Heat: Director's Definitive Edition | Full Movie | Movies Anywhere

Above all, the dialogue is complex enough to allow the characters to say what they're thinking: They are eloquent, insightful, fanciful, poetic when necessary. They're not trapped with clichés.

Heat is a giant of a film, a god among American crime thrillers… Masterpiece is an overused term. Here it barely comes close.

Mann has produced the best crime epic since Goodfellas and one of the best films of the year, an absolute must-see for anyone who likes good (heck, great) acting and modern cinema.

At its core it's actually about virtuosity... and, by extension, the virtuosity of Mann himself, of which there's no short supply. Too bad it's running on empty; if the film weren't so hollow it would be a masterpiece.

Time and again, Heat veers sharply out of the groove worn by a thousand other movies. As I said, it's not an ordinary movie -- indeed, it's an extraordinary one, with compelling performances, a fascinating mix of characters and a riveting story line.