Why Michael Mann is the man: An appreciation

Last night, inspired by the great movie-themed podcast Blank Check with Griffin and David I indulged in a double header of two of director Michael Mann's most successful films -- The Last of the Mohicans and Heat.

In some ways, the films couldn't be more different -- one is a romance set against the backdrop of tensions between native Americans and British interlopers and the other is perhaps the most epic cops and robbers movie ever made.

And yet they do share a DNA -- they are sensitive, yet brutally violent action films with conflicted, but highly masculine men at their center.

It's something unique that Mann brings to the table. It's not that all of his films are successful -- I thought Blackhat was an impenetrable mess and Ali falls short of being the biopic that greatest boxer of all time deserved (even though Will Smith does as admirable a job as probably anyone could ever do of mimicking the real thing).

He generally takes big, usually macho male movie stars like Pacino, De Niro, Cruise, Depp, Crowe, etc., and lets them both be badass and undeniably vulnerable at the same time. This is not an easy feat to pull off and most modern filmmakers don't even bother.

Hobbs and Shaw will be entertaining to be sure, but I think it's safe to assume that The Rock and Jason Statham won't be emoting much or betraying any sense of insecurity. Part of the reason I am so sad to see Robert Downey Jr. exit the Marvel universe is because his Tony Stark/Iron Man had the most human evolution and inherently imperfect humanity.

Sure, Doctor Strange was cocky -- but Stark was damn near a war criminal until he got his head straight.

Similarly the men in Heat in particular are not going to win any awards for gender and cultural sensitivity. They are brutes and often single-minded ones at that.

And yet, there are repeatedly brought down to earth, sometimes by violent incidents beyond their control and sometimes, as in the end of Heat, by their own unhealthy code of honor.

My favorite Mann film is still hist first one -- the ice cold tour de force for James Caan, 1981's Thief. This is a film that culminates with its hero abandoning his wife and child and going on a one-man mission to execute all of his enemies, and if you know this film -- you're still rooting for him when he does it. Caan's character has a code and he can't deviate from it. You wind up respecting his logic, confidence and precision, even if his life choices are tragically bad.

The same can be said for the heroes of Heat -- in Mohicans, which is lovely to look at it, Daniel Day-Lewis is pretty heroic without caveats, a rarity for Mann. Pacino and De Niro are by any measure damaged men, incapable of maintaining normal relationships because of their obsessive dedication to professions that could very well kill them.

Neither man seems entirely self aware. They know that they are not cutting as husbands/boyfriends, but they also don't seem to know how to course correct. That tension creates a empathy for the characters and prevents them from becoming two-dimensional He-Men.

Unfortunately for Mann, the kind of movie he is best at making -- grown-up action films for adults -- has rapidly gone out of style, and his penchant for going over schedule and over budget is no bueno in any era. Still, his nearly a dozen films are an impressive testament to his skills and authenticity.