Tedfoldol everything you have heard about this movie is true.

Bob This is one of the best movies I’ve seen in a very long time. You have to go and see this on the big screen.

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

Yazmin Close shines in drama with strong language, adult themes.

Tweekums Patrick McLaren leads a crew of professional thieves whose latest job is an armoured car robbery in Los Angeles. All goes according to plan until a recent recruit to his team shoots and kills one of the three guards. In the chaos that follows another guard fights back and knocks the mask of one of the gang before he is shot and killed; not wanting to leave anybody who can identify them the thieves kill the final guard. Afterwards the man responsible is kicked off the team and told to stay away from them.As soon a news breaks about the raid LAPD Sgt Vincent Hanna sets about trying to identify the team; eventually they get a lead and start tracking McLaren and his crew. They later realise they have been identified but decide to continue with their planned 'one last big job'. Before the job goes down Hanna confronts McLaren over a cup of coffee; it is clear that neither man intends to back down.This TV movie is famous as the 'film that was remade as 'Heat''; I won't be comparing them though as it is quite a while since I saw that film. This film is a lot better than might expect from a TV movie; the only real hints that this wasn't made for the cinema is the lack of swearing and a lower level of gore when characters are shot... something I'm sure many viewers will see as a plus. There is plenty of impressive action but really this is about the characters; specifically about Hanna and McLaren. Scott Plank and Alex McArthur impress in these roles. The supporting cast is pretty solid too. As one would expect from director Michael Mann there is lots of style and a great atmosphere. Overall I'd certainly recommend this film for fans of the genre; don't be put off by its 'TV movie' status.

MattandMarkT I loved L.A. Takedown and would give it a 9 or 10 but I grade tough ... Heat was a fine remake with much more accomplished actors; itself a tribute to Alex Mc Arthur & Hanna ... Deniro and Pacino copied them, imagine how that feels for 2 good actors ... I saw the original as a repeat and Heat many years after it was shot ... never saw either one again by happenstance ... I prefer the original for being more realistic although it did feature a team of designer detectives who matched their glasses and ties with their suits as if they were pharmaceutical salesmen calling on plastic surgeons instead of cops rousting thugs all day ... Heat was even more fashion runway conscious which took it down a peg for me but it remains a good action cops & robbers yarn ... I see where some posters rap Alex for being too wooden but I found that realistic ... playing it flat is correct for guys who can look right through you and spend their days planning ways to blast apart steel and concrete barriers to O.P.M... they tend to be as dry and cold as ice and not very colorful or expressive ... I did a fair amount of police reporting and cops always told me that many true professional criminals will fool you in the sense that they look and comport themselves as if they were the assistant manager of the local Burger King ... LA Takedown had some dialogue that still rings in my ears and reflects the intensely selfish and myopic perspective of the true habitual career criminal such as Alex explaining his accidental victims to his girlfriend that "it rains, people get wet" and the renegade member of the heist team exclaiming to himself as he spins to plunge a hunting knife into a prostitute that "I'm a stone cold, sky blue killer" .. I thank other posters for pointing out the many similarities but I saw no reference to the very different endings ... we have the drama of the airport shootout in Heat to Alex getting blasted by the psycho through a hotel door in LA Takedown and telling Hanna "they just don't make doors like they used to" as he dies in his arms ... perfect last words for an exceptionally practical, emotionless man

sawakatoome ... but not a patch on 'Heat' (1995).'L.A. Takedown' shows what a top-drawer director like Mann can do within the confines of TV production.However, I prefer to see it now as a blueprint for the far superior 'Heat'. The fact that the remake was made by the same director means he feels the same. 'Heat' may be shot-for-shot but 'Psycho' (1998) it sure ain't.spudmurt

halfcolombian This movie is basically the same movie as HEAT. To say that this movie is garbage and that HEAT is a masterpiece is plain stupid, but that's almost how the IMDB users voted. Last time I checked this movie had an average rating of 5.7 while HEAT had 7.8. Anyway I don't need any Pacino or De Niro to recognize a good movie. HEAT might be a little better but it's not THAT much better. Had I seen this movie first I don't know if I had bothered seing HEAT, but sadly the big remakes get all the attention. Soon the remake of another excellent movie "manhunter" will come up in the theatres, and it will probably make people forget about how good the original is and if there are people that still haven't seen it, they will only see the remake. I don't think you should do remakes of movies that are less than 20 or 30 years old. I think I'm against almost any remake. If the original is good then why do a remake? and if it's bad well even less reason to do it...Anyway both movies are good and I like them both even if I don't like the remake phenomenon.