Miami Vice can be purchased on Blu-ray individually or as a part of Universal’s “Action Starter Pack,” which includes three movies: Miami Vice, U-571 and End of Days for the retail price of $59.98.

Reviewed by Johnny McNair

Universal Studios Home Entertainment – 141 mins – 2006 – Rated R – 1080p Anamorphic Widescreen 2.35: 1 – DTS-HD Lossless Master 5.1 Audio

As a kid I loved the 80’s TV show Miami Vice because it featured two of the coolest cops on the beat, Crockett and Tubbs, who sported the latest fashion styles, got the hot girls, drove the coolest cars, and always caught the bad guys. Miami Vice captured the attention of TV-goers because it emulated everything they were watching on MTV, with flashy colors, quick editing and hit songs, such as Phil Collin’s ‘In The Air Tonight,’ which is embedded in our minds as an attachment to the show. There was plenty of talk of a Miami Vice movie making the rounds over the years, but fans were happy when the show’s creator, Michael Mann, decided to bring it to the big screen himself in 2006. Formerly an HD DVD exclusive, Miami Vice is now available on Blu-ray from Universal Studios Home Entertainment.

THE MOVIE

Most would think that a Miami Vice film would only work in one of two ways, either as a spoof of the 80’s and pop culture, such as what the Ben Stiller-Owen Wilson version of Starsky & Hutch attempted and failed; or as a big budget re-telling of the show like the Mission: Impossible films did successfully. Michael Mann is a director who works by his own rules and has a style of his own, as demonstrated his films The Last of the Mohicans, Heat, and The Insider; so he his approach to a Miami Vice movie would also be unconventional. Instead of do a remake and introducing the characters, Mann chose to make a two-and-half-hour episode of the show, but this time set it in current Miami. If you never saw an episode of the show, you’re going to be confused, because you’re not going to know who any of the characters are, particularly the supporting characters. Crockett does not walk around wearing an Armani Jacket over his T-shirt and Tubbs doesn’t keep saying dialogue with a fake Jamaican accent. So if you’re expecting a movie like that you will be very disappointed.

Instead, this Miami Vice resembles an episode of Cops, with it’s hand-held documentary style offering a ‘fly-on-the-wall’ look at what it’s like to go so deep undercover that you can’t tell the cops from the criminals. The roles originated by Don Johnson as Sonny Crocket, and Philip-Michael Thomas as Ricardo Tubbs are now played by Colin Farrell and Jamie Foxx, who are wisely not trying to emulate the mannerisms of the other actors, while at the same time doing what they can to keep the purity of the characters.

Anyone expecting to hear Jan Hammer’s theme over the opening credits like the TV show will probably go into cardiac arrest, because it’s not present. From the start Crockett and Tubbs are on a case, but when they get a call from another undercover officer desperate for their help, they go to his aide and he confesses about ratting out other cops and getting them killed because his family was threatened. When he learns that these people have killed his wife, he takes a leap in front of a speeding truck. This security breach leads Crockett and Tubbs to go on an undercover assignment for the FBI to find those responsible, and finally nab the main narcotics trafficker, Archangel De Jesus Montoya (Luis Tosar), who has remained untouchable.

As in the TV show they take their undercover alias names, Sonny Burnett and Rico Cooper, (because they sound so different from their real names) and become smugglers to get linked up with Jose Yero (John Ortiz), who is the right-hand man of Montoya. This also leads them meet Isabella (Gong Li), who is Montoya’s wife and business partner. Crockett, being the playa he is, gets romantically involved with Montoya’s woman, putting he and Tubbs’ life more at risk. Eventually, Yero’s suspicious feelings leads him to believe that they may not be who they say they are and when he learns that Crockett and Isabella are doing the nasty, he uses it against them to get in Montoya’s favor. This leads to a finale that forces Crockett and Tubbs to break their cover in order to bring down Montoya’s cartel with extreme violence as the weapon of choice.

Miami Vice wasn’t the big box office hit that it was expected to be, and most people found it boring with more dialogue than action; and let’s face it when you think of Miami Vice you want to see all the flash and cheese from the 80’s show. So with this more realistic tone, it probably turned off a lot of fans. When I first saw it in theaters two years back, I did not like it, but looking at it again, it worked for me. Yes, it has storyline problems and didn’t need to run over two hours, but director Mann is so desperate to wipe away the 80’s fluff, that if you give this film a chance you may appreciate it. It’s not the joke-a-minute ride you get from the Bad Boys movies, and there’s no car chase or shoot out every ten minutes, but it remains edgy and stylish in it’s own way, because of Mann’s direction.

This is a dark film, not only in terms of its photography, but the characters within it. There is no humor or goofy character that comes along for the ride, and the bad guys are the seriously evil mo-fo’s that you always see in those true investigation shows, that will murder and entire family just to get their point across. Mann makes it clear that what these undercover cops do is dangerous, and the chances of them being discovered and taking a bullet in the head is 85%. I’m not a fan of Colin Farrell, but he’s really good in this film, and I was actually surprised how he overshadowed Jamie Foxx whose role in this film seems very small, being that the last film he did with Michael Mann, Collateral, was so pivotal and earned him an Oscar nomination. John Ortiz should also be given a nod of approval for his role, because there is never one minute on screen when you don’t believe him. The only person who may seem out of place is Gong Li, who is a brilliant actress, but was she right for this role? Plus, in the director’s audio commentary Mann doesn’t hold back about being frustrated with working with her, and her problems saying the dialogue. But hey, didn’t he notice this issue when he first met with her?

Overall, if you’re a die-hard fan of the TV show, it’s hit or miss whether or not you’re going to like this vision of Miami Vice, and if you’ve never seen the show you’ll probably have no clue what the heel is going on. But if you take the film for what it is, and try separate it from the Don Johnson era, you’re enjoyment of it may be greater. And just keep in mind that it could have been a whole lot worse; this could have been a big budget action comedy re-teaming Wesley Snipes and Woody Harrelson, as it was once rumored to be. Yikes!

VIDEO

Well this is an issue that may work against the movie, mainly because of Michael Mann’s cinematography choice. This Blu-ray has a 1080p image in a 2.35:1 aspect ratio, but being that it was shot on HD video the whole film looks like one big episode of Cops. Gone are the pastels and dream-like sunset shots that Miami Vice is known for, which has been substituted with glassy video-ish daylight scenes and a lot of grainy indoor and night shots. Mann’s film, Collateral, was shot the same way, giving everything that consumer camera style right of out the Rodney King video. But you have to keep in mind that this is what Mann wanted, so while the image quality may not jump off the screen like other Blu-ray’s it does remain sharp. With all the location shots in the movie, this would have been an amazing looking film if it were shot on conventional film, if you have a good HDTV you will still be impressed the clarity.

AUDIO

Even though Jan Hammer’s theme is not present, the DTS-HD Lossless 5.1 audio track is solid. Background noises play a big role in this film, from the crowd in the nightclub from the opening sequence, to the speedboat cutting through the water when Crockett and Isabella sneak off for their island rendezvous. And just listen to the shootout at the end, which instead of exaggerating gunshots like most action films do, instead muffles the audio, going for a realistic sound as heard in news footage. Dialogue seems very low in places making you do a quick rewind at times to hear what was said, and for someone playing an American born character, Colin Farrell’s Irish accent keeps popping up.

EXTRAS

All of the bonus features that were on the HD-DVD release have been successfully ported over to the Blu-ray. Unfortunately, all of the supplements are in standard definition (480p), but the Picture-in-Picture U-Control feature compensates for this.

Director Michael Mann provides an audio commentary, which in my opinion is one of the best ones around. Instead of the fluff behind the scenes stuff most Directors paste on, Mann just tells you how he feels and how it all went down, whether it’s tension with the actors, or bad issues while filming. It’s long, but worth listening to just because it’s not sugar coated.

‘Miami Vice Undercover’ is a twenty-minute looks at the actors getting trained for the film, and what it took to make them look like undercover cops in within today’s drug cartels.

‘Behind the Scenes’ is a fifteen-minute collection of three featurettes, “Gun Training,” “Mojo Race,” and “Haitian Hotel Camera Blocking” look into how specific scenes in the film were shot. These are very short, but they get across what was intended.

‘Visualizing Miami Vice/Miami and Beyond’ combined run about twenty-five minutes and dives into the cinematic style of the film including Mann’s view of shooting on HD video.

The U-Control features that highlighted Universal’s HD-DVD’s are now accessible on Blu-ray, as long as you have a Profile 1.1 player or a PS3. When activated as you watch the film, a PIP appears on the lower right of your screen showing you behind the scenes videos and visual commentaries.

The Tech Spec and GPS feature is more of a gimmick than something useful. When accessed during the film you’ll get a pop up grid with information about props, locations, and characters that syncs with specific scenes. Just think of Pop-Up Video.

BOTTOM LINE

This is Michael Mann’s baby, so he like George Lucas can do anything with it he wants, whether or not fans dig it or not. Mann knows how to direct a film, so when this movie is at its best it’s solid. As a Blu-ray the image quality may not be the high definition image you’re used to be now, but it has a good batch of extras, including the U-Control Picture-in-Picture, and a no holds barred director’s audio commentary track. If you liked this film, this Blu-ray is a must have, but if you saw it in theaters and didn’t like it, I recommend that you give it a rent to see it again. You may be surprised by you’re second viewing and choose to add it to your Blu-ray collection.

SCORES (Out of 5):

The Movie: 3.5

Video: 3.0

Sound: 4.0

Extras: 3.0

Bottom Line: 3.5