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Movie Review - Miami Vice (2006)
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(What this rating means)
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| Director: |
Michael Mann |
| Starring: |
Colin Farrell, Jamie Foxx, and a bunch of people I've never heard of |
| Rated: |
R (for strong violence, language and some sexual content) |
| Length: |
146 minutes |
| Genre: |
Action/Crime/Drama |
| Tagline: |
No Rules |
| Studio: |
Universal |
| Website: |
Miami Vice |
| Release: |
July 28, 2006 |
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PLOT
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When Crockett (Farrell) and Tubbs (Foxx) learn that a high-level leak has led to the slaughter of two federal
agents and the murder of an informant friend’s family, the two detectives are pulled into the case to figure
out what went wrong and who is responsible. Their investigation takes them straight to the doorstep of vicious
killers from the Aryan Brotherhood and a sophisticated network of globalized traffickers protected by world-class
security.
Working undercover, the partners start forgetting not only which way is up, but on which side of the law
they’re supposed to be. A very different take on the Miami Vice franchise ensues.
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JOHNNY'S TAKE
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Dark. Gritty. Delivers a punch straight to the gut. All words and phrases to describe my mom's coffee. But
they also accurately describe Michael Mann's Miami Vice.
I know what you're thinking - "Oh great, another cheesy movie based on an old TV series. Yippee!" I thought the
exact same thing when I originally heard the announcement of a Miami Vice movie. Well, surprise, surprise,
this is a film that's most likely the complete opposite of what you're expecting, content-wise at least.
Despite the fact that this could've used a little tighter editing (I wouldn't have missed the Colin Farrell/Chinese
Chick romantic angle AT ALL - it dragged on about 10 or 15 minutes too long), Miami Vice is still quite the
entertaining little crime ride.
I like Mann, so I'm glad to report that this definitely has his unique style all over it. I especially loved the
sense of realism - just listen to the gunfire and the bullets hitting metal, it makes you feel like your
watching footage of an actual gunfight. Sort of an extreme episode of Cops.
The gritty hand-held camera action helps add to this effect. The drawback is that the final shoot-out gets a little
too chaotic, and the shaky cam and hectic close-ups make it hard to follow who's who and what's what. The dark
atmosphere and minimal use of lighting doesn't help much.
If you loved the original TV series and are looking forward to this, well, you might want to exercise a little
wariness. My grandmother was a fan of the show because she thought Don Johnson was the most gorgeous man on TV.
Believe me, if grandmama were still alive then she might risk having a heart-attack if she went to see this at
the theater, expecting Crockett to prance around in his pastel best.
Miami Vice the movie is about as far removed from Miami Vice the TV series as possible. "Then why
even call it Miami Vice?" you ask? Good question. I wondered the same thing. The press notes make it
clear - Michael Mann helped create the TV show, and he's always had a vision to explore the dark side of the
characters he helped develop. He's had a desire to take them to places not suitable for network TV. In that
context, it makes sense.
While Miami Vice is not in the same league as Mann's previous top-notch action crime dramas Heat and
Collateral, it still delivers cool cars, stunning visuals, excellent attention
to detail (Stephanie even remarked on the "realism" of one female's uneven fingernails), and a lot of gunplay and
violence that will catch you off-guard and jar you from your seat.
I'm not going to pretend this is for everybody because it also features a couple of gratuitous sex scenes
and a romantic interlude that brought the story to a screeching halt. Plus, some of the accents are hard to
understand. Seriously, I could've used subtitles for the dialogue between the Cuban crime boss and his Chinese
girlfriend. Prepare to squint your ears. But once we muddle through the clunky "I love you but we can't be
together" romantic dialogue, the film gets back on track and stays there for the duration.
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ODDS & ENDS
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- Anthony Yerkovich, the creator of the original Miami Vice TV series, also created the series Private
Eye, starring none other than the inimitable Josh Brolin.
- Johnny Betts thinks he's probably one of about four people in the world to have the Private Eye series
on DVD (I copied them to DVD from some video tapes that I laboriously tracked down). It's a fine example of what
you can obtain when you put 107% effort behind it.
- Director Michael Mann served as an executive producer of the original TV series, helped develop the characters,
and even wrote an episode.
- Why did Michael Mann decide to return to Miami Vice? Hey Mr. Press Notes, please inform us! "It’s the
allure of doing undercover work and what happens to you ... that was my central interest," says Mann. "When I
first read Tony Yerkovich’s screenplay for the original Miami Vice pilot, my instinct was to make this as
a feature film. But it had already been committed to NBC as a television series."
- Mann also wanted to take a closer look at the darker side of the characters, "As an R-rated feature, we can
explore some of the things we couldn’t in television. There was always the sense of some self-imposed restrictions
because we were a series. There’s a whole sensual life that’s there—for Crockett and Isabella, for Tubbs and
Trudy."
- Mann didn't comment on the decision to give Crockett a mullet in this adaptation, but Johnny Betts speculates,
"There's something dark and mysterious about a man with a mullet. You see a guy with one and you subconsciously
wonder 'does he beat his wife?' Now take that mullet undercover and there's no telling what kind of trouble it'll
get into."
- Johnny can't confirm that Mann demands that he be referred to as "Michael 'Da' Mann" on set.
- Colin Farrell, according to Mann, "brings an entirely new character to the same role of Sonny Crockett. Nothing
undoes what Don Johnson did, which was great. This is an additional iteration ... no comparative context
applies."
- To prepare for their roles, Farrell and Foxx underwent three months of training. Farrell recalls, "We drilled
and drilled ... going out to the gun range four times a week for two hours a day and shooting off about 500 rounds
per day. We were shown tactically how you hold a gun, how to lessen yourself as a target and how to have
synchronicity and economy of movement that would allow you to take out your target."
- To prepare for this review, Johnny Betts underwent 20 minutes of press notes research. Betts recalls, "I read
through the press notes once and copied and pasted the quotes I thought were the coolest and most interesting. It
was fairly easy."
- One example of Farrell’s training involved him accompanying undercover officers on what he believed to be a
real drug deal. The scenario was set up so one of the fake dope dealers could test Farrell’s skills as Crockett by
completely overreacting in front of Farrell.
- Everybody realized this "real-life training" was probably a bad idea when Farrell freaked out and shot the man
dead.
- I'll leave it to your common sense to determine if that last bit of info is real or not.
- The majority of Miami Vice was filmed in Miami and Key West, Florida. Footage was also shot in Paraguay,
the Dominican Republic, Uruguay and Brazil.
- All of this review was written in Memphis, with Johnny making writing forays at his office.
- The film was shot in HD (AKA hi-def AKA high definition) like Collateral.
- Colin Farrell was in The Recruit with Bridget Moynahan who was in Whipped with Amanda Peet who
was in Melinda and Melinda with Josh Brolin who was in Hollow Man with Kevin Bacon.
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MAMA'S APPROVAL
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This one is not designed for mama or the kids. There are f-bombs, shower scenes, nudity, sexual situations,
and shocking acts of violence - just about all the elements you'd expect from the dark side of undercover work.
Please don't take the kids or your Sunday School class to see this thinking it'll be similar to the TV show.
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TRAILER COMPARISON
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The trailer gave me hope that this would be a departure from the show, and in that regard the movie definitely
delivers on the trailer's promise.
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THE GIST
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If you're a fan of Michael Mann's hardcore action and unique visual style then you will find plenty to enjoy in
Miami Vice. Don't let the unfortunate "it's based on an old TV show!" rap fool you. Others might want to
first watch Heat and Collateral before deciding whether this might
fit your taste.
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