UnsilentMajorty

Summary: After a tragic security breach in the Joint Inter-Agency Task Force (JIATF), the FBI ask for help from the Miami authorities, who are not part of the compromised group. This assignment goes to Detectives James 'Sonny' Crockett and Ricardo 'Rico' Tubbs.

Ricardo Tubbs (Jamie Foxx) is urbane and dead smart. He lives with Bronx-born Intel analyst Trudy (Naomie Harris), as they work undercover transporting drug loads into South Florida to identify a group responsible for three murders. Sonny Crockett (Colin Farrell) [to the untrained eye, his presentation may seem unorthodox, but procedurally, he is sound] is charismatic and flirtatious until - while undercover working with the supplier of the South Florida group - he gets romantically entangled with Isabella (Gong Li), the Chinese-Cuban wife of an arms and drugs trafficker.

Going undercover as offshore boat racers and outlaw smugglers Sonny Burnett and Rico Cooper, they take on the narcotrafficking network of the mysterious Archangel de Jesus Montoya-Londono and his Cuban Chinese banker Isabella. The intensity of the case pushes Crockett and Tubbs out onto the edge where identity and fabrication become blurred, where cop and player become one - especially when Crockett falls for Isabella, and when there is an assault on Tubbs's loved ones.

The best undercover identity is oneself with the volume turned up and restraint unplugged.

Director: Michael Mann

Release Date (U.S.): July 28, 2006

Running Time: 128-146* min.


*Not finalized at this time. One test screening for studio execs clocked in at 146 minutes while the most recent final cut was 128 minutes.

.....

Finally, an adult movie for adults.

Contray to popular belief, this is not another lame remake of an old TV show. This is another entry in Michael Mann's series of gritty crime dramas in the similar vein of "Heat" and "Collateral" where what makes both the both the good and bad guys tick is just as important as the terrible things they do to each other and the ones they love in the pursuit of their own personal codes of justice, no matter what side of the law they fall on.

This film shares the name of the NBC TV series starring Don Johnson and Philip Michael Thomas which ran from 1984 to 1989... But this is where the similarities end as Mann wanted to make the 2006 version of Miami Vice more like a modern-day "French Connection" than a campy TV-series remake.

However, while the TV series was/is often more known for the pastel wardrobe of its main star (Johson) and being a prime example of the decadent 1980s, the show itself was one of the most cutting-edge shows as far as combing chart-topping hits of the day with impressive visuals every week to create an almost surreal world where it seemed the show was one giant music video with a little dialogue thrown in for good measure.

Here is a scene which clearly demonstrates how adhead of its time Miami Vice (the series) was when it was on the air over 20 years ago:

Phil Collins - In the Air Tonight from Pilot Episode

...And...

Russ Ballard - Voices

It is a flashback/montage video as Crockett and Tubbs are on their way to the Bahammas to nab the head of a vicious drug cartel who has fled U.S. extradition. The scene is considered the quintessential Miami Vice scene from all five seasons due to the inclusion of the cigarrette boat and the music video-style editing.

ROCKSTAR

Michael Mann is one of my favorite directors so I trust him with two talented actors and a hot setting. I really can't wait for this. I saw a trailer months ago and it was def something I wanted to see more of!

1984? Wow, no wonder I don't remember this well, I was barely a year old when the tv show started airing. I guess the movie will fix that.

shrrshrr

Yeesh, woman - I was a sophomore in college!

I remember the advent of the show vividly, and how quickly it set the nation on fire. I'll be curious to see where they go with the film, if it'll carry the same dark angst of the show (really, I had to stop watching because everyone they knew or cared about died, and it was so damned depressing!).

Jacob1983

I saw this movie tonight and it was awful. If you are a fan of Michael Mann's films, you will be disappointed. Other people in the seats at the theater were booing and were complaining about the movie when it ended. Collateral was Oscar nominated and Jamie Foxx should have won supporting actor for the film. Miami Vice is suppose to be an action movie? It was definately not to me. It was more of a drama with a few sequences of action. The story was boring too and I was waiting so long to see some action.

ROCKSTAR

Jamie Foxx should've won Best Supporting Actor for "Collateral" and not Best Actor for "Ray" but that's another topic for another thread.

I still want to see this. Like I said, it's Colin. I'll see it no matter what.....but it's sad to hear that it's not that good.

Freddie

I was born the year the show started, so I don't know a whole lot about the show except for when Chandler and Ross wore the suits to a Thanksgiving dinner, .

Yawn.

At first, I confused Michael Mann for Michael Bay and thought "where'd all the pretty car crashes and loud explosions go?" And then somewhere in the credits, it showed Michael Mann as the director. While I haven't seen Collateral, how did the same guy who did Heat make something this... boring?

shrrshrr

I want to see it - the ads make it look very much like the show. I'm not sure why everyone thinks the show had a lot of action sequences when it was really a hard-hitting drama with the ocassional acting thrown in.

I'm not kidding when I saw it was deadly dark and angst-ridden. This show was about cops fighting a losing battle in a corrupt and rotting, but superficially glittering city. Car chases weren't a prerequisite.

ETA - Freddie, I'm listening to the game right now. My boys had better get it together!

Enigma

I saw this tonight. I remember watching the show although I was really young so the details are fuzzy. But, from what you're saying shrrshrr this movie is in line with that. I guess some people were expecting tons of action and I think when you expect one thing and get something else you tend to be disappointed. I've seen that alot lately with the way certain movies have been advertised.......kind of the opposite from what the movies actually are. But, anyways the movie was dark and gritty. I didn't find it boring at all although it was a little long I thought.

Jacob1983

This movie should have had lots of action. Michael Mann directed H.E.A.T. and Collateral. Those are action movies. I honestly think that Tom Cruise killed more people and shot his guns more in Collateral than everyone combined in Miami Vice.

UnsilentMajorty

Michael Mann is NOT an action director, per se.

All of his movies, even Heat and Last of the Mohicans, are character studies where action and violence are a part of the story, but they aren't the bulk of the story.

I think this is the big misconception about what Miami Vice -- both the show and movie -- Is about. I think the problem is MV is now viewed as a cult-show from the '80s and nothing more, and a lot of people who didn't grow up with it really understand what it was about besides the fashion and rock music.

Also, there were a lot of problems with the final cut of the film as this was supposed to be another three and a half-hour epic like Heat, but the studio said, no way for a summer release title because the studio was targeting the teens -- Which is another idiodic decision in my book as Michael Mann has said time and time agian in various interviews MV was never intended for teens and is in no way a "Bad Boys" clone which a lot of young people are equating MV with because both it and BB are set in Miami -- And as a result, Mann had to cut out literally an hour of the film and whenever directors have to cut that much of the story out it is bound to suffer in one way or another, no matter what the PR machine tells you.

Oh, well.

I will see it eventually as I never listen to critics anymore as they are often flat out wrong, Da Vinci Code, anyone?

What does worry me as a MM fan is that it looks like this film is going to bomb which means he isn't going to be able to do "Whom the Bell Tolls" as the studio has said if MV doesn't do well, they are going to pull MM from the picture and get a cheaper director... Which might not only make "Bell" suffer, but also be the first in a long series of moves to basically relegate MM and similar A-List, final cut directors to the European/foreign and direct-to-DVD markets like Jan De Bont. Remember Jan De Bont? Directed huge blockbusters like Speed and Twister... Yet then bomed with The Haunting and Tomb Raider 2? He's now back in Germany...

While I agree a lot of persons in Hollywood are over paid... The fact is a lot of movies are failing these days because studios are trying to market them to the completely wrong audience they are intended for,and then blaming the director when they do fail to save face and as I said, ultimately, it results in a Catch-22 of crappy hacks like Michael Bay and Bret Ratner getting all the work and producing a lot of the shallow, stereotypical projects mainstream Hollywood is known for.

shrrshrr

That's good to know, and I LOVE your avatar!

Gosh - did we see the same film? I totally agree with UnsilentMajority in that I thought Collateral was much more of a character study (and exceptionally well-done) than an action film, as is Last of the Mohicans.

I'm still a fan of the director and will see this film, but I'm kind of disappointed in this perception of his work... You're entitled to your opinion, though, of course.

Enigma

shrrshrr - Thanks. I love the show and that scene was hilarious!

The more I've thought about the movie since watching it yesterday, the more I think Mann did a really great job. I really wasn't sure what to expect. I was really pleased with the end result. I loved that it wasn't just a bunch of action and chases and that it really delved into the whole lifestyle/job that they were doing.

Interesting to know that an hour or more of the movie was cut............I wish that it hadn't been mandated to be cut.

~*Magical*~

I think my problem with the movie is that it felt really cold. It was a beautifully directed movie. But the plot outline was very BASIC. And the characters weren't developed at all. I guess they just assumed that people should have know the characters and why they acted or did the things that they did from the tv show. But that show was on a long time ago. This movie should have introduced us again to them and showed us why these guys put their lives in the situations that they were put in.

Plus, I think Jamie Foxx and Collin Farrell had no chemistry at all. I don't know how they expected us to believe that these guys had so much faith in each other.

UnsilentMajorty

These are valid observations -- Not that everyone else's comments weren't valid; I am just saying this is something to think about as it is honest and goes beyond just whether or not you like the film, the director, the actors, etc. and is more objective than subjective...

Which is why I don't have any faith left in professional movie critics as they claim they are "objective" when the clearly have agendas and biases against certain studios, films, genres, et al... Sometimes because they are being paid by a rival studio to deliver said review.

As I said, I have not seen the film yet, but I will shortly and then give my two cents.

Jacob1983

Michael Mann has directed Oscar nominated movies like Collateral, HEAT, The Insider, and Ali. Miami Vice is not even in the same league as those movies. I have seen Collateral many times and it is an action movie. One thing that made Collateral a great action movie is that it did not obsess over sex scenes like Miami Vice. HEAT could be classified as an action drama but it still has a lot of action. Miami Vice the movie was overhyped. Jamie Foxx has the Oscar curse. He thinks since he has an Oscar he can be in any movie and the movie automatically be a hit. The reason why I was so disappointed and angry after watching Miami Vice was because I was expecting a lot of action in the movie. I was saying to myself "what was Michael Mann thinking". Jamie Foxx and Colin Farell must be happy though. Miami Vice is the number 1 movie this weekend but with just 25 million dollars.