L.A. Takedown

Added to which, Takedown is a more accessible film than Heat, it's younger, less cynical, it's characters love and feel and have emotional lives. The ending is a superb departure from the predictable good guy shoots bad guy charade that Heat, unfortunately sells out to. Above all, Takedown is free from the obesities of Heat, the myriad of tedious subplots, the shamefully theatrical 'Pacino show' that undermines the dramatic flow of Heat at every turn.

If you want to experience film, indeed life, you need to start looking beyond the surface, if you are up to the challenge, this film is the best place to start - a screenwriting masterclass and a real 'megablast'.


A landmark to the cops and robbers genre   August 13, 2000
7 out of 9 found this review helpful

Micheal Mann's cops and robbers thriller, also a trailer copy to the by far superior "Heat". This version however, contains all the original elements and moments that are enough to match its 1995 classic. Despite L.A.s shoddy acting and at times shaky script! it has an impressive storyline which is enough to make this a true landmark to the cops and robbers genre. Starring Scott Plank.


LA Takedown the pre release for heat.   March 31, 2003
Brian O'Donoghue (Hereford, Herefordshire United Kingdom)
7 out of 10 found this review helpful

I have watched this and Heat. If you own both watch this first. The story is the same, with a few minor changes. The characters in this lack punch, but it is still a good film. The film is a fairly mundane robbers and cops. Only after watching Heat can you see the dramatic improvment. This is a TV Movie and it does suffer for it. This is not a problem but it does show the difference from TV Movie and Cinema. I would recomend this to Michael Mann buffs.


in some ways better than Heat   April 18, 2005
Elberry (Manchester, England)
4 out of 7 found this review helpful

Don't be deceived by the haphazard camerawork (it was shot in 2 weeks), lowgrade cinematography, appalling soundtrack, and funny-looking 80s actors: for this is in some ways better than 'Heat'. The script is tight, with some classic Mann lines, e.g. "this guy's a megablast", and mercifully without the indulgent subplots of 'Heat' (the getaway driver's life, Hanna's daughter-in-law, etc.). Whereas, for me, 'Heat' loses its power after the climactic bank robbery & thereafter dwindles & meanders, 'LA Takedown' accelerates to a Sophocleslike conclusion - far superior to the Hollywood-prescribed ending of 'Heat'.

Plank is better than Pacino - wooden, sure, but occasionally human, often passionate without affectation, and anyway he doesn't strut about shouting and chewing gum like that damn midget Pacino.

McArthur is as good as DeNiro in the role, for different reasons - younger, stranger, with a contained, controlled anguish that comes out beautifully in his line "you want to know where i'm from? i'm from where the needle starts at zero and goes the other way." You know he's seen some weirdness.

Also this version is memorable for The Lilian, as this type of throat jab is now known in the Bradford underworld. Highly recommended for Mann buffs & anyone with a love of good scriptwriting.