Miami Vice Review
by Homer Yen (homer_yen AT yahoo DOT com)July 30th, 2006
"Miami" - Not So Nice
by Homer Yen
(c) 2006
I think about all of the skills that one must
have to be on the Miami Vice. You have to be
prepared for gun battles. You have to be able to tough-talk your way in and out of every situation
with guns pointed at you. The toughest skill
that they've acquired, apparently, is there
ability to work seemingly 20-hour shifts every
day nonstop. They don't even have time to eat or
go to the bathroom. Who would want to be in this
kind of line of work and, more importantly, why?
It's bullets for breakfast and high-speed chases
for lunch. Let's hope that they make it to
dinner.
Sure, being able to drive a speedboat into Havana
for a date might be cool. And racing around in
an exotic sports car has its allure. But to do
this kind of work, you have to really love it (or
be psychologically twisted). Understanding the motivation of detectives Crockett (Colin Farrell)
and Tubbs (Jamie Foxx) would be helpful because
the "its-a-job-and-somebody-has-got-to-do-it" explanation mutes a potentially high-powered
drama. It's like taking a high-powered rifle and
just firing it straight into the air. You hear
the noise, but there's no result.
Though visually arresting, Writer/Director
Michael Mann has missed something here. The characters were better-fleshed out in two of his
other notable crime dramas. That would be 2004's sublime "Collateral" and 1995's must-see "Heat". Those were much grittier and absorbing. Here,
the partnership of our protagonists can be
likened to foxhole buddies thrown together. They watch each other's back. They play for the same
team. But they don't interact. I'm thinking
about how "Bad Boys" was such a bad film. Yet, at least Will Smith and Martin Lawrence got
opportunities to yuk it up. These two never
smile and make the film an experience that is
morose.
The story itself is confusing. In fact, the
opening sequence is about a stakeout in a Miami nightclub. But then it abruptly turns into an espionage mission to infiltrate a Colombian drug cartel. Much of the film is just a lot of people doing a lot of posturing. Crockett stares down
his supervisors so that he can get in deeper.
Tubbs stares down Crockett to remind him not to
get too deep. Various cartel people stare down
each other trying to persuade each other on
different courses of action. But all is not lost because there are a few bang-bang surprises. If nothing else, if there was an MTV movie award for
best 'kill-shot in a film', this movie would win.
The real challenge, though, is the tone of the
film. It is so sullen that the monotone delivery
of their lines gets kind of aggravating. In
fact, at some points, it seems more like
mumbling. "Miami Vice" is about tough guys doing tough work. They may not care that they're not
having fun. But that shouldn't be the fate of
the audience.
Grade: C
S: 2 out of 3
L: 3 out of 3
V: 3 out of 3
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Originally posted in the rec.arts.movies.reviews newsgroup. Copyright belongs to original author unless otherwise stated. We take no responsibilities nor do we endorse the contents of this review.
