5 Michael Mann Movies, From Best To Best
The veteran movie director makes smart shoot ’em ups about men who brood
5. Collateral (2004)
This movie has four stars: Tom Cruise, Jamie Foxx, Michael Mann, and Los Angeles at night. Tom Cruise turns in one of his best performances as a silver-haired assassin who forces kindhearted cabbie Jamie Foxx to drive him from hit to hit. Cruise and Foxx are exceptional as the night turns deadly, and predators become prey. Mann is at his most cerebral — and visceral — in this underrated cat and mouse game.
4. Heat (1995)
Al Pacino and Robert De Niro, top cop and master criminal, sit across from each other in a diner. Two grim men of purpose with personal codes sharing a cup of coffee, a quiet showdown before the final one. Heat is a gentleman heist movie with gunfights that are kinetic, disciplined, emotional, like a good ballet. Also starring Val Kilmer as DeNiro’s robber protege, Heat is about men who take pride in their bloody work.
3. Thief (1981)
Michael Mann’s first movie is a gritty thriller about Chicago lowlives making a living in the streets. It stars James Caan at his most vulnerable and arrogant, a jewel thief and safecracker who wants out of the game so he agrees…
