I think my biggest criticism is that it seemed fractured and confused and unresolved. Now, that’s not necessarily a bad thing, if the movie is trying to show what real life is like. Real life doesn’t have pithy summations and satisfying wrap-ups. But this movie had no relation to real life, as far as I could tell. How many detectives drive Ferraris? So instead, it just seemed like a bit of a mess.
And a lot of things were tossed around and then never went anywhere… the girls (human trafficking?) at the beginning, the leak in the FBI, the mysterious Russian crates…
Also, I never for the life of me figured out what Gong Li was doing in Havana.
Oh, and are we supposed to cheer at the end when Colin Farrel lets her escape? Number 2 person in a multinational criminal syndicate, and it’s OK to let her go because he loves her?
I liked it. I like Michael Mann’s work, and given the concept – “Miami Vice” – I went into the movie expecting style over substance. Sometimes I’m content to just see a few good action scenes, and watch people be cool; this was one of those cases. Taking each scene on its own, they all seemed to work.
The big problem – and the reason I’d call this move good rather than excellent – is that the scenes don’t fit together to form a coherent story. A few examples that come to mind:
What happened to the FBI informant? Given the way Crockett and Tubbs are brought into the action, I thought this would be the main focus of the movie. I was expecting a Big Plot Twist when the identity of the informant was revealed. Instead, the informant problem is just forgotten.
The romance between Colin Farrell and Gong Li seemed contrived; it was like they just slept together because they’re the sexy leading characters and that’s what’s supposed to happen. If she’s ruthless enough to be a drug-smuggling kingpin (or assistant kingpin), she’s not going to fall into True Love with Colin Farrell just because he’s handsome and drives a kickass boat.
Why have the characters go to Cuba at all? Unless I missed something, Cuba has nothing to do with the rest of the movie. They could have just set all the Cuba scenes in Miami, and found some other reason for Crockett to drive his boat really fast.
I guess that sounds like a lot of complaining about a movie I liked, but, like I said, I just expected it to be glossy eye candy (in the spirit of the original show), and it worked well in that regard.
Gong Li’s character had some family connection to Cuba. I’m pretty sure. But I couldn’t for the life of me tell you what it was. But it had something to do with that family photo with her mom in it.
I liked it. It wasn’t perfect, and I didn’t see the chemistry between Gong Li and Colin Ferrel at all, but I DID like the way Crockett and Tubbs meshed. They seemed…professional. They didn’t have the banter of the TV show pair, but they seemed to have a professional respect for each other in the movie.
I also liked the way they just jumped in with both feet and didn’t explain everything to the last detail. I hate exposition in the beginning of a movie.
I saw it last night and enjoyed it. I didn’t completely understand what the heck was going on with the plot, but I enjoyed the pretty people driving around pretty cars and such. I thought it was a good summer movie.
Slightly off topic: Although I enjoyed Miami Vice, the most exciting part to me was the previews. We had previews for The Black Dahlia, Babel, Children of Men, and The Prestige, all movies that I am very much looking forward to seeing. I practically pissed myself by the time the previews were over.
I haven’t seen it yet, but I just have to know…spoilers are fine…did they keep the main character from the TV show? The one who really knew how to act? The one with the attitude?
Is he still nt he movie?
Yes, I’m talking about the gator that lived on Sonny’s boat. Movie won’t be worth the gas in a piss-ant’s motor scooter without him.
Nope, no gator, no boat for Sonny to live on. Whole film just seemed to be shots of them riding around looking angst ridden. I think it’s somewhere around the 2 hour mark before someone get’s shot (and my cheers at this elicited peals of laughter from the audience). The whole thing with the hookers/drug dealer/whatever the hell in the nightclub was never resolved, either. I kind of got the idea that Michael Mann did this because he wanted to try out some new camera techniques and wanted an easy way to make sure it got paid for. (BTW, didja notice the unexplained product placement in the flick?)
Definately a “What the fuck was that about it?” movie if I ever saw one.
Oh, Gong Li’s connection with Cuba was that her cousin worked for the gov’t in some capacity that they were able to get Crokett into the country with no trouble.
I read about some film (I can’t remember the name of it, though) that when they finished it, realized that the thing was just waaaaaay too long, so they chopped it up and turned part of it into an “instant” sequel. I have a nagging feeling that it was Miami Vice that they did this with, since the film is so danged incomprehensible.
Nope, they walk into a place and there’s two boxes from “Two Men and a Truck” sitting prominantly by the door with no real explaination as to why they’re there.
I’m with Max. I didn’t like it, even though I understand there were some Miami Heat Dancers who appeared as extras in the club scenes and I’m a big fan of the Miami Heat Dancers. The only worthwhile bit in the movie was Tubbs (Foxx’s) first sex scene. That got a laugh. The rest of the film was stylishly incoherent for the reasons Max said.
I thought it sucked hard. It was stupposed to be “stylistic” but the plot was by-the-numbers, predictable, hackneyed, cliched. The romance was pointless and unbelievable and actually kind of sleazy on Sonny’s part if you think about it. If he thinks drug dealers are really so bad, then why is fucking one of them and helping her get away at the end? Hypocritical much? Doesn’t that make him a criminal himself?
For some reason it also drove me nuts that the bad guys could never figure out that Crockett and Tubbs were Five-O, no matter how obvious the clues. The script was written so that the police were always just a little bit smarter than the the drug dealers. It was contrived and unbelievable.
Plus there was absolutely no chemistry between Farell and Foxx. There was no sense at all that they were buddies.
I think I would have liked it better if it were not supposed to be Miami Vice in the first place. There wasn’t even very much in the film that make me think “oooh, Miami” – for the most part, it could have taken place anywhere.
On top of that, Mann seemed like he was trying to break away from all the Miami Vice cliches … okay, so my first question is then why did he make a Miami Vice movie? At the same time, he relied on the viewer to know the basic Miami Vice set up, because he didn’t do anything to establish what was going on – the only reason I know that Crockett and Tubbs are tough detectives who back each other up and don’t mind breaking the rules are because I spent way too much time as a 14 year old watching Miami Vice. Not to mention Crockett’s lady killer ways – the early scene where he makes cow eyes at the hot lady bartender would have been laughable if you didn’t come into the movie knowing that Crockett is the casanova of South Florida.
And did I somehow miss this, or was there NO MIAMI VICE THEME SONG? I would think that’s the single most important part of making a Miami Vice movie.
We also got a charge out of recounting the movie’s only chase scene –
Sonny: Pull over!
Informant Driver Guy: (pulls over)
Big problem to me was that there wasn’t really any emotion or character development. The sex scenes and violence were devoid of passion. This is an action movie fan saying this.
The best thing about the movie was the sound. Ferrari engines, speedboat motors, deafening gunshots; the sound was just incredible.
I wonder if the plot is better on a second viewing?
I actually enjoyed the movie quite a bit as (mostly) mindless entertainment, but I somehow doubt you’re going to find a lot of people who are giving it a second viewing.
This opinion hasn’t aged well. The movie slowly built up its reputation on repeat viewings and is now starting to be considered a masterpiece of early 2000s cinema.
I think it’s sad that Mann has only made two movies since 2006, the so-so Public Enemies and the big-budget flop Blackhat. I know he’s old, but surely he has another movie in him.
