DVD Review

Miami Vice (2006)

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B-

CRIMINALLY UNDERRATED DVD thankfully gives Mann's cop pic starring Farrell and Foxx its day in the sun

Miami Vice: Frank Connor

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Credits

Release Date: Jul 28, 2006; Rated: R; DVD Release Date: Dec 05, 2006; Genres: Action/Adventure, Drama; With: Colin Farrell and Jamie Foxx; Distributor: Universal

A-

By Ken Tucker

Ken Tucker

Ken Tucker is critic-at-large for EW

In the constantly illuminating commentary on his dark-blue thriller Miami Vice, writer-director Michael Mann refers to the DVD version as a ''more extensive but not really extended'' version of the Jamie Foxx-Colin Farrell film. By which he means there are a few additions, a few tweaks, a few snips...and the result is a more revelatory version of an already excellent, grossly underrated movie. Watching Vice again, you get drawn into the way the romanticism and ruthlessness of both the heroes and villains are reinforced by the rhythm of the movie, its goose-bump action scenes paced by the languid but ultimately unsustainable idyll that Farrell's and Gong Li's characters enjoy. The shoot-out at the meth-lab trailer camp remains spectacular, and now you can hear Mann explain everything from the origin of cigarette boats to his decision to insert ''In the Air Tonight'' into the body of the film, rather than as a closing-credit toss-away in the theatrical version. By insisting on making action films with an unshakable artistic rigor, Mann remains the genre's greatest contemporary formalist without sacrificing an equally intense humanism.

Posted Dec 08, 2006

More

5 Reasons to Live It's a Michael Mann kind of week! | Ken Tucker
Movie Review Miami Vice (Jul 28, 2006) | Owen Gleiberman
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Cover Story Behind the scenes of ''Miami Vice'' (Jul 28, 2006) | Daniel Fierman
Movie News Forecast 2006: Early details on ''Miami Vice'' (Jul 28, 2006)
In the News Farrell, Foxx in talks for ''Miami Vice'' (Jul 28, 2006) | Brian Hiatt

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