Heat ending explained · Cinespective

What happens

McCauley kills Waingro, then heads for the airport and a flight out. Hanna tracks him to the runway lights and shoots him. As McCauley dies, he takes Hanna's hand. The ending shows the two men understood each other best.

The last image

McCauley, dying on the airfield under the runway lights, takes Hanna's hand.

What it says

McCauley could have simply walked away, but his discipline made him settle one last score first. The ending shows the habits that made these men good also trap them. Their closeness arrives only at the end, and only for a moment.