Plot: What’s it about?
A leak within the Joint Inter-Agency Task Force has caused immense damage, as an informant was killed, not to mention his family and two FBI agents. In order to uncover where the leak was, the JIATF turns to an office that wasn’t compromised, the Miami Police Department. The assignment is given to Rico Tubbs (Jamie Foxx) and Sonny Crockett (Colin Farrell), two detectives who work well as a team, despite their differences. The two will go undercover as potential drug traffickers, looking to approach a low level manager, then work up the ladder from there. Their presence is met with resistance of course, but they’re soon waved in and begin to infiltrate the drug organization. But when Crockett becomes personally involved with the drug kingpin’s right hand woman and Tubbs’ family is put in the crossfire, the lines begin to blur and then some. Can these two detectives maintain their cover and bring down the cartel, or have they gotten in too deep?
Crockett and Tubbs have returned, but this isn’t the Miami Vice you remember. Michael Mann has turned the 80s television show on its head and crafted a serious, dramatic picture. As hard as this movie wants to be complex and cerebral, Miami Vice comes off like a standard action driven dramatic movie. The style is there to be sure, with dark and slick visuals and all the usual cop movie touches, but the substance isn’t there like it should be. Mann hints at exploring these characters and the world they’re in, but it ends at that and we’re never shown much past the surface. So Miami Vice plays like a run of the mill cop/action movie, though an expensive and polished one at that. I think down the road when the words Miami Vice are brought up, people will still remember the series, not this middling picture. This Blu-ray release has all the extras from previous editions, plus a minor visual upgrade, so if you must see Miami Vice, this is how you should see it.
Video: How does it look?
Miami Vice is presented in 2.35:1 anamorphic widescreen. This transfer represents an accurate presentation of the movie, but that doesn’t mean this is reference material. The image is clean, but detail isn’t up there with the elite high definition transfers I’ve seen. That is not to say this image is soft, as it isn’t, but overall depth isn’t remarkable. Another issue here is noise, as noise is visible whenever the visuals take on a darker tone, which is often here. The contrast is solid otherwise, while colors reflect the tinting desired by the filmmakers. So as I said before, this is an accurate replication of how the movie should look, but it won’t bowl over viewers like some transfers.
Audio: How does it sound?
This DTS HD 5.1 option is a welcome upgrade over the HD-DVD’s Dolby Digital Plus 5.1 soundtrack. The surrounds offer a fuller, more immersive atmosphere this time around, which is great for the action scenes. The power is solid and when the movie kicks up the heat, this soundtrack responds. But as with the previous audio treatments, there is some noticeable harshness and of course, the dialogue can be hard to hear at times. So while powerful surround presence is nice, I do think it is more important to be able to understand all of the vocals. Even so, a solid soundtrack overall, just a few kinks in there at times. This disc also includes a French language track, as well as subtitles in English, Spanish, and French.
Supplements: What are the extras?
Universal’s U-Control offers enhanced viewing modes with behind the scenes content, tech specs, GPS tracking options, cast bios, and production photographs. This is well handled here and worth a look for fans, especially the behind the scenes mode, as there is some solid insight to be found. In addition, we have about an hour’s worth of featurettes, none of which stand out as in depth or insightful, as well as Michael Mann’s audio comments. At almost two and a half hours, the session can become tedious, but Mann provides a good deal of worthwhile information, for sure.
