Miami Vice

"Miami Vice" starts with a nightclub with the song "Numb/Encore" playing, and it sets the tone for the whole movie, because the song is what is called a "mashup" you have Jay-Z on the side of the good stuff, mixed with the less good Linkin Park, but the song works because of it's versatility, now is that extendable to the movie.

Sony Crockett (Colin Farell) and Ricardo Tubbs (Jamie Foxx) are two undercover Miami Police officers investigating a prostitution ring, while they are about to intervene, they receive a call from their informant who informs them that his cover is compromised and life is in danger, one thing leading to another, they find themselves infiltrating the huge drug business in the carribean sea run by the druglord Jose Yero (John Ortiz), posing as smugglers, they gain the trust of the south american masterminds of the deals, and eventually Sonny ends up falling in Love with Isabella (Gong Li), the right hand of Yero, and you guessed it, this whole thing has an explosive momentum, leading the players to question themselves, make sacrifices, and even cross the thin threshhold between crime and law.

First you can't even start to accuse micheal mann of betraying the spirit of the cult series that inspired the move, since he was one of it's creators, but he did the aformentioned mashup between the spirit of the series, and his tradmark style visilble on films like Collateral and Heat, which we reviewed before, shot mainly at night, with a state of the art digital camera, it captures the spirit of the Floridan night, and uses many close shots that enhance the sense of entrapment of the characters in the movie, and the doubts they might and might not have, on this side it's brilliant

the downside comes from the not so convincing love story between Isabelle and Sony Crockett, and since it's the main plot it weakens the dramatic fabric of the whole movie, the other aspect is the love scenes, which are plastred over the movie like Maxims on magazine racks, which sucks the poetential of the emotional conflict the characters find themselves in, I still think Gong Li is a good actress, and her chimestery with Colin Farrell is arright, but something is missing, and that "something" would elevate this movie to the rank of "collateral" and "heat", but on the other side, this movie is better in it's weakness then ninety percent of the other stuff, especially studio system made movies, so i will just say it is to the other two what the Godfather III is to his two big brothers, but it's still a good movie.

So, friends of the night, this one is for you, friends of gorgeous aeraial imagery, friends of speedboats, friends of class, friends of fast cars, and friends of films this one is for you too

in its best moments it will haunt you, in the not so good moments it is still solid entertainment, and it's a good occasion to revisit Micheal Mann's catalogue, since he is throwing a big movie this summer, public enemies, with Depp as Dellinger, and I surely can't wait to watch and review that one.


Year: 2006
Written and Directed by: Micheal Mann
Starring: Colin Farrell, Jamie Foxx, Gong Li