Review Detail

9.4 7 10
miami_spence_front
FanFix June 10, 2022 1419
Overall rating
 
9.6
Audio/Video Quality
 
10.0
Audio Editing
 
10.0
Visual Editing
 
10.0
Narrative
 
9.0
Enjoyment
 
9.0
Miami Vice is one of those films that has, by turns, been equally underrated and overrated. Overlooked by critics and audiences on release; called one of the greatest action films of all time by a select cult ever since its release. As ever, the best bits of Michael Mann movies are transcendently badass, but they're often dragged down by over-indulgent dialogue and romantic subplots that lead to severe pacing problems that prove alienating even as they're supposed to draw audiences into these troubled characters.

Spence wisely cuts and trims MV, whipping it into a taut, lean form that it should have been from the beginning and adding back just enough classic TV musical cues to scratch the 80s nostalgia itch that the original film purposely avoided. By leaving much of the characters' romantic moments on the cutting room floor, the audience is allowed to be collaborators and fill in the emotions based on the firey passion we do see, not the turgid backstories we're forced to endure. Spence's edit is the cut that deserves the cult adoration, it's a legitimately excellent film now, and I hope it circulates widely enough that Mann fans get to experience MIami Vice in its best possible version.
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