One of the best superhero movies stole from the action milestone Heat

Christopher Nolan opens his acclaimed superhero blockbuster The Dark Knight with a bang. The spectacular bank robbery scene of the Joker and his gang, of which only the psychopathic Batman villain survives at the end, is a real adrenaline rush to get you started.

For this opener, Nolan took inspiration from an older work that even eclipses The Dark Knight: Michael Mann’s action-thriller masterpiece Heat. With Amazon Prime you can stream the film with a subscription *, the one of the most gripping action scenes of all time unleashed.

That’s what Michael Mann’s Heat is all about

In the film’s story, Robert De Niro plays the sophisticated criminal Neil McCauley, who always gets away with his well thought-out plans in Los Angeles. In order to finally catch him, he is liable crime obsessed cop Vincent Hanna (Al Pacino) at his heels. When McCauley plans one last big coup, Hanna sees his chance and wants to overpower the gangster.

Watch the German trailer for Heat here!

Action for eternity: A breathtaking street battle ensues in Heat

With the two acting giants Robert De Niro and Al Pacino, Michael Mann has created one of the best action films of all time. The cat and mouse game between cop and criminal is directed by the director masterfully staged and not only offers suspense and outstanding action, but also great drawn characters.

Heat is one melancholic city ballad, which turns Los Angeles into a prison of ice-blue images. In it, the main characters are caught up in their own callings and obsessions, although they aren’t all that different from each other.

One of the highlights of the film is the scene between De Niro and Pacino, in which the characters of the two meet at a diner. While they quickly open up, discover common parallels, philosophize about their dreams and a friendship almost develops, they realize at the same time that one has to kill the other in the future. A unforgettable moment brilliant acting.

Equally unforgettable is the biggest action set in Heat, when McCauley’s planned bank robbery is triggered by the police officers arriving at a minute street battle escalated. Michael Mann stages the shootout between all those involved as a deafening inferno in which every bullet fired makes you tremble.

For that scene alone, Heat is a Must have for any genre fan and is still hailed as one of the greatest action movies to this day. You can also see how much Christopher Nolan was influenced by the full film for The Dark Knight in this video. In it both works compared frame by framewhich reveals many parallels:

The best scenes of the action cracker have a real role model

Both the big action showdown and the meeting between Pacino and De Niro surprisingly based on real events. Mann was inspired by the accounts of cop Chuck Adamson, who was on the trail of career criminal Neil McCauley in 1960s Chicago (via rogerebert.com).

Included the two actually met for coffee. The conversation between the two was partly used for the film. Not long after, the two faced each other in a shootout. McCauley was shot dead by police during a failed robbery.

Action replenishment: The 22 biggest streaming films 2022 on Netflix and Co.

There are a few real highlights waiting for you in the streaming area this year. Netflix in particular has announced a host of promising films. In the podcast stream browsing, we give an overview of which projects the anticipation is particularly great.

With genres such as science fiction, action, comedy, fantasy, animation and more, Netflix, Disney+ and AppleTV+ are guaranteed to have something for all tastes – whether you’re looking for the new film by Martin Scorsese, the next Disney remake or the film adaptation of yours favorite novel.

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A notice: We published this article in a similar form as a VOD tip on January 7, 2021.

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Have you seen Heat yet?