Btw, here's the IGN review of the Unrated Director's Cut DVD:
Miami Vice (Unrated Director's Edition)
The inclusion of deleted scenes and some different music cues make for a fuller experience that is closer in tone to the TV series.
by
Stax
December 5, 2006 - Fans of writer-director Michael Mann, as well as those who love their cop movies dark and gritty, will respond favorably to the big-screen version of
Miami Vice but it nevertheless remains nothing short of a di-
Vice-ive affair. You will either love it or hate it. More has been made of the film's apparent departures from the original 1980's TV series, which Mann exec produced but did not create, than is really the case. The big-screen
Vice is essentially a movie version of the first season episode "Smuggler's Blues"; it has the same basic plot - and many of the same lines of dialogue - as that episode.
Miami-Dade P.D. undercover narcs James "Sonny" Crockett (a gruff,
mustachioed Colin Farrell, looking more like Duane Allman than Don Johnson) and Ricardo Tubbs (a no-nonsense Jamie Foxx) are enlisted to infiltrate a Latin American narco-trafficking network after a mole has been discovered inside a joint Federal task force. To lend further credence to Tubbs' cover, Tubbs' fellow Vice cop and lover Trudy Joplin (Naomi Harris) will pose as his wife. Crockett and Tubbs sneak into South America by air and, once there, find themselves in a danger zone where their badges don't count. They meet with violent middleman Jose Yero (a scene-stealing John Ortiz) in a dank, ominous club. They succeed in insinuating themselves into the operation but once they are back stateside violence and double-dealings ensue. Trudy is later captured and held hostage in a trailer park with a booby-trapped bomb around her neck. It's then up to the Vice cops to rescue her. Meanwhile, Crockett has fallen for Isabella (Gong Li), a businesswoman who serves as the financial brains of the bad guys' operation. Crockett romances Isabella in the hopes of acquiring information (and she from him) but they soon genuinely fall for each other. It is not meant to be, especially after she discovers that "Sonny Burnett" is really a cop.
Miami Vice is different from the series insofar as there are no flamingos, white linen suits or an alligator named Elvis. Otherwise, the thematic essence of the series and the core of who Crockett and Tubbs were has been preserved and updated. What remains is a hardcore undercover cop film where the lines between fabrication and reality are blurred enough so that the protagonists are conflicted. Tubbs is Crockett's conscience, wisely observing that his partner is (salsa) dancing too close to the flame and is going to get burned. One major missing element is the series' wit and the easy camaraderie between Crockett and Tubbs. The mirthlessness of Mann's movie rubbed some viewers the wrong way but it is immediately evident upon meeting bad guys Arcángel de Jesús Montoya (the intense Luis Tosar) and Jose Yero that there is no room for yuks in this kill first, ask questions later world that Crockett and Tubbs are in. Slapstick characters from the series such as Izzy and Noogie would get whacked on sight here.
This unrated director's edition is a re-edited film featuring scenes that were cut from the theatrical release as well as new music cues. These changes are enough to make this
Miami Vice a slightly different and in some ways better experience than the theatrical cut, although the film's same fundamental flaws remain. This edition, however, is closer in tone to the TV series, enough to have muted some of that criticism. For example, it opens with an offshore speedboat race set against the sunny Miami skyline and scored with electronic music, which conjures memories of the series' opening credits.
We are introduced to Crockett and Tubbs as they pilot their "Mojo" go-fast boat. Once ashore, we deduce that they are undercover, along with fellow cop Switek (Domenick Lombardozzi) who is arranging to hire some hookers from the imposing pimp Neptune (Isaach De Bankolé). The theatrical version began with the next scene, set in the Miami nightclub Mansion, where the Vice squad is trying to bust Neptune; it was unclear in the theatrical version who Neptune was and why the cops were out to get him. This post-boat race scene cleared all of that up in about eight seconds. It should have been left in.
One sequence from the original version that has been cut here had Crockett, Tubbs, Switek and Zito (Justin Theroux) in Haiti waiting to meet Jose Yero's men at a compound/hotel. After waiting in vain for hours, Crockett and Tubbs return to their hotel room to find Isabella and some goons waiting for them. It is only then that they are taken to meet with Montoya where they discover that this network is employing counter-intel measures far greater than FBI intelligence indicated. The unrated DVD version simply cuts from Crockett and Tubbs getting the call from Yero to them in an SUV on their way to meet Montoya where they discover that their cell phones don't work. It's a curious omission but it does prove that the sequence in the theatrical version really didn't advance the plot, begging the question why it was left in at all.
There are several additional scenes that, had they been left in the theatrical cut, would have given more weight to the relationships between Tubbs and Trudy and Crockett and Isabella, respectively. Following their one and only meeting with Montoya, where the druglord extends his warm wishes to Tubbs' family, a perturbed Tubbs calls to check on Trudy. She is fine and then she thanks him for the flowers he sent. The problem is that he didn't send her any. Once they're back stateside, Crockett and Tubbs meet Trudy at a diner where they discuss the veiled threat from Montoya. Trudy admonishes Tubbs for worrying about her when he needs to focus on himself and Sonny, and adds that she would die if anything happened to him because he was distracted worrying about her. This scene adds dimension to the relationship between Tubbs and Trudy, and makes her eventual kidnapping less jarring and unexplained than it was in the theatrical edition.
The climatic shootout between the Vice cops and the villains has also been altered from the theatrical edition. It is amazing what a difference a change in music makes. Rather than using John Murphy's score this time, the director's extended edition employs Nonpoint's cover of "In the Air Tonight" throughout the entire showdown. It changes the tempo of the scene and is a direct nod to the series' pilot, which famously used Phil Collins' original version during its finale. Mann explains on the commentary track that this sequence represented the whole dilemma of translating
Miami Vice from the small screen to the big. The director says that, since
Vice is remembered for different things by different people, that the use of the song became problematic, even though it was his preferred choice. Ultimately, filmgoers wanted more
Miami Vice in their
Miami Vice movie and, had Mann stuck with his original intention to use "In the Air Tonight" over the showdown, they might have gotten it.
There is also a scene where Crockett whisks Isabella away from the showdown in a shot-up sedan. It is clear that he is devastated by this decision, as his cop side and his undercover side have collapsed, as Tubbs said, "into one frame." This scene shows how conflicted Crockett is about his decision. Isabella, who is still reeling from the revelation that her lover is actually a cop, attacks Sonny as he drives, causing the car to spin out on the freeway. He must then handcuff her before continuing on to the safe house where he ultimately gives Isabella her freedom. If this scene had been left in it would have made Crockett's decision seem less rash and jumbled (although TV's Crockett still would have busted her regardless of his feelings). The relationship between Crockett and Isabella is arguably the biggest problem with the film. One simply never cares if they end up together. Are we supposed to want Crockett to rescue her from the clutches of Montoya and from a life of crime? That never quite rings true since Isabella comes across as a cold, amoral and willing accomplice of Montoya's, despite being "owned" by him. The romance between Crockett and Isabella feels impulsive and forced, rather than like a calculated effort by both sides to romance the other for information.
Overall, the unrated director's edition DVD offers a more fully realized version of the
Miami Vice movie, one that might have fared better with filmgoers expecting a big-screen adaptation of the TV series. It certainly doesn't correct the film's central, damning flaw - the handling of Crockett and Isabella's relationship - but it goes a long way in putting the
Vice back into the mix.
Score: 7 out of 10
The Video
Miami Vice is presented in anamorphic widescreen (2.40:1) preserving the theatrical aspect ratio. Utilizing digital photography (the resulting imagery has been celebrated by some critics and trashed by others), Mann and cinematographer Dion Beebe make
Miami Vice look and feel real. You are there, riding in the Ferrari, speeding across the ocean, tensely making your way through a Third World neighborhood or opening fire on the participants. This DVD edition does their work justice; in fact, the picture looks sharper and far less grainy than it did on the theatrical screen. The amazing deep focus work and nighttime photography afforded the filmmakers by shooting in hi-def format is beautifully evident in this lush transfer.
Score: 9 out of 10
The Audio Presentation
Miami Vice is offered in English (Dolby Digital 5.1), English (Dolby Digital 2.0), French (Dolby Digital 5.1), and Spanish (Dolby Digital 5.1). French and Spanish subtitles are also available, as well as English SDH subtitles for the hearing-impaired. The audio is sharp throughout, as evident in such scenes as the execution of a pair of undercover FBI agents or where Crockett and Tubbs race off in their Ferrari to find a troubled informant. Whether it's the cocking of gun hammers, the ambient noise of a Haitian town, the roar of go-fast boats on the open sea, the shock and awe of a gun battle, or music pulsating throughout a swanky nightclub,
Miami Vice sounds nice.
Score: 9 out of 10
Packaging and Extras
Miami Vice: The Unrated Director's Edition comes in a snap case with slip sleeve. This single-disc release features the following extras:
- Featurette: "Miami Vice Undercover"
- Featurette: "Miami & Beyond: Shooting on Location"
- Featurette: "Visualizing Miami Vice"
- Behind the Scenes Featurettes
- Feature commentary with writer-director Michael Mann
"Miami Vice: Undercover" is the most fascinating featurette since it includes interviews with various former undercover law enforcement officers who served as technical advisors on the film. This featurette includes a video of Colin Farrell participating in a mock drug deal, although the actor didn't realize that "the bad guys" were actually other cops and gets the living daylights scared out of him at one point.
"Miami & Beyond: Shooting on Location" documents the trials that the production faced filming in Miami and Latin America at the height of one of the stormiest seasons. "Visualizing Miami Vice" explores how and why the film was shot on hi-def video. The behind the scenes featurettes document the weapons training the actors underwent, how Mann blocked certain scenes shot in the Dominican Republic, and the construction of Crockett's specially rigged go-fast boat.
The best extra is undoubtedly Mann's commentary track. The filmmaker reveals what attracted him to
Miami Vice as both a TV series and a feature film, the themes he wanted to explore in the film, the real undercover operations that influenced the story and characters, the making of the movie - all of the stuff you'd expect him to cover. Mann is such a highly intelligent and articulate artist that his commentary tracks are the ultimate seminar for any film student. It is rather heartbreaking then that
Miami Vice, even in this slightly improved version, doesn't fully live up to the intentions he so thoughtfully and engagingly lays out in his commentary track. Mann's films are more cerebral than they are emotional, and
Miami Vice needed more of the latter.
Score: 9 out of 10
The Bottom Line
Ultimately,
Miami Vice is a smart, artsy guy movie about tough men in a dangerous world full of sex and violence. Love it or hate it,
Miami Vice and Michael Mann do their own thing. Mann smuggled a cerebral cop movie (and an experimental digital film) into multiplexes by fabricating a cover identity for it as yet another TV-to-Film adaptation.
IGN's Ratings for Miami Vice (Unrated Director's Edition)
RatingDescription out of 10
click here for ratings guide
7
The Movie
The unrated directors edition is somewhat closer to the TV series but
its still not enough to overcome the films fundamental flaws.
9
The Video
Ironically, the film looks better on DVD than it did in theaters.
9
The Audio
It could only sound better if Jan Hammer was on it.
9
The Extras
The featurettes and Manns commentary track make this DVD worth
buying.
8
OVERALL
(out of 10 / not an average)
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