Review of Miami Vice: Volume 2

Introduction

Miami Vice is one of the most important television series of the 80s, a massive success both critically and in terms of audience. In the UK, the series received a great deal of criticism for what was deemed to be excessive violence, but it was still a huge hit with viewers. Nowadays, it seems quite tame.

Miami Vice was a TV cop series like nothing that went before, with Don Johnson and Philip Michael Thomas starring as Crockett and Tubbs, both super-cool, with a Ferrari convertible and speedboat as their transport. Add great action, a superb supporting cast and great music, and it`s easy to see why Michael Mann`s stylish show was a winner.

This DVD contains the "Florence Italy" episode along with the two-part "Return of Calderon" which revisits the main foe in the original Pilot episode from Volume 1.

Video

Video is presented in full-frame, and is of better than average quality. Some scenes are a little dark, and there is some dirt on the print, but overall the quality is perfectly acceptable.

Miami Vice was famous for style, and Michael Mann`s cinematography still looks very good, even if some of the clothing is very dodgy! The production values are more akin to the big screen giving Miami Vice a quality feel.

The episodes included on this disc feature plenty of car chases, a trip to the Bahamas and the Miami Grand Prix, all of which are presented very well.

Audio

The sound is presented in Dolby Digital 2.0 and is best described as average. The definition of the dialogue track is better than in Volume 1, although lack of dynamic range in the soundtrack because of the TV origins. As ever with Miami Vice, there is some very good music, all of which sounds good.

Features

The only extra is an exceptionally unexciting still image gallery.

Luckily, unlike some of the original releases in the Playback series, the menus didn`t cause my Pioneer DV525 any problems.

The disc is packaged in a black Amaray case, which contains an insert with a brief synopsis of each episode.

Conclusion

As a big fan of Miami Vice, who rarely missed an episode when the series was originally broadcast, and as with Volume 1, I really loved this DVD. My only complaint is that the episodes are not in chronological order.

The "Florence Italy" episode is pretty good, but it`s the two-part "Return of Calderon" that steals the show - I remember this as one of the early classic Miami Vice episodes.

Video and sound are a slight improvement over Volume 1, and the low £12.99 price for 3 hours of fun makes this disc good value.

Now, come on Universal, get the whole series released!