Miami Vice

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  • Miami Vice

    I re-watched Miami Vice. I know I'm probably in the minority, but I think its one of the best films Michael Mann has ever done. I think people were hung up on the brand, when for that time Period it worked. But Michael Mann was trying to give you a realistic look at the life of Undercover DEA Agents and the criminal Underworld.

    The only critique I have is the relationship between FOXX and FARREL was too frosty. You never got a sense that they were close or they would die for another. I feel that one relationship you see in the TV series, but not the movie. I liked he took a realistic approach to this movie.

    I think if this movie was called anything else but MIAMI VICE, it would have been more popular. As the realism and the atmosphere was great. And i loved the ACTION SCENES. But I do think the DVD cut is much better than the theatrical version.

  • #2
    Re: Miami Vice

    I agree with you, it's my favorite Mann movie, existential and contemplative, layered, operatic yet grounded. For the entire film it feels like the natural world is raging around the characters -- so many scenes at night with lightning in the background, or the expanses of ocean that seems to swallow the characters, or that drug lord's house perched on the precipice of the rainforest. (Mann loves filming characters in the foreground with the ocean in the background; think of that scene where Al Pacino is on the phone in The Insider. The ocean in Mann's films swallows people, overwhelming them, making us feel as if these giant characters are insignificant against the power of the natural world.) When the violence does come, it's sharp and pronounced and brief, realistically. Whereas the digital sheen of Public Enemies felt contrived, here the digital camerawork seems to make everything more present, more forward, more direct. The relationship between Foxx & Farrell felt strained because it was strained during the filming, with Foxx walking off set before the movie finished filming, and Mann had to come up with a new ending because Foxx refused to return. He felt his life was in danger -- Mann had put the crew and actors in some very scary situations in some very dicey places down in South America -- so he walked and refused to come back. To say Mann was pushing the envelope here is to understate his commitment to the crazy.

    Matt Zoller Seitz did a great series on Mann's films at Moving Image Source. Here's a link.

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    • #3
      Re: Miami Vice

      great video essays! thanks for the link!

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      • #4
        Re: Miami Vice

        It was good but would've been better if it hadn't been so horribly cast. Jamie Foxx and Collin Farrell? Really?

        Farrell looked like a redneck child molester with that 'stache and mullet-ish hair.
        "Tact's just 'not saying true stuff.' " - Cordelia Chase

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        • #5
          Re: Miami Vice

          Wasn't a big fan of it, but it was better than people and critics made it out to be. They didn't take into consideration that it wasn't going to be another "Bad Boys" or campy.

          As for Mann, he's at his best, IMO, when he's dealing with totally original and fictional material. When he delves into biopics (ALI, Public Enemies) or rehashes (Miami Vice) his style clashes horribly.

          But when he does original scripts and stories based on fresh ficitional characters (i.e. Collateral) -- he's a wizard.
          "U don' know me, muddafugga..."
          - Al Pacino, Carlito's Way

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          • #6
            Re: Miami Vice

            Originally posted by Greenwood View Post
            As for Mann, he's at his best, IMO, when he's dealing with totally original and fictional material. When he delves into biopics (ALI, Public Enemies) or rehashes (Miami Vice) his style clashes horribly.

            But when he does original scripts and stories based on fresh ficitional characters (i.e. Collateral) -- he's a wizard.
            Hmm.. not sure if I agree with this, since I think THE INSIDER is a 10/10, one of his best. And the three you mention are solid 8/10s for me.

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