HeatMovie Reviews

Critic scores range from 0 to 100, with higher scores indicating more favorable reviews.

  • 100
    USA Today | Mike Clark

    Heat is in the cop-movie pantheon with Akira Kurosawa's "High and Low," and that's as "right" as the genre gets. Read full review

  • 88
    Chicago Tribune | Michael Wilmington

    A love-hate poem to L.A., and when Mann takes in the streets, the freeways and LAX, he doesn't give us shiny "Lethal Weapon"-style travelogues. He shows us an L.A. that's grim, bare, a bit smoggy and ruled by street smarts. [15 Dec 1995] Read full review

  • 88
    The Globe and Mail (Toronto) | Rick Groen

    No, the film may not be quite as luminous as the cast, but it's good - very good, in fact. Read full review

  • 88
    Chicago Sun-Times | Roger Ebert

    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 cliches. Read full review

  • 80
    TV Guide |

    It didn't sound like fun to us, either, but we were wrong; Heat scores on many fronts...The plot, though it seems to ramble, builds suspense with deft precision, and the action set pieces are triumphs. Read full review

  • 75
    San Francisco Chronicle | Edward Guthmann

    It's a monster of a movie, and it gets unwieldy. Read full review

  • 67
    Entertainment Weekly | Owen Gleiberman

    We're not watching McCauley and Hanna anymore; we're watching De Niro and Pacino trying to out-insinuate each other. For a few moments, Heat truly has some. Read full review

  • 50
    San Francisco Examiner |

    There isn't much to recommend this movie until Pacino and De Niro finally share the first of their two scenes together. Read full review

  • 50
    Christian Science Monitor | David Sterritt

    The performances are persuasive but the plot rattles on much too long. Read full review

  • 50
    ReelViews | James Berardinelli

    I lost track of how many times I checked my watch during the nearly three interminable hours it took Heat to play itself to a predictable conclusion of a chase scene and a shoot-out. Read full review