Heat at 25: Still the Best Crime Thriller of the Modern Era

100% agree. “One notable area Heat had a particular affect on cinema was in the gun battle. That infamous post heist shootout, so grounded in its approach and yet thrillingly cinematic, would become a blue print a lot of movie shootouts would follow (if they weren’t going for the pure fantasy of John Woo style for example). Aside from it looking and feeling like it has a sense of reality (no one holds the gun like they’re playing action hero), it was edited to perfection and the sound for the sequence is particularly effective. Additionally, one reason the sequence has probably never been bettered since, is the practicality of how it was made. Everything is in camera. There are masses of squibs firing off all over and there’s a brutality and finality to the firepower. Ted Levine for example is taken down in blunt and brutal fashion. No airs or graces, no elaborate stunt. He just falls and that’s it. That moment of intense shock and pain, replaced seconds later by death. Additionally, Haysbert is savagely taken out. It’s blunt with its violence.”