Heat 2 by Michael Mann and Meg Gardiner

Yes, okay, you caught me. I was one of those kids. The ones going around quoting Reservoir Dogs and Pulp Fiction. I’m sorry. I’m not proud of it. I told people to give Jackie Brown another try. I defended Narc a lot. I said people should try Things to Do in Denver When You’re Dead when they’re in the right mood and listened to certain soundtracks to the point where my friends might’ve tried to hide them.

Me and my tribe back then laughed a bit too loud when Doug Liman did the sly little nod to the Goodfellas tracking shot in Swingers, after the cast had already talked about it in the last scene. We gave each other knowing looks during Get Shorty. We were Miramax kids, before we knew exactly what had been going on there. We liked our crime movies slick and fast talking and we kept a close eye out for names like Elmore Leonard, even if occasionally meant we got something fairly low rate on our screens.

If you were one of us too then the odds are pretty good that you might’ve liked Heat. Heat was cold more than it was cool. It was slick, with a sheen that came off like neon light spilt over polished gun barrels and fast cars. The synth music and strings on the soundtrack didn’t sound like Quentin’s record collection. Heat was also, when it needed to be, a furious movie. Not graphic for grindhouse’s sake. Not all talk and no squibs. No, at times, Heat came to show how blood looked on clean tiles and glass. One gunfight in particular left you wanting to a moment to catch your breath. Let’s not forget this is the movie Christopher Nolan started citing when he wanted people to know that his follow-up to Batman Begins wanted to look like a crime film, not a comic book movie.

And, of course, there was THAT scene. For all your Godfather violence. For all your Scorsese smooth cuts and sudden, jarring blows. For all your indie crime wannabes which often left you wondering why you didn’t get a video camera and try to do better. There was THAT scene. Two men, sitting in a coffee shop, talking about their lives. Christ, THAT scene. I’ve watched drama kids try to enact it. I’ve seen photos of people who went and sat at that table. It’s one for the ages and, in a movie that is about building tension, it is a calm beat with narrow eyes. It’s the eye of the storm.

Time moves on, though. Your tastes change or fade. Your heroes go off and make Righteous Kill or Blackhat, and you move on with your life. Maybe the violence or nihilism on your screen leaves a bad taste in your mouth now. Maybe the many photocopies you’ve seen since just don’t feel the same. Maybe the TV shows that have borrowed and built on the vibe on those films have given you something better now. And maybe, just maybe, you’ve reached a point where you wonder if Quentin needs someone to sit him down and ask him if he’s doing okay.

For all of that, though, my radar still gave a small and curious PING when it heard Michael Mann had found a way to go back to the world of Heat. I’ve never really lost my love for the movie. I’ve just watched it a lot. VHS. DVD. Blu Ray. 4k. I’ve played the soundtrack to death. I’ve been flicking around on TV late at night and spotted Val Kilmer walking out of a bank with a bag on his back and thought ‘I’ve got a few minutes’.

Still, really, Heat 2?

I listened to some interviews with Michael Mann. I heard him wax tough and lyrical about these characters. And I know he loves that world. He’s done more than dabble in crime fiction before. He made LA Takedown to figure out how well Heat would work. He’s put old fashion gangster myths up on the big screen with Public Enemies. Way back, as well, the man made Thief. Maybe James Caan’s greatest movies. Maybe one of the greatest looking heist movies ever made. Plus, let’s not forget, Mann made Manhunter. The movie that gave us Thomas Harris movies without leaning too hard on the gothic filters. No, Mr Mann likes his monsters clinical and calm.

I won’t lie. I wanted to see what Michael Mann and Meg Gardiner had done. So, I asked for a copy for Christmas, and there it sat on my shelf. Waiting for the right time. Last week, I finally reached it. I’d been dipping through some brilliant 2000 A.D. collections. The Jasper Fforde book I’ve picked up wasn’t working for me. Heat 2 felt right. So, unsure of where it would take me, I started reading.

The early pages are a recap of the most iconic scenes and lines from the movie. It felt a little cheap, but I stuck with it. If anything, it got me into the rhythm Mann and Gardiner have gone for. The short, punchy sentences. Rapid fire descriptions. Crime scenes lit by blue lights. The occasional lyrical moment. The many, many gun names. Names which I don’t think I really needed, but it certainly showed they’d done their research. After that, you start to move through different times, following the lives of certain characters. Some you know. Some you don’t. Some you wish you didn’t.

Now, I don’t want to spoil the film anymore than I want to spoil the book, so let’s just say you get to spend time with characters you might not expect to see in a sequel. You also get to see them in very different locations, in seemingly unrelated plots. And, my god, does it draw you in.

The way the story of Heat wove together onscreen was brilliant. This, however, isn’t a sequel - but it is. It isn’t a prequel…but it is. Heat 2 is an expansion. A wide shot. A slow pullback from a close up. Which is why, if Heat felt epic to you, Heat 2 is an epic with the volume turned higher. The colours burn brighter. The gunshots and collisions are all the louder. You’re not just looking at LA here. You’re not just looking at one heist or one vendetta. You are looking at characters as they have changed, as they have worked, as they have fought their own fights. It is such a clever way of taking such a tightly plotted story as Heat and finding a way to go further into that world without re-treading old ground or weakening brilliant performances.

Some of the new characters, and their worlds, are at times more shocking and surprising than anything Heat delivered onscreen. Especially because, now, we’re getting to live in some very familiar heads. You get to see inside Vincent Hanna’s head as he investigates a truly heinous series of break ins. You get to see how Chris Shiherlis thinks, how he moves, how he copes with that need to feel a rush. How he evolves. You also get to see the fallout from the actions of Heat, whilst getting to see where it came from. You go back to Vietnam. You see the other wars they’ve fought. The other loves they’ve lost. The other times the heat nearly came round that corner.

Then there’s the way these threads pull together. Again, I don’t want to spoil the experience of this book. Let’s just say the last 40 or so pages had me tenser than watching the movie. Now, to be fair, that might be because I’ve watched Heat a lot. I do remember seeing those final scenes that first time. But the way the worlds collide as you move into the later stages of this book is so whip smart slick. In the vast, dark forests of Heat 2 it’s fair to say that, from small acorns, truly violent and shocking trees do grow.

I read Tarantino’s novelisation of Once Upon a Time in Hollywood and thought it was pretty good. It certainly made me go back and read some Elmore Leonard, which is a lot better. Heat 2 has that similar feel in its style, although I’d put this closer to James Elroy. Or maybe the crime journalism of David Simon in places. This is book where the authors want you to know that they’ve met people like this and talked to them. They want you to know that they know how these sorts of crimes can happen. Much like the many gun names. To me, that all felt a little blah at times. But the plot more than makes up for it. If you like these characters, and you can get into how they’re written, I think you’ll find one hell of a ride waiting for you across this book. Yes, not all the characters are very grounded or well rounded at times. Yes, there are points where you start to wonder if someone has a random Pacino interrogation threat generator app saved on their laptop. But it never pulled me out of the experience.

When I heard Mann talking about this book, he was making it very clear that he wants to make the movie as well. For me, Michael, I have to say that I don’t need it. The movie version is going to be one massive and expensive gamble. It is also going to be tough on some of those actors, who have not spent the last twenty plus years getting younger. This book works so well because of the depth of the prose. The trips you take beneath the surface of these characters. I’m not sure you could get that to work so well in a movie.

But what the hell do I know, right? I wasn’t even sure I was going to enjoy this book and it damn near blew my socks off. It certainly left me with a few bruises and, in one place, fairly sure I’d just read a more tense and dynamic action set piece than a certain bank robbery.