CSI: Miami Season 2 (2003) - DVD Review

Film:
DVD:

Created by Anthony E. Zuiker, Ann Donahue, and Carol Mendelsohn
Starring David Caruso, Emily Procter, Rory Cochran, Adam Rodriguez, Khandi Alexander, and Sofia Milos

Features:

• CSI: Miami - Visually Effective
• The Trace Lab Tour
• The A/V Lab Tour
• CSI: Miami - Recalling Season 2
• Seven audio commentaries with cast and crew

Released by: Paramount
Rating: NR (violence and sexual content)
Region: 1
Anamorphic: Yes

My Advice: Skip it.

Horatio Caine (Caruso) is the lead investigator for the Crime Scene Investigation unit in Miami, Florida. His job is to take the evidence from any and all crime scenes and put the pieces together to catch the bad guys. He's good at his job, but like most people in his positions (especially those on television), he's a maverick. He's always getting into trouble with his superiors and stirring up a whole mess of trouble in and around the Miami area. But, just like the Mounties, he always gets his man.

Now that might turn out to be a decent concept, enough to spring off a spinoff and kickstart a true franchise. The problem, though, is that Caruso is a horrible actor. Okay, maybe not horrible, but at least bad enough for him not to be intimidating. He just puts his hands on his hips a lot and we are supposed to see that he is either thinking or trying to be intimidating. The writing is not very good, either. Okay, some of the storylines are a little bit intriguing, but for the most part the stories are beyond my ability to suspend my disbelief. Also, somehow, Caruso's character just conveniently knows everything there is to know about whatever piece of evidence just seems to be part of that episode's investigation. Not only that, but the rest of the supporting cast is weak as well. The funny thing is that some of the guest artists are better than the starring cast. All in all, this is just a weak show. If there is a saving grace, it's the special effects with which they reveal what actually happened with each crime. It's just not enough to save it from the depths of TV hell.

The DVD is probably a little too good for the likes of this series. The commentary tracks sound like they were recorded in the studios of NPR. And for some reason, they all seem to be whispering like one of SNL's bad NPR spoofs. I actually had to turn the volume up and still couldn't really understand exactly what they were saying on these tracks. To make matters worse, once I got them to the point of being audible, they weren't worth all the effort of having to work to listen to them. It's just some background information on the episodes, but nothing really earth shattering. Especially when you find the same information presented better later on in the features...keep reading.

Thank God there was a featurette that focused on the visual effects. It's easy to tell that attention has been paid to this aspect of the show. The Trace Lab tour is led by the show's technical advisor who is just not comfortable in front of the camera. His narration and stiff behavior makes this featurette come across as a bad high-school instructional video. They tried their damnest to make it more slick with the transitions between his segments, but it just doesn't work. The A/V Lab Tour is a little better in that the technology is a bit more cool and the narrator, the forensics advisor, is better suited for the job than his friend in the other feature. Finally, the featurette titled "CSI: Miami - Recalling Season 2" is the same type of information that you'd hope to find in the commentary tracks, but packaged better. It's nice to see the cast and crew being interviewed on set while they are more in the moment rather than asking them to talk about it several months after the season has wrapped.

There are numerous shows on television that are worth your time more than this one. I know it has a lot of fans, but I'm just not one of them. I wouldn't even advise renting it, honestly.

Buy it from Amazon.