Good concept, poorly executed.

After playing with our expectations, this turns out to be a very different sort of film.

It's the kind of movie you'll want to see a second time with someone who hasn't seen it yet, to remember what it was like to watch it for the first time.

One of the best movies of the year! Incredible from the beginning to the end.

Ex mercenary Nick Escalante hires himself out as a bodyguard in Las Vegas but he really wants a quiet life in Venice but lacks the funds.However he hits a lucky streak in the casino while minding a rich but meek businessman who he teaches to defend himself, but his luck does not last both in the casino and out of it.A mobster's son is out for revenge as Nick humiliated him for beating up a friend of his.Burt Reynolds was a busted flush by the mid 80s having a run of mediocre movies and this is really the pits. The film goes nowhere with just a lot of talking, the action scenes look silly and you know it is Burt's stuntman doing all the work. Somewhere along all the jabber an actual plot arrives which is lousy. This is a dull lifeless film.

Reynolds did a few lame ducks in the 80's, but this is not one of them. The movie takes place in Las Vegas and is complex with several sub-plots and character undertones.Burt plays an Ex-Special Forces Op turned gambling addict that hires out in solving various problems for his clients. Everything from bodyguard to that of playing the role of fall guy for a weakling trying to impress his girlfriend to that of helping a rape victim friend seek revenge against the son of a wealthy syndicated mobster. There are also profound scenes that depict his gambling addiction.Great cast and acting, decently written and directed, and a music score that captures the appropriate atmosphere to this darker side of life on The Strip.6.5/10Other overlooked winners by Reynolds in the 80's include: Sharkey's Machine, Stick, Malone, Physical Evidence, and Breaking-In.

Even though it came out a few months earlier, this great Burt Reynold's obscurity, "Heat," could have easily been a sequel to his other great 80s obscurity, "Malone." Once you changed a couple of small plot points to make the films consistent, you'd still have exactly the same character at the center of each. Burt acts the same, looks the same, dresses the same, and his character in Heat has a very similar background and the exact same skills as the one on "Malone." In fact, the two films even share some of the same lines of dialog (almost). In "Malone" the young girl tells Burt's character that he must like violence. Burt replies that "No, I'm just good at it--there's a difference." In "Heat" Peter McNichol asks Burt if he's a naturally violent person. To which Burt replies "No, I'm just good at it." I mean, really--could that be a total coincidence? Another similarity--"Malone" was basically a old fashioned Western in the "Shane" mode. "Heat" is basically a Spaghetti Western in the revenge mode.I love both of these flicks and wish they'd get decent DVD releases.

This movie needs to be watched for only a handful of reasons.One, it'll completely revolutionize the way you think about how Burt Reynolds can jump. Sure, it's a pretty lousy stunt double for most of the scenes, and Burt is as oily and haggard as he ever was in the 80s, but he has some ridiculous fight scenes where he inexplicable can jump 12 feet in the f**king air. It's incredible.Also, the ending is so void of substance, that you'll question your own appreciation of time, and ask yourself, "why in the hell did I just watch this." You'll then become a better person and get more out of life.Watch with caution, and every time Burt slugs someone or jumpkicks the hell outta them or throws medallions at their face, yell "HEAT!" at the t.v. It's the only way to go, and you'll feel much better.