2006
Perhaps I judged "Miami Vice" too harshly earlier this year " Michael Mann's consummate skill at evoking the twilit netherworld of cops and robbers was lost amid heightened expectations and what felt like a rather flabby missed opportunity, a splintering summer tent-pole flick.
Revisiting the film on DVD, particularly via this extended "director's edition" " which adds about 13 minutes to the film, yet also trims, tightens and clarifies existing footage " I'm struck by the sobering, mournful tone of this alleged action-drama. It's as much a requiem for a dangerous way of life as it is a slick, seamy exercise in glossy voyeurism. Colin Farrell and Jamie Foxx remain, regrettably, buff ciphers, but "Miami Vice" is far from the flub I initially thought it to be. One of the year's more subtle finds.
The "director's edition" sports a fantastic, almost fetishistic commentary from Mann, along with a number of involved featurettes. Highly recommended. "Rod Lott
