I am a huge fan of Michael Mann movies in general. I thought "Collateral", "The Insider" and earlier films like "Last of the Mohicans" were fantastic. And his crime opus "Heat" is an absolute masterpiece. So when I heard Mann was revisiting Miami Vice, with Colin Farrell and Jamie Foxx no less, I figured it was sure to be a home run. No such luck.
While the movie has a bit of edge-of-your-seat drama, and a few good action scenes, overall I felt this was an unfocused misfire from Mann. There seems to be little or no chemistry between Farrell and Foxx, and even less between other characters. Gong Li was miscast in my humble opinion, and Justin Theroux (a great actor) goes virtually unused. John Ortiz is one of the few high points, giving a truly creepy and menacing performance.
I could get into a detailed analysis of the plot, style, acting and so forth but that's been done to death in these comments. The bottom line is the movie is basically all story, and no character. Which sometimes can be okay, but not when the story is a generic "let's go undercover and bust a drug cartel" plot. When you're dealing with a general idea that's been done a million times, you need characters to make it rise above. Unfortunately Michael Mann wasn't able to accomplish that with Miami Vice.
While the movie has a bit of edge-of-your-seat drama, and a few good action scenes, overall I felt this was an unfocused misfire from Mann. There seems to be little or no chemistry between Farrell and Foxx, and even less between other characters. Gong Li was miscast in my humble opinion, and Justin Theroux (a great actor) goes virtually unused. John Ortiz is one of the few high points, giving a truly creepy and menacing performance.
I could get into a detailed analysis of the plot, style, acting and so forth but that's been done to death in these comments. The bottom line is the movie is basically all story, and no character. Which sometimes can be okay, but not when the story is a generic "let's go undercover and bust a drug cartel" plot. When you're dealing with a general idea that's been done a million times, you need characters to make it rise above. Unfortunately Michael Mann wasn't able to accomplish that with Miami Vice.