Movie Details
| Title: | Miami Vice | |
| Director: | Michael Mann | |
| Year: | 2006 | |
| Genre: | Crime | |
| Times Seen: | 3 | |
| Last Seen: | 11.03.24 |
Other Movies Seen By This Director (6)
- Blackhat
- Collateral
- Ferrari
- Heat
- Public Enemies
- Thief
| Date Viewed | Venue | Note |
| 11.03.24 | Internet | This is a... I guess you'd call it a fan edit that cherry picks aspects of the director's cut while keeping the theatrical opening and swapping out the cover of Phil Collins' In the Air Tonight with the original, aka the "Miami Nice" cut. There may be more changes too but I didn't catch them. I'm aware that there are fans of this movie who passionately feel strongly about specific elements of this movie... I just thought it would be interesting to see, like, the "best" version of it. I still remember my disappointment when it came out at the look of the film. I wanted high gloss and saturation, classic filmic look like Heat. I got early-digital mud. So it took me quite a while to get past that... I think maybe also I still thought Mann had another Heat in him and this wasn't it. But now it's much later and I've read Heat 2 and I don't think it should be a movie and Miami Vice is the closest to another Heat that we got and I can appreciate that now. The look of the film is not what I wanted, but now I do 100% appreciate how "inside" the film we are with all these crazy camera rigs. When Sonny is dancing with Gong Li, we're, like, in the middle of them. We see Miami at night, lightning firing, rain on the water, zero light, inches from your face view of everything. As nice and classical as Heat looked, you never got that. You never got a shot with blood all over the lens running up right next to a dude spraying automatic fire across a yard at another car. Now, is it as good as the downtown shootout scene from Heat? We know the answer, but also what is?? This still works. It is a little sad to not see the boat race footage, but the jay-Z/Linkin park song is so undeniable and getting thrown right into this nightclub and grokking what's going on and seeing everyone sharing looks is undeniably better. Just like the photography, the story throws us right into the middle of everything and leaves it as an exercise for the viewer to figure it out. So I think I liked this the most I've ever liked it. I was thoroughly entertained and never thought it dipped. Also I don't think I hated the cover version of Phil Collins too too much but hearing the same director's cut scene with the original song made it thirty times better. |
| 01.30.10 | Netflix | Huh, I don't know if it was the "director's cut" material (I can't remember what's different about it other than the beginning but there seems to be more with Foxx) or if it's just my second viewing but the film seemed less frantic and a bit more sprawling and cohesive. I remember feeling a bit lost in the plot and torn between what was going on with it and what Gong Li was trying to enunciate the first time I saw this but it came together a lot more for me this time around. I still think that Crocket and Tubbs' dialogue is too much Jaime Foxx and Colin Farrell trying to out-cool one another but I guess that's what Miami Vice is supposed to be. Other than that, something made me like this more... I still miss some color-correction on the beautiful exterior day shots although the clouds and night photography are superb in a digital way (i guess the days of Thief/Heat/Insider visual polish are long gone. Perhaps Bad Boys 3 will give me my next fix). I mostly rented this for the commentary (which I still haven't listened to) but was happily surprised to be as into the film as I was. yay me. |
| 07.28.06 | Cinemark Pflugerville | Hmm... well ok. I like it. There's a lot more to like than there is to dislike. I really love all the night photography... I think Mann is one of the few who can really make DV look good on its own terms, but I have to say that I really missed the vivid lushness of film during the day stuff. I almost hate to say this, but Michael Bay's Bad Boys photography made Miami look better than it does here... during the day. I could've really used some slick bright glassy ocean speedboat shots to mirror the grainy neon nighttime but... oh well. Also, a few story things... they are kind of irksome but really just minor nitpicks. As I think back to a lot of Mann's films I really only find a couple without too many flaws, and I definitely liked this more than Ali or Mohicans... so I shouldn't make like I'm complaining too much. it was good... maybe I was just expecting a bit too much. Mann's love scenes are so weird... |
