Miami Vice

8/13/06 - Review

Colin Farrell and Jamie Foxx don the suits of Sonny Crockett and Ricardo Tubbs from the trendy 1908’s TV show, Miami Vice, to give it a modern day makeover.  Their job, to infiltrate the underground drug businesses and bring to justice the evildoers who peddle the smack. 

Almost immediately, Crockett and Tubbs are pulled from their case to investigate three murders by an Aryan Brotherhood and some baddies from South America.  Again, they need to go deep undercover into this drug cartel. After the usual meet and greet, they are given a job to transport about 3000 kilos of cocaine from South America into Florida on high speed powerboats, not the cheap kind either.

Crockett becomes smitten with one of the higher ups, Isabella, a Chinese woman who manages to somehow blend in with a bunch of Cubans.  This leads to problems with the boss of the other side and the middleman who thinks that Tubbs and Crockett are “wrong.”  Soon the Aryan Brotherhood becomes involved and the shit gets real which leads to one explosive conclusion, Miami Vice style.  That’s what you would expect right?

Miami Vice was one of my favorite  shows on television in the late 1980’s when I was growing up, even though I was pretty young.  Then, when FX replayed all the episodes in 1996, I watched them all again. I was in Heaven. So when I heard that the creator, Michael Mann, was bringing it to the big screen, I was very excited to see a feature length film. Now that I have seen it, I can say without a doubt that I am utterly disappointed.

Instead of getting a modern day update, we get an extended two hour plus episode with better cars, boats, guns, and the actors can use F-Bombs.  How Michael Mann screwed the pooch on this is beyond me because it sure seemed like a sure thing, especially with the shows creator behind the camera. Aside from Colin Farrell and Jamie Foxx’s portrayal of the trendy vice detectives, this movie offers nothing new. Basically it’s the been there done that crime drama that we have seen so much of over the years.

The movie suffered from long pauses in action and I was actually looking at my watch several times.  In fact, the movie was hard to follow at points and the fact that the actors had bad accents didn’t help any.  There was also a lot of jerky camera movement that only added to my dismay. Usually it helps to portray the realism of the moment, but in reality it just gave me a headache. The story was just an extended TV episode, a bad one at that, and didn’t offer anything new or exciting.  By the time the climax came, the movie was already lost.

The one bright spot in the movie was Colin Farrell and Jamie Fox. I thought that did a terrific job as Sonny Crockett and Ricardo Tubbs.  Even though they didn’t show off their pastel’s, they did walk the walk and looked good doing it. Colin Farrell had the swagger of Don Johnson all over him. What a nice choice.

The supporting cast was very weak, at best.  Vice cops Trudy and Gina did make the trek from the TV show.  Trudy was again the love interest of Tubbs but Gina had no story at all. I didn’t even know that was her until I saw her name in the credits. Mann didn’t even try to show off the chemistry between her and Crockett like the TV show delved into many times over the years. This seemed like a no brainer to me but I guess I am missing something. Aside from that, I wasn’t impressed with any of the supporting cast. The bad guys had bad accents and I couldn’t understand half the time and the Aryan Brotherhood seemed very out of place.

I have to place the blame solely on Michael Mann for this crapfest.  I had such high anticipation for this movie knowing that he was directing it.  Besides Crockett and Tubs, the film doesn’t even resemble Miami Vice. No pastels, no Jan Hammer, a fake Phil Collins song at the end, it doesn’t add up. His story was terrible and I am ashamed to admit that it is even Miami Vice.  Granted, there are a few bright spots, such as the camera shots, and cool boats and cars, but most of the time, its just plain awful. Thanks a lot Mann for ruining a sure thing.

Fans of the television show will be totally disappointed with this movie. Colin Farrell and Jamie Foxx do justice in their roles but the story is so bad that it detracts from anything that can be considered positive. This film is a real tragedy. Michael Mann should head back to the drawing board and leave the 1980's back in the 1980's.

Grade

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