slightlymad22 Plot In A Paragraph: Two MDPD detectives Crockett (Colin Farrell) and Tubbs (Jamie Foxx) go undercover to find out who was behind the murder of a snitch and smash a drug trafficking operation. The theme of identity and how yours is influenced by (and influences) the people around you is here, and it was also very evident in Manns last two movies, especially Ali. So with the theme there, it's surprising the movie lacks identity, it's almost like it doesn't know what it wants to be, or even what decade it's set in.It's overly complicated, If feels much longer than actually is. At one point I was a bit bored, and was amazed to see it had only been running for 49 minutes. For the first time watching a Mann movie, I wasn't blown away with the performances. Even The Keep had some interesting performances. That said it does have some impressive action set pieces, and it does try, but it just doesn't come together. With a domestic gross of $63 million, Miami Vice end of the year as the 43rd highest grossing movie of 2006.

jdfrit-932-570092 this was a video game more than a movie. shallow directing, predictable gunfights, etc. etc. also i did not relate to the cast as an American who has lived and died in Miami. LOL. why didn't they get don Johnson and do the Miami scene? this was a dark scene movie that could have been filmed at the vault in New york city. i fell asleep thru most of the predictable undercover script. when i woke up to the sounds of gunshots, it looked just like any first person shooter computer game that i have played. also, the simplistic video clues were right out of a video game as well; for example, the skinhead with a swastika tattoo is a video game cue that we, the dumbed-down audience, are being introduced to one of the movie's "bad guys". A very cartoon-like development of characters, plot, and a not quite authentic Miami scene that strikes most Americans as foreign, i.e., alien, like the Irish actor who is about as American as Vladimir Putin.

eric262003 Before he became a well-known director to such classic film as "The Last of the Mohicans", "Heat" and "The Insider", director Michael Mann's very earliest filmography was when he served as executive producer of one of the best crime-dramas the the 1980's had in store at the time, the always iconic "Miami Vice". It was a classic series that handled the style and substance quite proportionately. In 2006, Mann has returned to his early roots in a movie adaptation to the classic 1980's series self-evaluating what he's been taught to him over the past few years since the series cancelled in 1990. After watching the movie, there are a few things that didn't sit with me very well and one of the many gripes I had with this adaptation to the series was that at two hours and fifteen minutes, it goes on for much too long. If that's bad enough, it's not only too long, it is also quite hard to decipher what the plot is and at times it becomes very confusing at times. Mann is easily at fault here because he also handled the script as well. When scenes tend to look conventional, it's handled with a complete lack of a formal standpoint. He knows exactly which scenes needs more focus and which ones need to move forward. His scripts usually go beyond sublime, but it reflects just how it reflects towards its audience. And from Mann the performances are what keeps us intrigued. In the case of this movie, the principal characters (Colin Farrell and Jamie Foxx) are not the once that provide the best characters in the film who replace Don Johnson and Philip Michael Thomas as Detectives James "Sonny" Crockett and Rico Tubbs who are up to their dangerous anti-drug initiatives. While Foxx gives his all even though his demands are more subtle than crime-fighting partner Farrell. Farrell can't seem to measure up to the more suave performance Johnson portrayed when played Sonny Crockett in the series. Where's Jeff Bridges when you needed him?The supporting players are the once that dominate in their limited screen time and they're the ones who everyone wants to see more of. Barry Shabaka Henley as Sonny and Rico's superior Lt. Castillo (originally played by Edward James Olmos) looks very imposing and fearful, a man you simply don't want to anger with, with the exception of his sensitive eyes. Meanwhile, Luis Tosar who plays Montoya is the polar opposite to Castillo. He is a kingpin who dresses stylistically with a polite manner and a beard, but once again the eyes tell a different story as he's anything but a harmless man on the wrong side of the law. We can see something disturbing about him with those cold piercing eyes. His words from mouth about giving best regards to your family is sign that danger is lurking around. Mann really brings a very interesting perspective to the Montoya character, the kingpin our heroes want to defeat.In most movies,the most evil characters are cunning and colourful. In this movie, it's too laid-back and not very exhilarating. Montoya and his sultry girlfriend Isabella ((Gong Li) are in bed together, with his laptop going over their strategy of who to kill and the time it will be done. The feeling of discomfort comes into effect in Montoya's circle as people were coming into the organization with an over-the-top level of perversity. Montoya's loyal stooge Yero (John Ortiz) was a real piece of work as a grimacing,threatening,jokingly convincing evil-doer. The most noteworthy casting comes from Gong Li. Sure her English is not her best quality and that's understanding, but how she says her lines will make you break into a cold sweat. Sure she's running a South American drug cartel making her an outlaw, but her seductive manipulation towards Sonny is enough to make glasses fog up from the heat. Sure the there have been several chilling female antagonists, but Gong succeeds in keeping it powerful and only her vulnerability is shown through brief flashes. You are crazy if you mess with her mind.The story starts off as a sting operation situated at a nightclub and then it turns into an undercover job going horribly bad. An informant kills himself by getting run over by a truck and how does Mann handle the situation? While refraining from using shaky camera work or thrilling us with gore and carnage, he lets the truck move on with a trail of blood paving the lanes. Then we see baddies killing off people with their ammo towards people in their cars. By filming the scene in the car adds a more personal touch to the film. The cinematography goes way beyond picturesque. When the motorboat coming in from Havana is likely to put you in a romantic view, even for only ten seconds. There's a lot of disparate entities that's happening in "Miami Vice". The scenes involving Sonny and Isabella are just steamy fillers. There's a crime story happening, but it doesn't have much going for it and by the last minutes of the film, it doesn't hold together very well. Film critics have been overfed with a cornucopia of junk. But to see a person who knows the ins-and-outs of a film like this one went way overboard in self-praising himself for it. What I have to say is that it is an average film with some good and bad things about it.

willcundallreview Rating-5/10Miami Vice, the name conjures up fast cars and the 1980's, but this movie creates very different ideas. Yes Michael Mann(famous for "Heat" and "Ali" etc) makes a crime movie that really does pay, and not very well on that point. It's the kind of movie where intense listening is needed and maybe a very big liking for police movies or crime, because this is one film that really doesn't show either for me, in a well made way.The plot is big and full of things going on at once, this is both it's positives and it's negatives in one, on one hand we have good action and exciting things, on the flip side we have boring dialogue and romance that really gives this movie nothing extra. I feel Mann is not always to blame here for what I felt was an under average movie, but he does direct it in a way which means it is not only un-exciting, but also just not a watch that is needed.Mann writes this as well and although our main actors Colin Farrell and Jamie Foxx deliver the lines well enough, it becomes almost too much of a jumble. On to the acting itself and it isn't bad, it is well cast and doesn't shy away from picking names we may not know, but my main problem was with the way it sounds. The actors voices are so low and the accents so incoherent it is hard not to have to strain your ears to know what is going on, they do well most of the cast but what they say at times is a complete mystery.Now the film is beautifully shot, the cinematography for me all in all is the very best thing about this, it makes it not only real but also gives it a feeling as if you are there yourself. Dion Beebe is the mastermind behind this and if you haven't seen it, then notice while watching how it feels more like some sort of documentary than actual film, but that style really pays off. And what of the area they shot in, well it is pretty glamorous at times, I mean what do you expect from drug kingpins boats to the beautiful city of Miami, the film is well located and the scene shots can be breathtaking.Is it like it's basis, the 1980's show Miami Vice? ,not at all in fact it couldn't at times feel more opposite. It is much darker, and that is in tone and themes, the dark underbelly of Miami remains, but the city never looked so ugly when Mann wants it to be. I felt that the movie in a way doesn't hark back to the memories so many fans have, yes it has it's cars and boats, guns etc but not the beautiful scores that the TV show had, not to mention the actual connection people had with the characters, which just doesn't come though here. If you want good crime movies with smart plots and good action too, I won't say don't give this a watch, but just find something else first because this can and I guarantee for some is a real snooze. The plot as I said is thick with things going on, but there's the problem it is too full and you can easily be lost in the way things are going. The main two characters Crockett and Tubbs have no real bond and in truth spend too much time not together in this movie.Overall it's not a movie for all, maybe for some, but probably won't please fans of the TV series. I felt it was as mentioned under average and I felt that because not only have we seen things like this before, Mann can't even make this a good kind of seen before and his attempt at remaking this just becomes not bad, but too near to being poor to be acceptable.