Miami Vice
(2006 Feature Film; HD-DVD/DVD Combo Format)
Picture:
B-/C+ Sound: C+ Extras: C Both Versions: D
It looks
like that on this site, everyone is going to have a point of view and idea
about what they want to say about the Miami
Vice franchise, old and new. Michael
Mann’s 2006 Digital High Definition remake is now out in regular DVD and the
new HD-DVD/DVD Combo version we will look at here. First, however, there is the previous
theatrical review on the site you can access at:
http://www.fulvuedrive-in.com/review/4049/Miami+Vice+(2006/Theatrical+Film+Review)
I must
say that I was in strong agreement with Chuck on that one. I thought this was a huge disappointment and
never worked. Now one argument goes that
if you like the TV show, you will not like the new feature and vice (no pun
intended) versa. Our coverage of the
first two seasons of the show is as follows:
http://www.fulvuedrive-in.com/review/3476/Miami+Vice:+Season+One+++Two
Jon is
actually a fan of both. Chuck liked the
show more by default, while this critic though the show was only marginally
interesting. I thought that with more
big screen freedom and the kind of filmmaker Mann is and has become, this could
be great. He did away with the original
theme, the bright colors and that maybe we would get his answer to William
Friedkin’s To Live & Die In L.A.
(reviewed elsewhere on this site) to boot.
Colin
Farrell and Jamie Foxx seemed evenly matched, making for good choices in the
original roles and they were, but chemistry never happens and the result is a
really, really lame flick. Is it trying
to reclaim police drama from reality TV?
If so, it fails. Did the original
series lay the groundwork for such TV?
Yes. Is there anything here we
have not seen before and often in and out of the genre? No.
Would you be better of watching the original show? Yes, that, To Live & Die In L.A. and the James Bond film Licence To Kill which was trying to
absorb the show at the time and in time has succeeded.
The plot
about drugs and gunrunning is a yawner and I get bored just thinking about
it. The whole thing feels like something
that is trying to get started and never makes it. The seven extra minutes make no difference
ands this is a rare outright miss for Mann, who at least seems to have
satisfied himself. However, this did not
do well in theaters, should have a fascination video life and has no signs of a
cult following. It fate should be very interesting.
The 1080p
2.35 X 1 digital High Definition HD-DVD side and anamorphically enhanced DVD
side are both terrible from the terrible HD shoot where Mann purposely degrades
the already degraded-on-arrival image.
Was he trying to hijack HD reality cop shows before they happened? I give up guessing, but this looks bad and in
the greatest irony, the HD side is worse because it shows how much worse this
looks like the 35mm prints did. Dion
Beebe, A.C.S., A.S.C., gives us consistent degradation, but that is not any
better than if some hack had given us an inconsistent variant. He is a much better cinematographer than
this.
The Dolby
Digital Plus 5.1 on the HD side and standard Dolby Digital 5.1 on the standard
DVD side are poor, use their surrounds infrequently and they don’t even have
enough ambience. In addition, the
dialogue is weak on both sides. I
thought this was just a problem from my 35mm screening. However, it is actually a production problem
and both John Murphy’s score & bizarre, forgettable set of records on the
soundtrack just don’t work. This film supposedly
cost over $100 Million to make, but I cannot see the money on the screen, but
this partly is explained when a friend told me to consider it was a location
shoot in pricey locations. Right, but it
makes a paradise look like a place I would not want to visit and if it looked
any worse, could have been shot all in studio.
The only
extras are two featurettes and the U-Control feature exclusive to HD-DVD that
makes it easier to examine and/or enjoy the film while offering goodies like
picture-in-picture interviews. In this
case, that includes car information, Google Maps access, stills and extended
cast bios while watching. Too bad I did
not enjoy it in the first place. For the
extremely curious only!
- Nicholas Sheffo
