Hollywood Reviews and Movie Trivia

"Miami Vice", is writer/director Michael Mann's big screen version of his hit TV series and scores a B+...

The "Miami Vice" TV series (84'-89') was a trendsetter for its time. It made popular the music video style sequences, which have become staples of such shows from "Cold Case" to "Smallville". The TV series made fast cars, flashy wardrobes, and undercover cops Crockett and Tubbs household names. Don Johnson and Philip Michael Thomas became the "in buzz" in television. The driving creative force for "Miami Vice" was Michael Mann. His distinctive visual style of shooting at night was once again showcased in last year's "Collateral" starring Tom Cruse and Jamie Foxx. After years of resisting offers to bring "Miami Vice" to the big screen, Michael Mann takes his TV series to the next big screen level. As director, my favorites of Michael Mann include: "Thief" (81" starring James Cann, "The Last of the Mohicans" (92') with Daniel Day-Lewis, "Heat" (94') with Al Pacino and Robert De Niro, and 2004's "Collateral". This big screen version of the TV series is set in contemporary times. Updated are the staples of the series. The fast cars, fashionable wardrobes, and the fast pace intrigue are all very "now".

The big screen version is loosely based on the episode "Smuggler's Blues", (Episode #15, from the 1st season, aired 2/1/85) and directed by Paul Michael Glaser from "Starsky & Hutch"), which featured Glen Frey's tune "Smuggler's Blue's along with a guest star appearance. An interagency sting operation has gone bad with two federal agents, and the family of a protected informant (hauntingly played John Hawkes) is dead. There is a leak involving the three agencies involved: FBI (Federal Bureau of Investigation), DEA (Drug Enforcement Administration), and ATF (Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms). Because the Miami Police Dept. were not involved in the operation, Crockett and Tubbs are assigned to infiltrate the network of mid-level drug trafficker Jose Yero (John Ortiz), as transporters willing and able to move Yero's product from South America into south Florida. If successful, Crockett and Tubbs will move up the ladder, with the hope of getting to the top man, Montoya (Spanish actor Luis Tosar in a very menacing performance). There's deception and countermoves as Crockett and Tubbs put their plan into motion. They even "give" Yero back a load of stolen product they stole, to get deeper into the operation!

A staple of Michael Mann's stories is shootouts in the Sam Peckinpah style and romance. The Chinese/Cuban Isabella (Li Gong from 2005's "Memoirs of a Geisha"), is Montoya's money manager. At the first meeting with Montoya and Isabella, a silent connection is between Crockett and Isabella, with his becoming intrigued by her confidence. And She senses something different in Crockett. A sexual encounter ensues that is electrifying screen sensuality. The gun battles between the good and bad guys are haunting; taking place in the dead of night with the amplified sound of the characters' high-powered weapons, and the upgrade of Crockett & Tubbs' colleagues detectives Switek (Domenick Lombardozzi), Zito (Justin Theroux), and Calabrese (Elizabeth Rodriquez) to high tech-paramilitary operatives was a refreshing change. There's one rescue sequence when we find out just how deadly Calabrese is when she tells the kidnapper she is about to kill him and does as he's about to answer.

Creating strong, definitive, complicated characters has always been a Michael Mann trademark. As a director, he has a way of getting that essence on screen. With Colin Farrell, his charisma and screen presence skirt that fine line between Crockett's identity and his undercover alter ego of Sonny Burnette, revealing subtle nuances in the character's undercover front. It comes through in Colin Farrell's eyes and is fascinating to watch. As always, Michael Mann has strong female characters, and Li Gong's character of Isabella could be called the most complex of his female characters to date. Crockett and Isabella appear as mirror images of each other, both living a life that is not their own. They have intense and beautiful scenes, with dreams of freedom and love, that each of them know, can never be. The world Michael Mann creates with 'cops and robbers', fast cars, exotic boats, beautiful women, wonderful wardrobe, with deception and discovery lurking at every turn, its hard for the characters, and us, to determine what's real or just a cover. If you liked the TV series, you'll love this big screen version...

Grade B+