|
Miami
Vice
Fans of Michael Mann will be familiar with the dark gritty
style of this adaptation of the popular 80’s drama.
But people coming in to revel in 80’s nostalgia better
go watch something else, since this doesn’t revisit
the past.
About
the only factors from the original series that appear in
this updated Miami Vice are the drugs, the corrupt
cops, and the odd white linen blazer. This is not the “Vice”
you grew up with. This is dirtier, deeper, and a whole lot
darker.
The
basics are sort of the same. We have Ricardo Tubbs (Jamie
Foxx) and James “Sonny” Crockett (Colin Farrell),
Miami-Dade Police officers that get sucked into a drug op
gone bad. They go in undercover to find out who is leaking
government information and to get a lock down on the drug
runners so that the Feds can make their move, but in the
process they find that the line between their true selves
and their covers is becoming blurred.
First
off, this is not an action film. Forget the previews you’ve
seen, because while there are guns and a nice gun fight,
Miami Vice is first and foremost a drama, not an
action flick. This is more about working undercover and
going too deep than it is about shooting guns and killing
bad guys. Though that being said, there are some beautiful
moments involving guns, bullets, and how they interact with
people. If you like to see blood spatter, you’ll have
to wait for it, but you’ll get it.
At 2
hours 15 minutes, it’s a pretty long flick. Oddly,
it manages to be too long and not long enough all at the
same time. There are scenes where we linger too long; some
of the sex scenes for instance (I know, I know, they’re
never too long, but in terms of keeping the movie going,
they do drag a little bit). While beautifully filmed, we
don’t need to see that much to get the idea of the
scene, but we sit through it anywhere.
There
are also scenes that are entirely too short; such as any
scene between Crockett and Tubbs alone. While we understand
that they’re partners, and they’ve probably
been partners so long they just KNOW what the other is thinking,
we the audience can’t read cinematic minds, so all
we see is two guys who work together. They barely talk,
they barely interact, and it’s very disappointing,
especially when we’re coming from a television series
where the partnership was half the focus.
And
there really isn’t a lot of talking during the movie,
either in story explanation or in general. Well, let me
phrase that better: there is talking in the film, in fact,
a great deal of it, but there’s not a lot of talking
in terms of character interaction. Most of the speaking
parts involve threatening people, plotting drug runs, more
threatening people, and cussing at situations. There’s
also a bit of plotting, and some tiny, entirely too short
scenes where people ask “are you okay”, but
other than that, we’re missing some serious opportunities.
Sadly,
if I had been deaf, I might have enjoyed the movie more,
simply because it’s visually stunning. The set up
of the scenes, the cinematography, all of it is amazingly
beautiful. Every single shot, even the simplest close up,
was stunning to look at from a cinematic stand point. While
the story and plot and play of the movie didn’t capture
my attention, just looking at the film was a sheer joy.
Much
to the delight of the meteorologist inside me, every single
thunderstorm you see in Miami Vice is completely
real, and you see quite a few of them, which is absolutely
normal for Florida. Hand-held cameras emphasize realism,
while wide angle shots show the simple beauty of the combination
of city and water that is Miami. All the colors scream “Caribbean
City!”, with the darker shadows of city nights, combined
with the clear blues and whites of a tropical day.
Miami
Vice is being touted as a mainstream, popcorn movie,
but there are going to be a lot of people walking in expecting
to find a great summer action flick based on one of the
more popular 80’s television shows, only to walk out
disappointed at something that has few explosions, little
action, and too many quiet moments.
There
will be film students who are going to declare it a masterpiece
of a summer film, dark and engaging, with none of your brainless
violence, only meaningful, true to life violence. They'd
call it a great study of the psychological and emotional
repercussions of being an undercover agent in the drug world.
You
know what? They’d be right. But as for being a summer
blockbuster, Miami Vice isn’t.
Rating:
|
