Blu-ray Movie Reviews

They made a Miami Vice movie with no pastel colors or Jan Hammer? I’m sorry, you lost me. At least there is a Ferrari (a gray one). Michael Mann fashioned this movie like his “gritty” past few movies, such as Heat and Collateral, enough so that it has very little in common with the TV show (at least the good years). Jamie Foxx and Colin Farrell do passable jobs as Rico and Sonny, but they can’t save this movie. After 20 minutes, I had no idea what was going on, and not in the way that would make me want to watch more.

The night scenes look grainy, but the day scenes are often very beautiful. There is lots of detail and beautiful color, but the inconsistency knocks it down a few steps. For you black-bar-o-phobes, it’s 2.40:1. The only audio choice is the required Dolby Digital Plus 5.1. Dialogue comes through well, and the mix is full sounding.

There is a commentary by Mann and a few documentaries (found only on the DVD side of the disc). What you get on the HD DVD side is “U-Control” which is a glorified pop-up-video-style insertion feature that puts behind-the-scenes videos, still shots, bios, and other crap on the screen while you’re watching the movie. I can’t see anyone being that interested in this movie to want to see all that, but what do I know? It’s certainly not something you want active the first time you watch, as it’s way too distracting.