Miami Vice

[WilliamJ]

was ok.

 

[SilverSurfer]

Damn Bill, that's a great synopsis there. :imagestor

But you're right, that pretty much sums it up. I was pretty disappointed, I expected better. It was too dark, and I wanted to see more of the city, the plot was mundane, and until the middle of the movie, it was just slow. The chicks in it were not hot, and the Oriental chick that Sonny used in the movie was totally unremarkable and looked almost like a guy to me.

There were a few good parts, but on a scale of 1-10 I'd only give it a 5. Definitely not worth the $6 matinee price and 10 bucks for popcorn and a drink. Wait and rent it.

 

[mathmajors]

Wait and download it.

 

[sds70]

Damn Bill, that's a great synopsis there. :imagestor

But you're right, that pretty much sums it up. I was pretty disappointed, I expected better. It was too dark, and I wanted to see more of the city, the plot was mundane, and until the middle of the movie, it was just slow. The chicks in it were not hot, and the Oriental chick that Sonny used in the movie was totally unremarkable and looked almost like a guy to me.

There were a few good parts, but on a scale of 1-10 I'd only give it a 5. Definitely not worth the $6 matinee price and 10 bucks for popcorn and a drink. Wait and rent it.

I thought it was fine. Yeah, the plot was basic and any one of us could've written the script. I think since Michael Mann had 2.5 hours to kill he took his time to play everything out. The Oriental chick wasn't that bad. Foxx & Ferrell were OK as the new Crockett & Tubbs.

 

[WilliamJ]

i thought the O chick was hot. i enjoyed the film and it exceeded my expectations.

 

[SilverSurfer]

i thought the O chick was hot. i enjoyed the film and it exceeded my expectations.

You must have not been expecting much

http://ae.charlotte.com/entertainme...html?id=272190&reviewId=21178&startDate=NEXT7


The worst 'Vice'? Boring audiences

Lawrence Toppman
The Charlotte Observer
Published: Thursday, July 27, 2006

If you really must see "Miami Vice" (and you mustn't), buy a ticket to something better, then slip into "Vice" at the 95-minute mark and watch the last third of the movie. No one involved will profit by your curiosity, and you won't miss a thing of importance.

The first two-thirds can be summed up in three simple sentences. Miami detectives go undercover to learn why an FBI drug sting ended in disgrace. They discover a link between Aryan supremacists and a guy who moves drugs and weapons. One detective falls for the villain's Chinese-Cuban lover.

The rest is superficial window dressing. Detectives Crockett and Tubbs (Colin Farrell and Jamie Foxx) glower when girlfriends are in jeopardy, half-furrow foreheads untroubled by thought or look soulfully at the Miami moon. Cops bark orders. The villain's henchman (John Ortiz) auditions for the Tony Montana role in any potential "Scarface" remake: "Choo know wha I do? I trow her away. I leave her head een wan place, her leg een anodder. Choo effer see dat?")

How could director Michael Mann, who was executive producer of the 1984 TV show, make such an astonishing mistake? He has traded speed for sloth and cool for grunge. He's expanded what could've been a taut hour on the show - maybe a 90-minute extended episode - into a mindless meditation on the perils of the drug trade, while all the characters remain nonentities.

He and co-writer Anthony Yerkovich, who worked on the series, think they've humanized Crockett and Tubbs by making them mopey automatons. They've given the men permanent girlfriends with whom they have perfunctory sex, possibly so we won't think the detectives are gay. (Not that they show emotion toward each other, either.)

But Mann and Yerkovich neglect the plot, which fits on the back of a postcard, forget key elements of it and stretch credulity past the breaking point. Isabella (Gong Li) tells drug kingpin Montoya (Luis Tosar) that she slept with Crockett to learn his secrets, and Montoya doesn't flinch. But when he sees the two of them dancing, he goes berserk.

The visual elements, Mann's strong point in "Collateral" and "Heat," are as murky as the plot. The hot pastels of the TV show have become smeary browns and subdued grays and blues in the nighttime tropics.

Naomie Harris, who makes something out of the tiny role of Tubbs' teammate and lover, has no peer in the film. Many of the leading actors - especially Tosar, Gong Li and Farrell - may be hampered by working in English, a language uncongenial to them. But how to account for Foxx, who phones in a "Stealth"-quality performance? Either he was looking past this movie to his Christmas role in "Dreamgirls," or he gave everything he had in "Ray" and is now shooting blanks.

 

[WilliamJ]

i was expecting a tv show made into a movie, that is what i got. therefore i enjoyed it. though it did drag the fuck on.

 

[HardHarry]

I have a hard time believing that Michael Mann could make a bad movie, even after Collateral, which was much better on the 2nd viewing, BTW.

I will see this. Havent caught Pirates 2 yet, and if it comes down to a choice, I'd probably pick this first.

Also - Circuit City is selling the first two seasons of the original show for $35 (for the set). That's not bad at all. I remember how edgy and gritty yet glam the show was compared to shlock like TJ Hooker. M.V. changed TV back in the 80's.

 

[PantherFanz]

There is a channel on DirecTV called Sleuth (308) that is showing every Miami Vice episode nightly at 8:00pm. I have watched every episode from the pilot in 84 to the first few of the 87 season and simply forgot just how good the show really was. People do like to slam it for the MTV generation stuff, but actually there was some damn good music on that show. All of the character development was good and Castillo was certainly a mystery man hard ass. Really amazing to see the difference in Edward James Olmos from MV to the new Battlestar Galactica. Amazing actor that man is.

It also had some good guest apperances. Phil Collins had a huge role in his appearance. Plus the boats, Ferrari's and overall hot 80's women all over the place.

And from what I can tell of the movie (have not seen it yet) there is no Izzy. How in the world can Mann sleep at night without Izzy!!!

 

[SilverSurfer]

HH and PF - I used to love the old Miami Vice shows. If you see this movie and think anything is great about it, let me know what it was. I was hoping to see lots of panoramic views of the city, super hot babes, a litle comic relief, and a new plot. Crockett and Tubbs just seem to be pissed all the time, hardly any emotion. I didn't hate the movie, I just didn't think it was good. It was just sort of boring to me, until the last 30 minutes and then still predictable.