Miami Vice

Very  underrated when it came out, this adaptation to the big screen of one  of the most successful television series of the 1980's; Miami Vice disappointed many moviegoers that waited for a Lethal Weapon kinda crime/comedy movie. The comedic side is never exploited in this  Michael Mann film. It may be one of the precursors of the return to the  80's of the end of the last decade. In fashion, style and culture this  comeback to the years when my generation was born is something more  close to commercial nostalgia than simple return to basics. The 80's  were a decade where "more is more" paraphrasing Mies Van Der Rohe's  "Less is More". Mann's Miami Vice is an underrated masterpiece  like William Friedkin's underrated To Live and Die in L.A. and  you know what? this last one was made in the 80's!!!

Miami  Vice is the classic cop story where two partners are going  undercover in the drug dealing underworld to find the bad guys who  killed their partner. At this point there's nothing really new, but as  long as the story goes the multi layered plot of these two cops/friends  just got better and better. Mann wants us to pay attention to every  detail of the film: the many eyes we can see on posters, graffitis,  paintings and the recurring thunders in the sky at crucial moments of  the movie everything is precisely put in place for a reason.


The  styled and uncluttered cinematography lighted with crude and natural  light gives a sense of reality to the images of the film and to the  choices of unusual frames that gives a subtil artistic touch to the  simplistic yet modern sets.

Brilliantly cast with a strong as  always Jamie Foxx and the sometimes categorized as uneven Colin Farrel  that gives one of his best nuanced performances in Miami Vice. Like the story, their  characters are strong and multi layered in emotions. Their friendship is  unshakable and even when literally sleeping with the devil they stand  together.

Of being one of the commercial flops of the summer of  2006 Miami Vice stands strong and may be one of the center movies  of Michael Mann's filmography with Heat, Collateral and The  Insider. This is the kind of film I can watch again and again for  its interesting story as for its filmic qualities.

Last updated: 2010-04-27 14:11:00 by MichaelParent

Smooth and classy

The Gist

Colin Farrell and Jamie Foxx play two cops going undercover to bust a crime lord and his drugs. Along the way, Farrell meets Gong Li and they get jiggy with it. A generic crime story follows.

What Do I Think?

Director Michael Mann utilizes his trademark handheld camera shots as used in Collateral. The result is quite effective as the audience gets realistically engaged in the motions of the actors.

The pace of the script is monotonously intense, with that sort of music in the background. If the viewer closes his eyes for more than 5 seconds, he might fall asleep and lose track of the flow. The editing needs reworking to keep balance of varying moods in situations.

Farrell does the Keanu in this film and lets his thick eyebrows do most of the acting. Foxx nails his character right to the wall. Solid performance. Gong Li, as many Chinese fans may rejoice, gives a very satisfying effort to viewers especially in terms of eye candy (her beautiful looks). One complaint is that she shows too much of her natural side (not in birthday suit, you pervs!) in her facial complexion. It makes her look older than she is.

Rating: 6/10
This is one extreme film. You either hate it or you love it.

Last updated: 2009-08-11 21:57:55 by joekhor