Miami Vice film review

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MIAMI VICE

Fans of the 80s TV show on which this was based might have a hard time recognizing anything here that bears any resemblance to the original series. Gone is Jan Hammer's memorable theme music. The white suits and sockless look are no more. And humour is nowhere to be found. Instead, director Michael Mann, who was executive producer of the television series, has injected vast quantities of testosterone, replaced the sunny Miami sheen with a dark, grainy patina and ratcheted up the sex. It now, apparently, more closely resembles his initial vision for the series. Based on the result, it's interesting to speculate whether it would have had anywhere near the same success had Mann been allowed his own way back then.

With only the most tenuous connection to the source material remaining, the result is effectively a standard cop genre movie. It's something Mann has established his reputation with via the likes of Heat and Collateral. His bravura filmmaking, with its dynamic camerawork, dramatic settings, taut energy, brutal violence and macho posturing is impressive enough, but when there is nothing but a flimsy, well worn story to work with, the outcome is an exercise in style over content.

As if to endorse how familiar the plot is, it's based loosely on a 1985 episode of Miami Vice entitled Smuggler's Blues in which Crockett and Tubbs (here played by Colin Farrell and Jamie Foxx respectively) go undercover, posing as drug dealers in an attempt to infiltrate a top drug cartel. Of course, with a budget of around $130m to play with, Mann is able to add a little luster. Or a lot. Cuba, Paraguay, Brazil and Haiti are just some of the locations used and there's a liberal sprinkling of fancy planes, boats and cars on show.