This review may contain spoilers.
Got a copy of the recent Walmart steelbook with both versions. Watched the theatrical cut, but I think I’ll finally watch the director’s cut next time. I remember thinking when I first saw this that the crunchiness of the digital image was ugly, or at least weird. Rewatching it now I can appreciate just how much detail is getting pulled out in those night scenes, and how much is in focus at the same time (I’m thinking specifically of the shots of the two go fast boats racing home after Trudy has been abducted). Just absolutely beautiful compositions all over this movie, regardless of how you feel about the digital noise.
I still laugh when Gong Li says she “knows a place” and they just…go to Havana. That romantic interlude made me think of Out of Sight and its “time-out” scene, both romantic interludes in the eye of a storm.
Maybe it’s the sound design, but whenever there’s a shootout in a Michael Mann movie I really feel the weight and destructive power of the bullets flying around. Feels different from your standard action movie where everyone is just spraying fire everywhere.
On a side note I’ve been enjoying the Miami Nice podcast, which has had a great string of guests on to talk about their love of this film.