Miami Vice was released earlier this year to mixed reviews. Some loved the new gritty stylish look Michael Mann delivered in Miami Vice and others considered the movie a betrayal of the iconic 80’s “MTVish” buddy cop show that starred Don Johnson as Sonny Crockett and Philip Michael Thomas as Ricardo Tubbs. The show soared high for 5 seasons with the two sporting the trademark White, Grey and Pastels colors. Michael Mann who directs the movie adoption of the show also produced much of the shows episodes during the 5 year run in the “Big 80’s”.
Miami Vice the movie is the drastic change from the show we all grew up on in the 80’s. The movie is dark and gritty. Miami Vice largely follows Crocket and Tubbs (Colin Farrell and Jamie Foxx) as they head “deep undercover” after a multi agency taskforce is comprised by an informant that also work with Crockett and Tubbs in the past. As a result of the compromise, 2 FBI agents are killed during a drug deal by men with High Caliber Sniper Rifles (a ruthless and well shot scene). The movie then follows Crockett and Tubbs as they attempted to infiltrate a ruthless South American drug cartel that is run by Arcangel de Jesus Montoya (Luis Tosar), Jose "Cochi Loco" Yero (John Ortiz) and Isabella (Gong Li). The first meeting occurs in a very dangerous Port-Au-Prince, Haiti. After putting on a convincing act for Yero and Isabella they are inline to meet with the big man “Jesus Montoya”. From this point forward the movie moves back and forth between the undercover operation and danger it poses to the Crockett and Tubbs. I will not divulge anymore of the movie for those that have yet to watch.
Colin Farrell’s performance as Crockett is actually not bad. He does not over-act during the movie and is well composed for the better part. In movies like SWAT he is too quiet and comes off as passive aggressive. In Miami Vice he has seem to found a neutral ground where is not passive aggressive or overly aggressive. Jamie Foxx on the other hand seems to be the leader of the two and the clearly the “star” of this movie, which is opposite of the 80’s show. Jamie’s charisma and strong dominating performance pull the duo through the movie at many key segments such as the end of the first meeting with Yero. For a movie that is 2 hrs and 20 minutes in length the pacing pleasing. Mann never goes more than 10 minutes or so without key events occurring or picking up the action (especially in the last half hour of the movie). The movies ending is more reminiscent of a prime time TV drama then a major motion picture, ultimately leaving you with the “sequel is possible feeling”.
(I usually try to keep reviews non-technical for our non-technical audience but I will get a little technical as it is needed to explain the look and filming style of this movie)
The movie is another combo format disk from Universal. 30GB HD on one side and DVD-9 on the other. The HD side features the Unrated Directors Cut and the DVD-9 side features the Standard Definition Theatrical version of the movie. The movie is encoded in 1080p and presented in Widescreen 2.40:1. The Standard Definition version is presented in 480p using Anamorphic Widescreen 2.40:1. One disappoint in the HD version is no TrueHD Audio Track. Universal has been doing an excellent job with HD-DVD with their only weakness being the lack of TrueHD support. I really hope they run with this ball very soon. Audio for the HD version is supported via the usual suspect, Dolby Digital Plus 5.1. The Standard Definition Audio is supported via Dolby Digital 5.1 and Dolby Digital 2.0.
The style in which the movie is filmed is slick and exciting. Michael Mann and company choose to use the “
Viper Filmstream” Camera from Thompson Grassvalley (also used in Collateral). At NAB (National Association of Broadcasters) in April of this year I played with this Camera and it is very impressive to say the least. The Camera features 9.2 million pixels per CCD (charge-coupled device) with 3 CCD’s total (one for Red, Green and Blue). The special thing about this Camera is the ability to capture data with modifying the data in “anyway”. No electronic processing, No compression and No sampling of colors. What you film is “exactly” what you get.
Using the 4:4:4 R’G’B color space where no Chroma Subsampling is done, the result is full resolution for each pixel (no loss or conversion). Using 4:4:4 R’G’B is very important if you want exposure to a wide gamut of colors which results in a better preservation of colors during post editing of the film. The camera also allows for the shutter to essentially be turned off, also referred to as 1/24. This greatly improves night shooting as seen in Collateral and now Miami Vice. Turning off the shutter allows more light into the lens of the camera improving visibility greatly in night scenes. This was very important to Mann especially since he used “film grain” to produce the gritty undercover camera look throughout the movie. The use of film grain (which can be enabled on many High Definition Digital Cameras) was an interesting choice by Mann. He chose to use the film grain look during night scenes and most of the scenes in which Crockett and Tubbs are undercover. Using film grain during the undercover scenes provides the illusion that the action is being filmed via an undercover camera then a studio production camera. During the early scenes before they go undercover and while undercover, film grain is used quite often along with a slight shake to the camera. This again is done on purpose as Mann was trying to produce a shaky cam effect that is often present in hidden cameras on agents in the field. Mann also used abrupt camera angles to further convey the gritty undercover look throughout the film. For instance, at the end of the first meeting with Yero, the camera has a sloppy abrupt change (with a slight camera shake) that focuses on Isabella indicating that she is also a major player in the organization. I found the change very fresh and exciting.
The night scenes in the movie are very well done. With the use of 1/24 Mann is able to capture amazing amounts of color and detail while applying grain and maintaining luminance. The initial car chase (shot at night) in the movie is very stylish and clean, shot with speed and intensity thanks to an academy award winning
Camera Crane that is mounted on top a Mercedes ML55 SUV. When the informant (Stevens) steps in front of a truck on the highway killing himself, you can see the detail in the blood stain left behind, even with film grain enabled.
Most of the scenes outside of the undercover work are filmed without grain and the camera is very steady (professional). Scenes such as Tubbs with his woman and scenes shot inside the police station are sharp and detailed. Faces are clean with detail showing, textures are without posterization retaining their natural properties. The final night scenes with the awesome showdown between the Crockett/Tubbs and Yero (and his cartel) feels as if you were viewing the action in the flesh. Mann once again uses the grain and the 1/24 to give you a “cops” (the show) prospective of the action. In a scene where Tubbs flanks a cartel member and then shoots him at close range with a shotgun was intense, feeling very realistic (instead of like a movie).
The audio in the movie is very good. I was impressed with the sound quality for a DD 5.1 Plus stream. The Audio features crisp dialog and “great bass”. Gunshots in this movie resonate through your body using bass that is full featuring low frequencies to deliver a solid sound (no stumbling).
The HD-DVD side of the disk features extras:
-7 minutes of additional footage in the movie (not filler, good stuff)
-U-Control, the In Movie Experience. Allows you to enable special features such as picture in picture commentary, interviews, on the set footage and more. The picture in picture should only be used after you have viewed the movie once as the feature is “noisy” which distracts from watching the movie. Tech Specs is available, which is a favorite of mine. Tech Specs enables a picture in picture view with the specs of cars and speed boats in the movie.
The GPS feature allows for you to track and understand exactly where the cast in the movie is headed during a particular scene. Not a great feature but useful at times. CAST BIOS can also be enabled which provides details on our favorite actor/actress while watching the movie.
-Other features include writer/director commentary from Michael Mann, Miami Vice Undercover and a nice little piece on the shooting locales called Miami and Beyond: Shooting on Location.
The film grain as I mentioned earlier is intentional and DOES NOT take away from the High Definition Experience in anyway. This is the way Mann intended the film to look in the theatres. This translates directly to DVD and HD-DVD. You should not expect the grain to disappear because the movie is now available on DVD or HD-DVD. HD-DVD is intended to deliver the movie experience in your home as experienced in the theatre. If you experienced it in the movie theatre, you will also experience it in the HD-DVD version. Overall this movie is a great spin on the Miami Vice franchise and is dark, gritty, violent, well written, well directed, and masterfully filmed by Michael Mann.