Miami Vice
MIAMI VICE Review:
Here's a movie that I can see many people pretty much dismissing without giving it a shot. Because although I can't say I'm very familiar with the Miami Vice TV show, it is pretty obvious that aside from the names of the characters, this movie is nothing at all like the pastel-tinged, pop-music showcase that was the TV hit. But the movie still has a legitimacy factor, since it is done by the show's original creator, Michael Mann. And here you get the sense that Mann wanted to demolish the campiness of the original show in one fell swoop. This certainly isn't anything like Starsky and Hutch ...
What it is is a plain and simple Michael Mann movie. If you saw Collateral, you know what to expect, to a degree. This movie is all about the look, the style, the ambiance - the glow of neon in the nighttime cityscape, the gleam of water smashed by a speeding boat, the feeling of motion. This is one BADASS looking movie. Every shot is silky smooth, every cut effortless. Every single frame seems to have some visual element that pops. Like Collateral, the digital cinematography gives everything a hyper-real, cold and distant look - perfect for telling stories of guys who are equally cold and distant, immersed in an unforgiving life that allows for little other than the constant need to focus on the task at hand.
And the focus, here, is not on the plot. It's simple enough - an undercover drug bust that twists out of control. But unlike your standard action flick, Miami Vice, like many of Mann's other works, has that added edge to it, that existential aspect that really makes you study these guys and wonder what makes them tick. I really appreciate that about this movie - you're never given any extraneous information, never bogged down with plot overload - we are just put right there in the moment. Sure, it's a little jarring at first, but it makes for a different and more immediate movie experience than we are usually given. The movie really works at presenting an overriding theme without ever really putting it right there on the table. Kind of like the best episodes of 24 - we are led to ponder what the sacrifices are that these characters make for their jobs, to wonder how they can live with themselves in a world of such moral ambiguity and personal tragedy, how they can keep on going even though they really have nothing to gain. Mann throws in little snippets of dialogue, little moments that accentuate the tragedy of the film (okay, so some of the extended love scenes are a not exactly the most what you'd call little moments ...) - but the plot's focus is always on the Mission, even though a dark cloud of lingering doubt and hopelessness is there the whole time.
Colin Farell and Jamie Foxx are basically just required to look badass and brood a lot, and they do that pretty well. They turn up the intensity when needed, and they get the job done. Really though, despite the star power here, this is the director's movie, and the actors do a good job of blending in and never overshadowing that fact. I also, mostly, enjoyed the dialogue in the movie, which could be pretty heavily stylized at times but I found to be entertaining and fun to follow along with.
I also thought the music was pretty damn cool. I've heard some complaints about the soundtrack, and I'm sure it was disappointing for some who were expecting some 80's throwbacks and whatnot (though that end-credits cover of Genesis was pretty awesome). But you could tell that a ton of care went into the music of this movie, and a lot of times I found myslef tapping my foot to the pulsating beats that helped accentuate the action.
But the music, like most of the movie, is hard-driving. The action here is brutal, the dialogue laced with slick and sleazy characters trying to out-badass each other. The women here are powerful yet mystrious - Gong Li, I thought, was great in her part. Her broken English kind of accented her character - a bruised woman who has always had to try her hardest to assert herself and stake her claim in a world of tough guys with big guns.
Sure, this isn't a movie that needs to be revisited again and again. It's not one that blows you away with the intricacies of its plot or the nuances of its character. But for two hours it immerses you in a world of crime and violence, of neon-lit hotels and swaying palm trees, of speedboats and nightclubs, of men who exist for their dark missions and the women who at a moment's notice step into the shower with them (happens not once, but twice here ...). It's all over the top and crazy if you really think about it, but Michael Mann is dead serious, and if you let yourself get caught up in the world he creates, his sincerity is contagious.
Go, see this movie on a big screen with good sound, sit back, relax, enjoy. It's gritty, dark, violent, beautifully-shot, and one hell of a badass film.
My Grade: A-
Here's a movie that I can see many people pretty much dismissing without giving it a shot. Because although I can't say I'm very familiar with the Miami Vice TV show, it is pretty obvious that aside from the names of the characters, this movie is nothing at all like the pastel-tinged, pop-music showcase that was the TV hit. But the movie still has a legitimacy factor, since it is done by the show's original creator, Michael Mann. And here you get the sense that Mann wanted to demolish the campiness of the original show in one fell swoop. This certainly isn't anything like Starsky and Hutch ...
What it is is a plain and simple Michael Mann movie. If you saw Collateral, you know what to expect, to a degree. This movie is all about the look, the style, the ambiance - the glow of neon in the nighttime cityscape, the gleam of water smashed by a speeding boat, the feeling of motion. This is one BADASS looking movie. Every shot is silky smooth, every cut effortless. Every single frame seems to have some visual element that pops. Like Collateral, the digital cinematography gives everything a hyper-real, cold and distant look - perfect for telling stories of guys who are equally cold and distant, immersed in an unforgiving life that allows for little other than the constant need to focus on the task at hand.
And the focus, here, is not on the plot. It's simple enough - an undercover drug bust that twists out of control. But unlike your standard action flick, Miami Vice, like many of Mann's other works, has that added edge to it, that existential aspect that really makes you study these guys and wonder what makes them tick. I really appreciate that about this movie - you're never given any extraneous information, never bogged down with plot overload - we are just put right there in the moment. Sure, it's a little jarring at first, but it makes for a different and more immediate movie experience than we are usually given. The movie really works at presenting an overriding theme without ever really putting it right there on the table. Kind of like the best episodes of 24 - we are led to ponder what the sacrifices are that these characters make for their jobs, to wonder how they can live with themselves in a world of such moral ambiguity and personal tragedy, how they can keep on going even though they really have nothing to gain. Mann throws in little snippets of dialogue, little moments that accentuate the tragedy of the film (okay, so some of the extended love scenes are a not exactly the most what you'd call little moments ...) - but the plot's focus is always on the Mission, even though a dark cloud of lingering doubt and hopelessness is there the whole time.
Colin Farell and Jamie Foxx are basically just required to look badass and brood a lot, and they do that pretty well. They turn up the intensity when needed, and they get the job done. Really though, despite the star power here, this is the director's movie, and the actors do a good job of blending in and never overshadowing that fact. I also, mostly, enjoyed the dialogue in the movie, which could be pretty heavily stylized at times but I found to be entertaining and fun to follow along with.
I also thought the music was pretty damn cool. I've heard some complaints about the soundtrack, and I'm sure it was disappointing for some who were expecting some 80's throwbacks and whatnot (though that end-credits cover of Genesis was pretty awesome). But you could tell that a ton of care went into the music of this movie, and a lot of times I found myslef tapping my foot to the pulsating beats that helped accentuate the action.
But the music, like most of the movie, is hard-driving. The action here is brutal, the dialogue laced with slick and sleazy characters trying to out-badass each other. The women here are powerful yet mystrious - Gong Li, I thought, was great in her part. Her broken English kind of accented her character - a bruised woman who has always had to try her hardest to assert herself and stake her claim in a world of tough guys with big guns.
Sure, this isn't a movie that needs to be revisited again and again. It's not one that blows you away with the intricacies of its plot or the nuances of its character. But for two hours it immerses you in a world of crime and violence, of neon-lit hotels and swaying palm trees, of speedboats and nightclubs, of men who exist for their dark missions and the women who at a moment's notice step into the shower with them (happens not once, but twice here ...). It's all over the top and crazy if you really think about it, but Michael Mann is dead serious, and if you let yourself get caught up in the world he creates, his sincerity is contagious.
Go, see this movie on a big screen with good sound, sit back, relax, enjoy. It's gritty, dark, violent, beautifully-shot, and one hell of a badass film.
My Grade: A-
posted by Danny B at 12:15 AM
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