Thief

Thief is a very well made thriller, very clever and gritty with a stellar performance by James Caan. The film is centered on Frank an ex-con and a jewel thief but he is tired and he wants to get out of the criminal life to finally live a normal life, build up a family and be happy. But Frank decides to accept a job for a local gangster, it is going to be his last work but getting out of the crime life will be harder than he thought it would be. Michael Mann's direction is very stylish with great camera work. I have to mention the safe cracking scenes that were shot in an amazing way. I never thought that it would be so beautiful to see some long minutes scenes with thiefs opening safes! Visually is so beautiful with a great cinematography. The night scenes are particularly great to look at, the streets look gorgeous, great colours and neon lights. The whole atmosphere is great. Very intense soundtrack completing each scene. James Caan is absolutely amazing as Frank and Frank he is such an interesting character. What is most fascinating about him is the fact that behind his criminal side he desires so much to be a normal person. He wants a normal life and Cann's performance is so believable. The long scene in a diner where Frank tells to Jessie, his girlfriend, how he feels about his life is so touching. I was fascinated with his words! And like this, there's another great moments throughout the film but this particular scene is the one that I certainly will remember more about. A very accomplished debut of Michael Mann, another underrated classic that need to be more recognized.

As another reviewer said, "before Heat there was Thief" and that is bang on. You can see the building blocks to Mann's later work and the plot is a similar criminal world to Heat - theft, fencing, double-crosses. It lacks the even pacing it needs to be great. But it does establish that slow, methodical Mann style of shooting which creates a wonderful atmosphere and gives so much depth to the experience. Caan is merely okay, which is a big step up from the usual crap or terrible, and the rest of the cast are all still employing that 1970s way of acting. All jittery and monosyllabic. It is a nice watch and shows a lot of gritty Chicago - but as a precursor to Heat, this is what you should watch as opposed to LA Takedown. This is the real trial run. 7.75/10