Heat 2 | Michael Mann & Meg Gardiner

This episode of Books for Men features Heat 2 by Michael Mann & Meg Gardiner. A novel sequel to one of the greatest crime movies of all time. Pretty unique. I think it's safe to say that if you like the movie, you'll like the novel. It doesn't violate the film—it deepens it. Listen for more!

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Welcome back to Books for Men, a podcast to inspire more men to read and bring together men who do. So I have a really interesting book to share with you. It's one that I probably wasn't going to read so soon, but I was away on vacation and I had finished the book that I was reading and I only had my Kindle. And so I had this one downloaded and I began to read it and then I couldn't put it down. And it was a book that I was intending to read anyway, but as I said, it came about much quicker than I anticipated, and I'm happy that I read it without further ado. It's Heat 2 by Michael Mann and Meg Gardiner. And so why is this such an interesting book? Well, because it's a sequel to a movie, so it's very rare, or I don't even know if another one exists where a movie, a legendary movie, an iconic movie is made.

(01:11)

And then as a sequel to the movie, there is a novel 30 years later, and that's this situation here. Now, there could be a lot of reasons for that, and I think it's a pretty cool idea because, with a lot of movies in general, you don't get to flesh out the characters as much. And in a novel, you really can explore that territory and you could really deepen and enrichen these characters. And I think that this, that's what this book does very well. And it, it's just a very unique book because like I said, you rarely see this type of situation. I've never actually seen it. If someone else does know of one, please let me know. I'd love to check it out or whatnot. So this is a crime, obviously, it's pretty long. It's almost 500 pages. Michael Mann is an esteemed legendary filmmaker. Of course, movies like Collateral, Public Enemies, and since he's not a novelist, and this was his first novel, he worked with Meg Gardiner, a career novelist—crime writer, thriller writer. I think maybe 16, 17 novels in total.

(02:10)

As I already mentioned, this is a sequel to a movie that came out in 1995. And so look, the reason why I really wanted to read this book is because, for me personally, it is one of my top 5, top 10 movies of all time. For me, it's just a remarkable, remarkable story. The fact that there is, and I'm going to spoiler alert here because I'm assuming if you haven't seen a movie that was done in 1995, then I'm, I'm sorry to ruin anything for you, but the movie has a double protagonist, right? You have Vincent Hanna played by Al Pacino and Neil McCauley played by Robert De Niro, McCauley is the thief, and Hannah is the homicide detective. And so these double protagonists essentially have the same flaw. And to me that that's super interesting.

(03:05)

They're both devoted to their craft, super devoted to the thing they do. So Hanna is devoted to catching bad guys like McCauley and McCauley is devoted to being what I would consider an honorable thief or someone who has a moral code. But essentially they are the same protagonists that are weighed down by the same essential flaw with a little bit of nuance. And it provides this very rich and interesting dynamic, even though one is the good guy and one is the bad guy, aside from just what they do, they're basically the same person in a way, and they create this kind of bond through that. And it's not like a friendship bond, but it's more of like a respect bond. And you could totally see that being the case, but I think that that's where this relationship is so fun to watch and see on screen.

(04:05)

And I don't want to spend too much time on that, but obviously, it is an essential part of the sequel, which is the book that I am sharing with you today. When I mentioned earlier that it was one of my top five or top 10 movies of all time, I really meant it mostly because of what I was just sharing with you, but also how well that flaw intersects with the plot line. And so everything makes sense and works in a very cohesive way with the story, even if you don't agree with some of the decisions that are made. If you look at it from a storytelling perspective, it's really just a remarkable, remarkable story and how well it's actually put together. And then you just throw in things like probably the greatest bank robbery scene in any movie of all time or any heist movie of all time, really.

(04:59)

And then you just have the two icons of film Pacino and De Niro finally playing in the same movie together. And then they have a six-minute dialogue scene with each other in the center of the movie where you really start to see that relationship. I mean, where else are you going to ever see these two icons going line for line like that? So I don't know. That stuff all combined just makes this movie great for me. And Pacino, I don't think he's ever done the Pacino thing better than he did it in heat. I know some of you probably are saying, well, what about The Godfather, one of the greatest movies of all time? And you're right, that was a phenomenal performance. But for me personally, that's not Pacino doing Pacino, that's early Al Pacino coming off of Broadway trying to get his start. It's a much more subtle, much more nuanced performance that required something almost avant-garde in a way or something of that nature.

(05:49)

It wasn't really Pacino in Pacino's voice. You see him later in his career and not much later, but definitely a little bit later with Scarface and then Donnie Brosco and Carlito's Way. But all those movies, as good as they are for me, Pacino is better in heat. That performance is, it's comedic, it's energetic, it's spot-on with that character. And I don't know, it just works for me in a big way. And then you have De Niro of course, which he's always great, and this ranks right up there with all of his great performances, Raging Bull, Taxi Driver, Goodfellas, Casino, you name it, Neil McCauley ranks up there with all of them. I mean, you could sum this movie up with one Neil McCauley line or Robert De Niro line, and it's really the tagline or the whole movie, “Do not let yourself get attached to anything you are not willing to walk out on in 30 seconds flat if you feel the heat around the corner.”

(06:44)

I mean, is there a better tagline or line than that in a movie? It's iconic. It's phenomenal, and it ties directly into the story. And this is what I mean when I say everything works together so cohesively. Even the ending, which I will admit like everybody else probably who was watching it for the first time was a little bit upset with how it ended. But if you look at it from the big picture, you see how the ending was essential based on character flaws, based on the decisions that some of these characters made. And so I don't want to get into that too much because I know I'd said, who cares about spoilers? But if you want to watch the movie and you haven't watched the movie, I'm not going to ruin the ending for you. So go watch it. Now with that being said, I realize that this has been sort of like a love story to heat, and I am doing that by intention because not only do I love the movie, but I think it's really essential and integral to you reading this book, right?

(07:44)

It's a sequel to that story. I mean, you could read it in isolation, but I would really recommend reading Heat 2 after watching the movie, if you haven't, and maybe even watching the movie as a refresher and then reading the book. I've never read a book where I actually had the advantage of seeing characters act as I'm reading the book. So as I'm reading the Vincent Hanna parts, as I'm reading the Neil McCauley parts, I'm watching Robert De Niro say these lines, I'm watching Al Pacino say these lines, and I didn't even mention Val Kilmer, but Chris who he plays in the movie and in the book, he's an essential part to the story, obviously. And with that being said, I should say that the book takes place immediately following the movie. So the movie is in 1995, that's when it came out. So you start the book in that year, then it backtracks to 1988, comes back to 1995, 1996, and then moves forward to the year 2000.

(08:50)

So it ties in all of the storylines, and it really culminates in that final part. I really liked the ending actually quite a bit. And you're kind of wondering throughout the whole book, is this really going to tie things together? Is it going to just remain this character study that deepens and enrichens these characters? And I think that, again, that's a huge advantage of this book because you have actors who are playing these characters for you. It makes it really easy and fun to read. And I don't usually when books have a lot of action. And I would say that this book does have a lot of action, and it's kind of technical in some ways, not in the writing, but in some of the descriptive nature of it, in terms of the action that it's describing. And I totally respect any readers and writers who love that.

(09:41)

It's just not something that I usually read, but I was totally distracted by all of the things that I had already mentioned. And so it just worked for me in totality, and that's really all that matters. I was just highly entertained. One of the things that I will say is that in the movie, I found myself so enamored and so interested in Neil McCauley, the character, and I was rooting for him in the movie. And through the first, I would say 160 pages of the novel, I'm way more fascinated with Vincent Hannah, someone who I was much less fascinated by in the movie. And so it kind of made me balance out my love for these characters in a different way. So that in itself was very, very interesting for me. And the last thing that I will say just about the plot of the book is that it uses a character named Otis Wardell as the antagonist.

(10:37)

And he might be the worst grossest, grimiest, most brutal type of character that I've read in a long time. He kind of replaces Waingro, who plays that character in the movie, but it's even worse and even more sadistic than that character if you can imagine it. But the reason why I love that character so much is because it accomplishes two things. It shows their commitment of Hanna to chase down these types of criminals and individuals, and just people that are terrible, terrible individuals, and how they dominate his life and his commitment to that, as well as he also serves as a comparison to Neil McCauley. So you could be this guy, or you could be like Neil McCauley. And so you kind of like Neil McCauley a lot more and a lot better because you have this other guy, Otis Wardell to compare him to.

(11:36)

And so it accomplishes these two feats in a very subtle way. And if I didn't point it out, maybe you wouldn't even recognize it, but maybe now as you're reading it, if you do read it, you will look at it that way and say, wow, that's such a good structuring choice. It's such a smart plot choice. And whether it was intended or not, it was what I felt when I read the book. And anything that I have said about the movie, again, I just want to remind you that they're my opinions and they're my perspective on this classic iconic movie, and it's the things that make me love it so much. And if you see it the same way, that's great, or whether that's the intention of the creator, I have no idea. I'm really happy that they were able to publish this sequel. And I will be honest in saying that I didn't have super high expectations for it.

(12:30)

I thought maybe it was going to be this loosely constructed character examination, but it really, really ties together well, and it's a great story in its own right. So with that being said, that's all I've got. I know I threw a lot at you. I talked pretty quickly in this episode mostly because I was trying to fit a lot in. So I hope you enjoyed it. And if you did, I always want to remind you to please share it with family members, friends, and other people who you think might like it. Word of mouth is everything when you're trying to spread the word. And with this case specifically, it's inspiring more men to read and brings together men who do. And if you listen to this show on a regular basis, then I probably sound like a broken record by now, but I'm speaking to you directly, the people who think I sound like a broken record right now, that means you were listening to this a lot.

(13:17)

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