Miami Vice Review

"Miami Vice" reviews

Movie

Miami Vice

Author

anonymous

Date reviewed

2006-11-09 23:49:41

Rating

2/5

Provider

CinemaSource

Review

Gone are the pastels, the pet alligator—even Phil Collins—from this dark, gritty modern-day version of the '80s TV show. Unfortunately, gone too is some of that fresh style that made the show unique, leaving us with just another dark, gritty crime drama.

Story

Assuming you'll be able to understand about half of what's being said due to the mumbling and thick accents, here's the gist of this Miami Vice: James "Sonny" Crockett (Colin Farrell) and Ricardo "Rico" Tubbs (Jamie Foxx) are the unsmiling leaders of a top-notch Miami-Dade vice squad, whose job it is to take down the bad guys. But when they go deep undercover to expose yet another global drug cartel—which includes factions of the Aryan brotherhood (nice bunch)--their lives are put on the line, especially after Crockett ends up falling for Chinese-Cuban Isabella (Gong Li), an intoxicating player for the other side. So, back and forth we go: The good guys have the drugs; the bad guys want them back; the boys drive speed boats real fast, have sex with their girls in the shower—blah, blah, blah—until finally some action. And when it all goes down, it goes down hard. [Cue the synthetic drum solo.]

Acting

Although you do miss a bit of that Don Johnson spirit, Farrell and Foxx actually hold up just fine as the re-envisioned Crockett and Tubbs, minus the jovial rapport and pink T-shirts. They look good in the Armani suits, with stubbly faces and the dark sunglasses, talking the talk and wielding firearms like pros. Everyone around them are equally Vice-esque, especially the two female detectives—Trudy Joplin and Gina Calabrese—brought back from the original show. Played by Naomie Harris (Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest) and Elizabeth Rodriguez (Blow), respectively, these girls simply kick ass. The only one who sticks out like a sore thumb is Gong Li. She looks the part—all steely and indifferent—but once the accomplished Chinese actress (Memoirs of a Geisha) opens her mouth, she is way out of her element. It's actually cringe-worthy, watching her try to be tough, speaking languages (even Spanish) she is not at all familiar with. And on top of that, Gong and Farrell have zero chemistry, making their supposedly steamy love scenes tepid indeed. What a waste of good-looking skin.

Direction

Michael Mann is arguably one of the best writer/directors of crime drama today, having crafted such sleek hard-hitters as Heat and Collateral. Returning to the innovative '80s show that helped put him on the map must have been a no-brainer, even if he was reluctant to do it at first. Apparently, Mann wanted to make Vice originally as a gritty feature film but got pigeonholed by the network. Maybe that was good thing, because in holding back a bit, Mann managed to make it one of the coolest crime series ever, combining pulse-racing action with synergized music. But after getting burnt out by the network grind, Mann is back to revisit the Vice world again, taking it in the direction he originally planned. This Miami Vice is a hard, cruel place, almost too serious. There's the little Mann stamps all over it—the overhead shots, the clipped dialogue, the grainy night vistas—but what's happened between the first Vice and now is how tired the subject matter has become. Undercover cops/drug smuggling movies are old hat, something we've seen played out hundreds of times before. And unfortunately, Mann offers nothing new. Maybe he should have just left well enough alone.

Bottom Line

Hollywood.com rated this film 2 stars.

Movie

Miami Vice (2006)

Author

anonymous

Date reviewed

2006-07-28 15:00:24

Provider

Review

Based on the trend-setting 1980s cop show of the same name, The all new, super stylish, big budget Miami Vice could already be a strong contender... for the Razzies.

Original director Michael Mann has stepped up to helm the film adaptation and direct two of movieland's hottest stars - Colin Farrell and Jamie Foxx as undercover cop duo Crockett and Tubbs.

The movie has been significantly souped up for the 21st century - the cops now drive a Ferrari 430 Spider, use mobile phones in their sting operations and employ complex satellite systems to track down the crooks. The plot is basic: Crockett and Tubbs are recruited by a federal agency to take part in a sting that involves Colombian drug dealers and their white supremacist partners in America. There's lots of dodgy deals, backhanders and a few confusing action sequences - and you can probably guess which side wins.

For the most part the leads are wooden: Farrell moodily tosses his lank locks and pouts and Foxx (that's THE Oscar winner!) flexes his perma-raised eyebrow and there are laughably-awful sex scenes. Given that there's no character development or background the script writers should shoulder most of the blame.

The dialogue is vague and nonsensical, full of clichéd lines we've all heard too many times, and Foxx and Farrell deliver it in a incoherent mumble - subtitles would've been handy.

Shot on high definition digital video the film is grainy, with the appearance of an old VHS tape that's been played a million times. The big budget Mann had to play with was clearly used on explosions and flashy set pieces making this one well stuffed turkey.

Movie

Miami Vice

Author

anonymous

Date reviewed

2006-08-03 00:00:00

Provider

MyMovies

Review

In the mid-eighties, they epitomised cool but are TV cops Sonny Crockett and Ricardo Tubbs still relevant in the 21st century? Let's find out as writer / director Michael Mann serves up a cinematic slice of "Miami Vice".

Totally updated to the modern day, this gritty outing sees Crockett (Colin Farrell) and Tubbs (Jamie Foxx) going undercover to try and blow apart a drugs cartel run by a South American gangster Montoya (Luis Tosca). But the deeper they go, the more the lines between right and wrong start to blur, especially when Crockett finds himself getting involved with Montoya's right hand woman Isabella (Gong Li).

There's no doubt that Michael Mann is a very good director - his CV includes the likes of "Heat", "The Insider" and the excellent "Last Of The Mohicans". But you can't help but feel that his long-held ties to "Miami Vice" - he served as an executive producer on the original show - may have blinkered him slightly here. Sure, it is very competently directed and stylistically quite reminiscent of "Collateral" in places, but you can't help but wonder what the real point of the film is? The 'cops infiltrate drugs cartel' certainly isn't anything new, while the South American drug lords are caricatures at best. Perhaps "Miami Vice's" biggest problem is that fact that, thanks to some classic Farrell mumbling and an excessively loud soundtrack, the dialogue is pretty hard to follow, leaving the audience struggling to fill in the blanks when it comes to the plot. And because most of the action centres on Farrell, his Oscar-winning partner is left kicking his heels for far too long.

A real disappointment, you're better off sticking to DVDs of the original show.