The Best Of The Long Blockbusters

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Matt Reeves' forthcoming The Batman has been revealed as having a length of two hours and fifty-five minutes. While the news surprised many, the promise of a nearly three-hour-long movie about the Caped Crusader is a tantalizing one. While there aren't many blockbusters that reach lengths over two-and-a-half hours, there are some shining examples that proved that a long evening in the theater can absolutely be worth it.

While prestige films often carry expanded runtimes, action blockbusters normally skew closer two hour runtimes. Recently, however, movies in the Marvel Cinematic Universe like Spider-Man: No Way Home and Eternals have easily broken the 150 minute threshold. It seems as though long-winded spectacles might just become the new norm. In anticipation of The Batman, here are five blockbusters that pushed the limits of traditional length for theatrically released films.

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Michael Mann's Heat brought Al Pacino and Robert De Niro to the screen together for the first time. The 1995 stone-cold crime classic sports a runtime of 170 minutes, and the screen is white-hot for that entire duration. WIth a supporting cast comprised of Val Kilmer, Tom Sizemore, Ashley Judd, Mykelti Williamson, Wes Studi, Danny Trejo, and Jon Voight, each character gets their time in the spotlight and the film is all the better for it.

Inspiring virtually the entire career of Christopher Nolan and influencing countless knockoffs and imitations, Heat is perhaps pound for pound the best crime film of all time. Following Pacino's Lt. Hanna on his quest to take down De Niro's bank robbing Neil McCauley, heat packs so much tension, action, intrigue, and drama into the almost three-hour-long