Running time: 132 minutes
Starring: Jamie Foxx, Colin Farrell, Gong Li, Naomie Harris, Ciaran Hinds, John Ortiz
Rating 5 out of 10
Fans of the 80s TV show on which this was based might have a hard time recognizing anything here that bears any resemblance to the original series. Gone is Jan Hammer's memorable theme music. The white suits and sockless look are no more. And humour is nowhere to be found. Instead, director Michael Mann, who was executive producer of the television series, has injected vast quantities of testosterone, replaced the sunny Miami sheen with a dark, grainy patina and ratcheted up the sex. It now, apparently, more closely resembles his initial vision for the series. Based on the result, it's interesting to speculate whether it would have had anywhere near the same success had Mann been allowed his own way back then.
With only the most tenuous connection to the source material remaining, the result is effectively a standard cop genre movie. It's something Mann has established his reputation with via the likes of Heat and Collateral. His bravura filmmaking, with its dynamic camerawork, dramatic settings, taut energy, brutal violence and macho posturing is impressive enough, but when there is nothing but a flimsy, well worn story to work with, the outcome is an exercise in style over content.
As if to endorse how familiar the plot is, it's based loosely on a 1985 episode of Miami Vice entitled Smuggler's Blues in which Crockett and Tubbs (here played by Colin Farrell and Jamie Foxx respectively) go undercover, posing as drug dealers in an attempt to infiltrate a top drug cartel. Of course, with a budget of around $130m to play with, Mann is able to add a little luster. Or a lot. Cuba, Paraguay, Brazil and Haiti are just some of the locations used and there's a liberal sprinkling of fancy planes, boats and cars on show.
Impossibly cool and tough, Crockett and Tubbs spout lines like "If they didn't do time with us, they can't do crime with us," when dealing with menacing drug runner José Yero (John Ortiz) and his boss Montoya (Luis Tosar). Their bravado is only matched by their sex appeal. One glance from Crockett is evidently enough to win the affection of the cartel's icy financial officer, the beautiful Isabella (Gong Li). The ensuing romance becomes a major sub-plot with plenty of steamy bedroom scenes to complement the obligatory shower scene involving Tubbs and his lover Trudi (Naomie Harris). These intimate exchanges are presumably designed to reveal the more tender, vulnerable side of our two heroes, but neither are capable of dropping their guard.
This serious image allows no room for humour, a feature of the series and something that might have enabled Farrell and Foxx to establish some chemistry. All business, their lack of camaraderie, aligned to their invincibility, makes them a less engaging proposition. When the allure of Mann's visual assault wears thin, something more substantial is required to sustain things for more than two hours, something Miami Vice lacks.
Kevin Murphy
With only the most tenuous connection to the source material remaining, the result is effectively a standard cop genre movie. It's something Mann has established his reputation with via the likes of Heat and Collateral. His bravura filmmaking, with its dynamic camerawork, dramatic settings, taut energy, brutal violence and macho posturing is impressive enough, but when there is nothing but a flimsy, well worn story to work with, the outcome is an exercise in style over content.
As if to endorse how familiar the plot is, it's based loosely on a 1985 episode of Miami Vice entitled Smuggler's Blues in which Crockett and Tubbs (here played by Colin Farrell and Jamie Foxx respectively) go undercover, posing as drug dealers in an attempt to infiltrate a top drug cartel. Of course, with a budget of around $130m to play with, Mann is able to add a little luster. Or a lot. Cuba, Paraguay, Brazil and Haiti are just some of the locations used and there's a liberal sprinkling of fancy planes, boats and cars on show.
Impossibly cool and tough, Crockett and Tubbs spout lines like "If they didn't do time with us, they can't do crime with us," when dealing with menacing drug runner José Yero (John Ortiz) and his boss Montoya (Luis Tosar). Their bravado is only matched by their sex appeal. One glance from Crockett is evidently enough to win the affection of the cartel's icy financial officer, the beautiful Isabella (Gong Li). The ensuing romance becomes a major sub-plot with plenty of steamy bedroom scenes to complement the obligatory shower scene involving Tubbs and his lover Trudi (Naomie Harris). These intimate exchanges are presumably designed to reveal the more tender, vulnerable side of our two heroes, but neither are capable of dropping their guard.
This serious image allows no room for humour, a feature of the series and something that might have enabled Farrell and Foxx to establish some chemistry. All business, their lack of camaraderie, aligned to their invincibility, makes them a less engaging proposition. When the allure of Mann's visual assault wears thin, something more substantial is required to sustain things for more than two hours, something Miami Vice lacks.
Kevin Murphy
