Its explosive action, edgy characters, flashy muscle cars, sleek speedboats and exotic locations (Miami and other Latin American hot-spots), all presented in a lush visual style by top-notch cinematographers using their entire tool-kit, made for a powerfully seductive blend and it went down a storm with viewers.

Even its in-your-face fashion element sent shock waves around the world.

So, 20 years on, what has Hollywood done with the concept in the first big-screen version of Miami Vice (15, previewed at Dundee Odeon)?

Well, mercifully, the folk preparing this project for take-off didn’t decide to go done the same road as the recent Starsky and Hutch retread and enlist the likes of Ben Stiller and Owen Wilson to camp it up.

For this is no outrageous spoof, close copy or even work of any great homage. Instead, hardboiled director Michael Mann (executive producer of the 1980s series) was put at the helm, hardboiled actors Colin Farrell and Jamie Foxx were given the lead roles, and the visual references to Miami Vice Mark 1 were cut back to the bare minimum.

Having said that, the storyline is not a million miles away from the plots of old. When leaks within the DEA, FBI, etc, lead to the murder of three agents by a gang of drug-dealing American supremacists, Miami vice cops Crockett and Tubbs, are enlisted to set up a bogus boat-and-plane operation to transport drugs from South America to Florida in order to help track down the killers.

Although Miami Vice may not be of the same calibre as Michael Mann’s best crime flicks — Manhunter, Heat, Collateral — it comes pretty close. Looks great, is well acted, and is constantly gripping, despite the action coming in very short bursts until an explosive last half-hour.

If I have a complaint it’s to do with the audibility and complexity of a lot of the dialogue.

In the early stages, at least half of the Yank cop speak and drug-gang lingo was lost on me, but my sympathies lie with the cast. They must have had equal difficulty delivering it.

What we have here is Colombians and Cubans all wrestling with English, and at least two Irishmen and one Englishman wrestling with American. The result? I’d turn your ears all the way up to 11 if you are to have any hope of keeping up with conversation.

VERDICT: Mann, this is good.

15, Warner Home Video, £19.99

By Rob McLaren

An unusual but strangely flat action film from the creators of The Matrix trilogy. V For Vendetta was one of the most anticipated films of the year, with its plot that seemed to condone terrorism and Natalie Portman in the lead role.

Set against the futuristic landscape of totalitarian Britain, Evey (Portman) is rescued from a dire situation by a masked vigilante (Hugo Weaving) known only as V.

V then ignites a revolution when he detonates two London landmarks and takes over the government-controlled airwaves, urging his fellow citizens to rise up against tyranny and oppression. It’s very unusual to have the film’s main character masked for the whole film, but this odd effect adds to V’s mystery.

There are a couple of good action scenes, though nothing near the heights of The Matrix trilogy and there is a long, long spell in the middle of the film where there is no action to speak of, as it’s just V and Evey talking.

Still this is worth watching for fans of the genre, as at least it’s an action film that’s trying to be good and trying to make a comment on society, rather than just blowing things up.

EXTRAS: Lots of featurettes, but no commentary.

VERDICT: Recommended for fans of the genre.