Colin Farrell, Jamie Foxx, Gong Li
Directed by Michael Mann
Rated R
Thankfully, this isn’t a cheesy, stupid or campy buddy comedy like Bad Boys I and II. Mann’s Miami Vice, based on the ’80s television show that he executive produced, is revamped with his new creative approach to filmmaking. The style, like Mann’s last film, Collateral, is one of grit, grime and grain. Again using cinematographer Dion Beebe, and high definition cameras, Mann makes the audience a part of the film. His hyper real approach is in-your-face, filled with enough testosterone gunfire and romance to keep both sexes satisfied.
Starting with an exciting introduction inside a Miami club, the audience is put in the thick of things, always one step behind. At first this makes it a little hard to follow Detective James “Sonny” Crockett (Farrell), sporting the same attire and hair due as the television show, and Detective Ricardo Tubbs (Foxx). However, as things progress, the audience comes to realize that these two Miami-Dade PD detectives are about to go deeper undercover then they’ve ever been before.
Becoming classified federal agents, there job is to meet Jos’ Yero (John Ortiz) and transport his drugs from Central America to the States. ’Jos’ Yero, cocaine producer,’ says Tubbs. But it’s found out that Yero is just the tip of the iceberg. ’Yero’s middle management, part of a bigger transnational operation run by Arc’ngel de Jes’s Montoya (Luis Tosar),’ says Tubbs. ’Montoya’s the new news, globalized,’ says Crockett. Unfortunately, things don’t go as planed when Crockett gets too close to Isabella (Li), Montoya’s Cuban-Chinese banker, and lover.
The beautiful locales, and the seedy underworld beneath, are masterfully concocted by Mann in Miami Vice, who is known for realism in his other films. He goes to actual locations, and actual places of crime, often incorporates real criminals. Going this extra mile shows.
While other television show to screen adaptations haven’t come close to recapturing and revamping the magic that made the original shows so successful?Dukes of Hazard, Bewitched, Wild Wild West, Charlie’s Angels?Miami Vice does. It remains fresh and reverential, in both it’s stylistic approach and its use of two songs from Audioslave’s upcoming album, Revelations. The songs, “Wide Awake” and “Shape of Things to Come,” are hard edged and poetic, a vibe that continues throughout the film.
