Miami Vice the Motion Picture, Pal!
With all the movies based on TV shows, I knew it would only be a matter of time before Miami Vice was next. Seems like yesterday when I thought this. I wondered how it would be. Would it be a parody along the lines of The Brady Bunch (which was actually clever enough)? After all, Vice‘s trend-setting synthesis of rock music, surreal visuals and cool clothes are surely ripe for parody.
Then last year, I read on a Miami Vice fan club at Yahoo that the show was indeed going to be a movie. It was to be directed by Michael Mann, the executive producer of the small-screen crime drama. This was something of a relief for me. He knows what he’s doing, and he understands that MV wouldn’t be ultramodern all over again by rehashing every aspect of his two-decades-old television program. It’s now 2006, and the ’80s are over and done. So Michael Mann has refitted MV as a 21st Century major motion picture.
Once again, detectives James “Sonny” Crockett and Ricardo Tubbs go undercover to nail a drug kingpin. An FBI leak prompts a Fed to recruit them from their South Florida vice squad. As in the TV show, they have to live a lie to fight the war on drugs. This means that anyone they get involved with in the course of their operation could get hurt, or could hurt them. Does that stop Crockett from mixing business with pleasure? See for yourself. The object of his desire is played, stone-faced, by Gong Li, whose thick accent has put off many moviegoers.
Some of the situations remind fans of the classic Miami Vice episode “Smuggler’s Blues,” which is understandable enough. From time to time, it reminded me of that episode. I think some are a bit harsh in thinking the entire film ripped it off, even when I half-expected someone to try to rob Sonny and Rico when they touched down back in Florida.
There’s considerable debate over stars Colin Farrell and Jamie Foxx’s performances. Much of it is inevitably based on memories of the original Tubbs and Crockett. Some praise Foxx for being like Philip Michael Thomas, and some complain that he was nothing like him. I for one don’t see (or expected to see) any similarity between the two incarnations of Tubbs.
However, neither did a bad job. Granted, Farrell doesn’t have Don Johnson’s presence. He does have the brooding action hero down, and the screenplay and direction don’t allow him a whole lot more than that. The characters’ relationships, such as they are, are different from 20 years ago, which fans of the TV show must be ready for.
You’ll have to see for yourself whether or not Gina and Sonny still have that erotic tension they used to share when played by Johnson and Saundra Santiago. Now Barry Shabaka Henley’s in-name-only Lt. Martin Castillo may be a bit more reminiscent of Starsky and Hutch’s Capt. Dobey than Edward James Olmos. But he does his best in his small but important role. At key times during the action, you can see genuine concern for his cops in his puppy-dog eyes. People just need to stop expecting all movies based on television programs to be just like their source material.
What can I say about John Murphy’s score but that it’s competent? Just because it isn’t Jan Hammer’s crackling music doesn’t make it bad. It worked, even if it wasn’t as above and beyond the call of duty as Hammer’s unforgettable soundtrack. I had read months before MV was released that the RZA was to do the music, but apparently things changed before the movie was released. As for the all-important song score, Linkin Park’s “Numb” worked nicely in a preview I saw last Christmastime, and I like how it accompanies Vice’s James Bond-ish opening shot.
The song now reminds me of the movie, though I had of course heard it countless times on the radio in recent years. I also thought it was a nice touch playing Nonpoint’s cover of “In the Air Tonight” over the end credits. And I’m haunted by “One Of These Mornings” by Moby, featuring vocals by Patti Labelle. It adds moody longing to the budding relationship between Farrell and Gong Li.
Admittedly on the overemphasized downside, Vice is a bit long. After a quick start reminiscent of the TV show, things begin to go on a bit. The cops lack backstories, though Crockett’s big-screen ability to dance does add a new dimension to the character. Mann could have allowed more buddy chemistry between Farrell and Foxx, who come off as little more than work associates..
Mann and cinematographer Dion Beebe have gotten mixed reactions to their decisions to tone down the pastels and to integrate several grainy shots into various scenes. Many carp that it looks like a home movie. Some of the night highway shots are more reminiscent of those of the show than some give it credit for, while being consistent with Mann’s mission not to imitate the series.
When all is said and done, Miami Vice, the motion picture, still pits our boys Crockett and Tubbs, alias Burnett and Cooper, against the drug world. The resulting undercover op once again has some emotional repercussions. There are still shootouts, glitzy nightclubs, cool Euro sports cars and speedboats. It goes for more realism and is all business this time, which seems to have alienated many moviegoers. But the gestalt of Miami Vice is still there. Michael Mann has simply extended it for the 21st Century.
And the whole affair kind of makes you want to have a Mojito.
