A wonderful mess of a film .....
Dear Michael Mann,
Miami Vice was a wonderful mess of a film. Thank you for making it. I have not seen the original series so I cannot write about how the film compares to the TV series. I am curious about how the film would have turned out if you had not used digital photography. I like the carefully composed shots and the tasteful sets of your earlier classics like Thief and Manhunter.
But unlike the haters, I thought Miami Vice was full of stylishly rendered scenes starting with the very first scene at the nightclub. You lined up an array of actors with remarkable faces for this film - they played white supremacists, South American gangsters, FBI agents and undercover cops. However, Colin Farrel, Jamie Foxx and John Ortiz were disappointments. I guess you had to cast huge stars to finance a big budget film like Miami Vice. Gong Li who looked like pure royalty made up for the unremarkable heroes and villain.
The story isn't much to write home about. It is a stylized account of the lives of two undercover cops, their women and their toys. The plot is deliberately incoherent. The dialogues which are delivered in whispers with Chris Cornell wailing or heavy metal guitars growling in the background were a complete mystery. But then, it is not really about the plot. We get a look around Miami. And it is not just the posh condos and the exotic bars. But also the warehouses and the barren lands where all the stand offs take place. There are at least three remarkable stands off in the film. In fact, there are more standoffs than full length action scenes. The interracial romance between Gong Li and Colin Farrel and its consequences is a comment on the state of race relations in the multi-cultural and multi-racial melting pot that is Florida. Miami Vice is a moody, stylish and ultimately flawed film demonstrates what mainstream big budget Hollywood action cinema can be. In the decade since Miami Vice, we have witnessed the gradual decline of American cinema as superheroes and mind numbing special effects have taken over the landscape once occupied by the likes of you and Tony Scott. It is a real shame. But thanks for the effort, Michael.
Best Regards,
Pimpin.
(8/10)