Most movies would be lucky to have just one scene that’s considered an all-time classic, so the fact that Michael Mann’s Heat has two is just plain greedy – but only one of them is likely to earn you noise complaints from the neighbours.
Released in 1995, Heat united two Hollywood heavyweights for the first time. Robert De Niro and Al Pacino had both starred in The Godfather Part II in the mid-’70s but never actually shared the screen, so while Heat’s unrehearsed diner scene where the two face-off is certainly iconic, it won’t test your home cinema system like the film’s other most memorable moment.
Almost two hours into the film, De Niro’s Neil McCauley leads a small team of bank robbers on a heist that could net them a cool $12m if they manage to pull it off. And it seems to be going as planned until it comes to the getaway, when all hell breaks loose on the streets of downtown LA.
What’s most immediately striking is just how loud Heat’s heist sequence is. Even when you know it’s coming, the explosion of noise when Chris Shiherlis (Val Kilmer) opens fire on the police outside the bank is almost enough to make you jump clear out of your seat.
McCauley’s crew are armed with assault rifles, and in the film-makers’ quest for realism they chose to load them with full-load blanks, which means they use the same amount of gunpowder as real shells.
If you’ve got the volume cranked up, each volley of gunfire is a complete assault on the senses, and you should really be able to hear the difference between the weapons as the three thieves battle against Pacino’s detective Vincent Hanna, and what appears to be the entire LAPD.
Bullets pierce cop car bodywork as if it’s made of paper, while windscreens burst like balloons full of broken glass, with everything echoing off the surrounding office blocks and creating a wall of noise that puts most war films to shame.
Heat isn’t just a great test for the best soundbars or surround sound systems either, there’s plenty here for your eyes to feast on too.
Available to stream in 4K HDR, Heat is famous for its steely blue colour palette and is packed with scenes that juxtapose almost pitch darkness with the bright lights of LA’s seedier side.
You’ll need a TV that’s capable of drawing the detail out of dark scenes to really see what’s going on when Hanna and his team stake out the scene of an attempted break-in in the dead of night, or when McCauley pays a visit to the home of a suspected snitch.
The final shadowy showdown between the two alpha males takes place around the runways at Los Angeles International Airport, where dazzlingly bright lights periodically illuminate the Tarmac for approaching planes, making it a brilliant test for your TV’s contrast.
As with McCauley and his crew’s scores, time is very much of the essence here. Heat is only available to stream on Prime Video for the next two days before it disappears into thin air, so catch it while you still can.
Stream Heat on Amazon Prime Video
For even better quality, buy the Heat 4K Blu-ray from Amazon
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