Heat appears in an aspect ratio of approximately 2.40:1 on this 4K UHD Disc. Darkness, thy name is this 4K image.
From start to finish, the movie looked oddly dim. Even bright daylight shots suffered from this.
As such, it felt like I watched the film through sunglasses. Everything seemed balanced within the darkness, but the whole package simply lacked any real brightness.
Not that I expected the movie to become peppy, but there’s a difference between “moody” and “impenetrable”. For too much of Heat, it became a struggle to discern the events on screen, and HDR did nothing to bolster these elements.
I poked around and found varying views of this aspect of the image. Many agreed that the flick looked murky whereas others felt it showed appropriate darkness.
Is this a player/TV issue? Maybe.
Did filmmaker Michael Mann want the movie regraded for 4K to appear this way. Maybe.
Did someone goof and simply make the movie murkier than it should be but no one picked up on this? Maybe.
All I know is that the Heat 4K looked considerably darker than any prior version, and I can’t figure out a logical reason for this. If Mann wanted the film to force the viewer to struggle to figure out what’s happening, then I don’t get that choice, especially because no earlier releases looked this way.
Other aspects of the image worked better, though the dimness made it more difficult to judge them. On on hand, sharpness seemed consistently accurate and dynamic.
I guess. Again, the murky nature of the presentation could make it tough to detect actual definition.
Brighter shots looked well-delineated, and I will assume the darker shots followed suit. That remains an assumption, though, just because it remained so difficult to really see the material.
I noticed no signs of jagged edges or shimmering, and edge haloes failed to appear. In addition, source defects created no distractions, and light grain popped up through the film.
The movie might be called Heat, but the color scheme went for a decidedly cool look. The flick favored a bluish-green tint that kept things subdued.
The hues never came across as particularly rich, but they seemed satisfactory within the constraints of the visual design. Don’t expect a boost from HDR, however, as that pervasive darkness meant colors lacked the ability to pop.
Blacks tended to feel too dense – again, an outgrowth of all the murk. It remains to be seen if Michael Mann wanted the movie to look this way or if someone goofed, but I do know that the chronic murkiness of the 4K left it as a problematic presentation.
At least I thought the DTS-HD MA 5.1 soundtrack of Heat worked fine. With a few notable exceptions, the soundfield maintained an emphasis toward the front. Matters opened up well for the more action-oriented sequences, and those managed to create a decent sense of life.
Otherwise, the mix favored the front, though not in an unsatisfying way. The film created a fairly natural feeling of environment and allowed for the various channels to add presence to the material.
Most of the audio sounded good, as my only complaint came from the way the mix balanced dialogue. During a few scenes, I found it tough to hear the lines. Despite those periodic obstacles, speech otherwise sounded concise and distinctive.
Music showed good range and definition, while effects were crisp and detailed. As I mentioned during my discussion of the soundfield, the track didn’t present a lot of opportunities to blast, but the audio kicked into gear well when necessary. Overall, this was a good mix.
How did this 4K UHD compare with the most recent Blu-ray from 2017? Both came with identical DTS-HD MA 5.1 audio.
As for the visuals, this turned into a rare instance where I clearly preferred the Blu-ray, entirely due to the brightness levels. Whereas the 4K looked murky and dim, the BD showed more natural and logical elements.
As a natural 4K product, a UHD version of Heat comes with the potential to easily beat the Blu-ray. Unfortunately, this murky presentation made it a definite disappointment and a drop in quality from the much more appealing Blu-ray.
From here we go to the set’s extras. Only one component appears on the 4K disc itself: an audio commentary from writer/director Michael Mann, as he provides a running, screen-specific chat.
Don’t expect a firm focus on filmmaking here. As with Mann’s chat for Ali, he often prefers to discuss background and facts behind the flick. However, Mann balances things better here than during Ali, as he pulls back the curtain on a number of production elements.
A moderate amount of dead air pops up during the track, and that makes it sputter at times. Nonetheless, much of the information Mann provides digs into matters well. He chats a lot about research and the facts behind the film.
When he gets into aspects of the production, Mann tosses out some good nuggets. He delves into those issues more heavily during the flick’s second and third acts.
We get notes about the actors and their approaches to their roles, some visual design choices, technical aspects of the shoot such as the camerawork in the big coffee shop scene, locations, and some storytelling issues. Mann starts to fade during the movie’s third act and often does little more than narrate the flick, but he presents enough good material to make this a worthwhile - if spotty - commentary.
In addition to a Blu-ray copy of the movie that also features this commentary, another disc specifically gets into bonus features. These we go to a three-part documentary called The Making of Heat.
Taken together, these segments run 59 minutes, 12 seconds and feature Mann, former Chicago police officer Chuck Adamson, author/Chicago historian Richard Lindberg, actor/former Chicago police officer Dennis Farina, LAPD technical advisor Tom Elfmont, first assistant director Michael Waxman, author Eddie Bunker, LA Sheriff’s Department technical advisor Rey Verdugo, producer Art Linson, second unit director Ami Canaan Mann, casting director Bonnie Timmerman, director of photography Dante Spinotti, executive producer Pieter Jan Brugge, technical weapons trainers Mick Gould and Andy McNab, sound mixer Chris Jenkins, production designer Neil Spisak, musician Moby, composer Elliot Goldenthal, and actors Al Pacino, Jon Voight, Robert De Niro (circa 1995), Val Kilmer, Dennis Haysbert, Tom Sizemore, Amy Brenneman, Mykelti Williamson, Tom Noonan, Ashley Judd, Danny Trejo and Diane Venora.
Called “True Crime”, the first segment covers the origins of the movie’s story and the reality behind it, research and preparation, and psychological elements of cops and crooks.
In the next one, “Crime Stories” looks at Mann’s approach to the story and early stabs at it, casting and the characters, and thematic notions.
Finally, “Into the Fire” discusses more about research and preparation, locations and the film’s depiction of Los Angeles, specifics of the shoot, audio, editing, and the score.
Some of the information repeats from Mann’s commentary, and the show’s focus is the same. As with the commentary, we learn more about the facts behind the flick and preparation than we do the actual shoot, though some decent notes about that topic pop up here.
Despite a little repetition and some of the usual generic praise, these programs offer a pretty solid look at the production. I’d still like more about the movie’s shoot, but these programs cover many interesting subjects and consistently entertain.
Next comes the nine-minute, 58-second Pacino and De Niro: The Conversation. It presents notes from Voight, Brugge, Linson, Mann, De Niro, Pacino, Judd, Spinotti, Sizemore and film critic James Walcott.
We hear about expectations for the movie’s most hyped sequence as well as character elements, story concerns, and actually shooting it. Some nice bits pop up here, but we’ve heard most of it elsewhere, so we don’t learn a lot.
In addition, much of the featurette simply reruns the scene itself. It would’ve been much more interesting to get some unedited takes of the scene focused just on Pacino or De Niro.
Another featurette pops up after this with Return to the Scene of the Crime. This 12-minute, five-second piece shows location manager Janice Polley and associate producer Gusmano Cesaretti as they head back to many of the sites used in the film. Additional notes come from locals Ted Halsey, Jayme Mazzochi and Lisa Glucksman.
We watch this tour while they discuss the filmmakers’ collaboration with Mann and their work on the film as well as some facets of the locations. It’s an informative and cool examination of the various spots.
In addition to three trailers, the disc includes 11 Deleted Scenes. These last a total of nine minutes, 44 seconds of footage. As you might infer, the brevity of the clips means that they don’t get time to show us much.
Some of them simply extend existing bits, while others embellish secondary characters. The longest depicts what happened to the Trejo character. Most are fun to see, but none are terribly illuminating.
Next we get two Filmmaker Panels. The first offers a 2016 Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences discussion that lasts one hour, three minutes, 23 seconds. Moderated by filmmaker Christopher Nolan, it includes Mann, Pacino and De Niro for its first 26 minutes and then adds Brugge, Kilmer, Brenneman, Linson, Spinotti, Venora, Williamson, editor William Goldenberg and re-recording mixer Andy Nelson.
For the second, we get a 2015 Toronto International Film Festival chat that goes for 30 minutes, 27 second. This one involves Mann on his own with moderator Jesse Wente.
Across the panels, we get notes about story/characters, cast and performances, the scene that features both Pacino and De Niro, cinematography and visual design, sound design and music, sets and locations, and editing.
Of the two, the AMPAS chat works best, and not just because it lasts longer. Nolan acts as a good moderator, and his status as an “A”-list director means he lacks the star-struck quality the occasionally impacts pieces like this. Though it can’t use all 12 of its participants in a wholly satisfying way, the AMPAS panel fares well.
The TIFF discussion seems less satisfying, partly because of repetition. We hear stories and notes that we already found elsewhere, so we don’t get as much new content as I’d like. On its own, the chat seems fine, but it becomes less stimulating if you’ve already screened the rest of the supplements.
Back in 1995, I didn't much care for Heat, but I better appreciate it now. I think it's a fairly involving and effective flick. The 4K UHD offers very good sound and an enjoyable and informative package of supplements but the image looks far too dark. I hoped this would turn into the definitive version of the movie but the pervasive murkiness makes the 2017 Blu-ray the preferred release.
To rate this film, visit the original review of HEAT
