying to track down a chilling group of home invaders who do unspeakable things to their victims. As the two narratives hurtle to their conclusions, they begin to converge in unexpected, sometimes shocking ways.
I’ll admit I went into Heat 2 skeptical, because it’s rarely a good idea to mess with perfection. However, within just a few chapters, Mann and Gardiner assuaged most of my doubts. The novel genuinely feels like a natural continuation of the iconic film. By the time I hit the halfway point, I forced myself to slow down so I could savor the writing and characters rather than speed through to see how things wrapped up.
Not all the subplots are winners: I found myself losing interest anytime the action shifted to Shiherlis’ tech-heavy partnership with a new enigmatic love interest (shades of both Mann’s 2006 big-screen Miami Vice remake and his 2015 misfire Blackhat). But the complex characterization of Hanna and McCauley more than makes up for the lackluster sections.
Plus, in Otis Wardell, the authors have somehow crafted a villain even more loathsome and terrifying than the original film’s Waingro (Kevin Gage). It’s no small feat when cops and criminals with a longstanding vendetta against one another can find common ground in wanting the same bad guy dead.
I can’t say I was thrilled that Heat 2 ends with a cliffhanger, teasing another follow-up we may or may not get, but the two riveting action sequences that serve as the big finale definitely close things out on a high note. It’s clear Mann isn’t done with this world – in recent interviews, he teased that he’s working on adapting the novel into a bona fide movie sequel. I’m definitely intrigued, but I have no clue how he’s going to do it without Pacino, De Niro and Kilmer. He'd have to recast those roles, which are some mighty big shoes to fill.
Grade: A-
Not only that, but it also marks the first time Al Pacino and Robert De Niro shared the screen together – a single, riveting scene in which foes briefly set aside their cat-and-mouse game to have a cup of coffee. The movie went on to influence the next generation of filmmakers – particularly Christopher Nolan, whose The Dark Knight borrowed liberally from the film’s tone, score, cinematography and practical stunt sequences.
I’m not sure anyone was clamoring for a sequel, especially considering the finale is nothing short of perfect. Besides, most of the characters don’t make it out alive and the ones left are played by actors whose action movie days are well behind them.
Leave it to Mann to find a creative, surprisingly effective solution to that problem: Heat 2 came out last week, but you can find it in bookstores rather than the multiplex. Mann and veteran crime novelist Meg Gardiner team up to make the exhilarating story of relentless LAPD detective Vincent Hanna (played in the film by Pacino) and bank robbers Neil McCauley (De Niro) and Chris Shiherlis (Kilmer) even more epic by giving it The Godfather, Part II treatment.
Serving as both sequel and prequel, Heat 2 fills viewers in on what happens in the moments, days and years after that thrilling final scene, as well as what these characters’ lives were like before fate brought them together.
In the hours after Hanna killed McCauley in a showdown at LAX, the criminal’s friend and partner Shiherlis (Val Kilmer) is hiding out after getting shot during a heist gone awry, looking to flee the country before he’s caught. In the years to come, the former hothead finds a new, far more lucrative criminal enterprise while hiding out in South America.
While that story is playing out, Heat 2 also flashes back to 1988, when McCauley, Shiherlis, and the rest of their crew are pulling off high-stakes robberies in Chicago and along the Mexican border. Also in Chicago: Hanna, a homicide detective trying to track down a chilling group of home invaders who do unspeakable things to their victims. As the two narratives hurtle to their conclusions, they begin to converge in unexpected, sometimes shocking ways.
I’ll admit I went into Heat 2 skeptical, because it’s rarely a good idea to mess with perfection. However, within just a few chapters, Mann and Gardiner assuaged most of my doubts. The novel genuinely feels like a natural continuation of the iconic film. By the time I hit the halfway point, I forced myself to slow down so I could savor the writing and characters rather than speed through to see how things wrapped up.
Not all the subplots are winners: I found myself losing interest anytime the action shifted to Shiherlis’ tech-heavy partnership with a new enigmatic love interest (shades of both Mann’s 2006 big-screen Miami Vice remake and his 2015 misfire Blackhat). But the complex characterization of Hanna and McCauley more than makes up for the lackluster sections.
Plus, in Otis Wardell, the authors have somehow crafted a villain even more loathsome and terrifying than the original film’s Waingro (Kevin Gage). It’s no small feat when cops and criminals with a longstanding vendetta against one another can find common ground in wanting the same bad guy dead.
I can’t say I was thrilled that Heat 2 ends with a cliffhanger, teasing another follow-up we may or may not get, but the two riveting action sequences that serve as the big finale definitely close things out on a high note. It’s clear Mann isn’t done with this world – in recent interviews, he teased that he’s working on adapting the novel into a bona fide movie sequel. I’m definitely intrigued, but I have no clue how he’s going to do it without Pacino, De Niro and Kilmer. He'd have to recast those roles, which are some mighty big shoes to fill.
Grade: A-
Reach out to Josh Sewell on Twitter @IAmJoshSewell
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