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List Price: $59.98 | | Label: Universal Studios
Salesrank: 8253
Released: March 20, 2007 |
| Our Price: $20.99 |
| Used Price: $17.96 |
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MPAA Rating: NR (Not Rated)
Media: DVD |
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Editorial Review:
Follows the adventures of two vice squad detectives of the Miami police department.
Genre: Television
Rating: NR
Release Date: 20-MAR-2007
Media Type: DVD
Miami Vice - Season Four Reviews:
Indulge in more 80s Vices 
2009-07-15 -
By the time the fourth season of MV appeared in the Fall of 1987, the show had peaked ratings-wise (second season) and creativity-wise (arguably the previous season). The writers were new, and it shows. Our favorite stylish cops are put in some new and strange situations. This is a pretty mixed bag compared with previous seasons.
There are a number of noticeably weaker episodes this time around. Some seem half-finished, never taking advantage of a good idea. Examples include Rising Sun of Death, dealing with the Yakuza in Miami. The plot is completely confusing, and by the climactic swordfight(!) and hari-kiri, I didn't much care anymore. There's also a requisite flashback episode when Sonny gets gunned down and the cast wait in the hospital while reminiscing on past seasons. There's the cryogenically frozen reggae singer whose body the Vice squad winds up trying to safeguard from scheming factions. Then there's the whole Crockett marriage to Sheena Easton, who plays a version of herself. This unlikely romance sets in motion the season-ending cliffhanger (first time on the show) which takes things down a dark path.
And perhaps the most reviled episode, often voted worst ever, is Missing Hours. This is a sci-fi episode of sorts where the partners investigate strange reports of alien abduction involving...Trudy and James Brown! Or is there a quite logical but non-public explanation? I actually thought it was kind of fun to watch the cast in a non-standard situation, having fun with the conventions. It's definitely strange, it ends strangely, but as for 'worst episode of any show ever'...I would not be so harsh. When you crank out 100 episodes of any drama, expect a clunker or two.
The season begins strongly, with the return of Stanley Tucci as Gotti-esque gangster Frank Mosca. Pity they don't keep him around, though, and the violent ending comes with no coda at all, which was becoming a regularity on the show. Then Brian Dennehy makes a tremendous guest appearance in a 'ripped from the headlines' episode as he plays a televangelist who may or may not be shady. Another popular theme (to this day) appears in Death And The Lady, about a popular artists whose foray into 'erotic performance art' may or may not contain murderous elements.
More so than previous seasons, the endings in Season Four are cynically twisted or nihilistic, with no afterthought to the deception or violence. One gets the sense that the show's characters (and writers) were feeling the wear and tear of the Miami underworld (and of coming up with plots for 20+ episodes). In true late-80s fashion, things get grittier and grittier amidst the neon and soft focus. This perhaps echoes the sentiments around the 'War on Drugs' and the increasing frustration with fighting an inexhaustible supply of dealers and product.
The show was never about police procedure, which explains the consistent holes and flaws that presumably exist to keep certain 'elements' of style and posing in place for the weekly viewer. For instance, though Crockett and Tubbs are undercover...they consistently show up at crime scenes AS cops, but in their undercover outfits and cars, in front of crowds of onlookers and even the media. And they're always hanging out at the police station, which is supposed to be discreet...but nobody notices the white Ferrari that appears there every day? They do overt cop work while in their undercover clothes and cars...I don't get it. Way too many people learn that they're cops for the facade to survive for this long...not ONE criminal has leaked their personas to the underworld? They don't change their appearance or names? Again, too much thought for what was supposed to originally be 'MTV cops'.
The box set is bare bones, with zero extras. (The only MV set with extras was actually Season One). Part of the delay in release was the clearance of song rights for the many tracks used in the many episodes. Also, in contrast to Seasons One and Two, these episodes do not even have mini-menus with a synopsis of the episode (when you click the episode you want to watch, it goes straight into the prologue/intro). Which is all fine, I guess. The show looks good, though with a bit of grain, particularly when stock footage is used. Thankfully, there are sub-titles for deciphering names and various lines that are muttered. Given the wide availability of the set at decent prices, the box is still a good value.
Highly recommended for the MV fanatic, more casual fans should check out the previous seasons (just start with the original). While the show is cemented in the collective conscious as being an exercise in style (most associated with the clothes), it was a lot better than folks think, and has proven very influential to this day.
MIAMI VICE LOSES ITS TOUCH 
2009-06-25 - This 1987-88 Season of MIAMI VICE was only a so-so season and the season when MIAMI VICE was starting to lose their touch since they seemed to have run out of ideas to make this show interesting to watch along with the fact that this is the season when Crockett's wife Caitlyn(Sheena Easton)dies off, plus the ratings were starting to fizzle too and you could tell that this show was going downhill and that Don Johnson(Crockett)and Philip Michael-Thomas(Tubbs)were getting tired on top of that, especially Don Johnson along with the fact that MIAMI VICE was obviously no longer in its honeymoon phase of the show anymore on top of that.
Therefore less and less people kept tuning in to watch this show every Friday night during MIAMI VICE's last 2 seasons on NBC along with the fact that this was probably the second weakest season of them all throughout MIAMI VICE's whole 5-year run on NBC since this show was obviously already running out of steam, despite Don Johnson's sexiness along with the fact that Don Johnson was a sex symbol and a teen idol back then before MIAMI VICE's cancellation on NBC in the Summer of 1989.
This season of MIAMI VICE also takes me all the way back to memory lane when NBC's motto was "Come On Home to NBC", which was NBC's motto from the Fall of 1987 thru the Summer of 1988 along with the fact that I was 15 years old and a Freshmen in High School over at Central Union High in my hometown(El Centro,CA)at the time.
Starting to go downhill
2009-05-24 - Season 4 and 5 of Vice for me were too strange. The plots, feel, and entire series just wasn't the same. Of course there were still some good episodes and surprises, but overall it wasn't the same as season 1-3.
miami vice season 4 
2008-11-23 - save your money, if you like being put to sleep on your couch then buy it. Don Johnson is a terrible director.
Brings Back A Lot Of Memories! 
2008-08-02 - When the TV series was first launched in 1984 I was a teenager. What teenage boy doesn't enjoy seeing a Ferrari or a Wellcraft Scarab racing across the TV screen?
Now, 20+ years later, I have been watching the Season 1 - 4 DVDs (Season 5 is being shipped this week). It brings back a lot of memories!
If you watched and enjoyed the TV show, I don't know what I can say that you don't already know. Technically, the video and audio quality is very good.
Watching Crockett and Tubbs speed across the screen in that white Testarossa while listening to those old Phil Collins ('In The Air Tonight') and Glenn Frey ('Smugglers Blues') songs... what more could you ask for? :)
